A theoretical and practical Italian grammar - National Library of ...

INFINITIVE.
Essere, To be
Io sono,
tu sei, se',
egli è,
noi siamo,
voi siete,
eglino sono,
CHAPTEE I.
PRESENT OF THE INDICATIVE.
Io ho,
INFINITIVE.
Avere, To have,
]
tu hai, jLi
egli ha, t3-
7ioi abbiamo, %
voi avete, •,
eglino hanno, J
ON THE PREPOSITIONS CALLED SEGNACASI, OR SIGNS
OF THE CASES.
As the Italian language does not admit of declensions, pre-
positions called segnacasi are employed to express the various
relations or cases, which in Latin and Greek are indicated by
varying the terminations of nouns.
These Prepositions are di, of; a, to; da, from.
Di, of.
1. The preposition di marks the relation of property, and is
used in Italian to form the possessive case. Ex.
La casa di mio padre, I My father's liouse.
II poema di Dante,
Le ale di un'aquila, \
Dante's poem.
eagle's wings.
2. It also denotes affinity or connexion of one object with
another. Ex.
Un amico di ca^a,
La voce del popolo,
Il Duomo di Firenze,
La pena di morte,
An
A fiiend of the family.
Tlie voice of the people.
The Cathedral of Florence.
The pain of death.
3. When one noun is used adjectively to qualify another, of
which it indicates the character, country, material, Sfc, in Italian