Grammar Goodies Galore! 5 Sweet Websites Loaded with Free Italian Grammar Exercises
We’re going to turn Italian grammar practice into a sweet treat.
I know, that sounds unlikely! Maybe memories of high school grammar class left a bad taste in your mouth.
Maybe you’re still struggling to get prepositions or understand the present continuous tense?
No worries, we have a solution for you—grammar exercises!
Contents
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Essential Tips for Learning Italian Grammar
Try to understand, not just memorize
If you want to make your life easier when learning Italian grammar, try to really understand the rules. We all know that Italian is the language of exceptions, so there’s no point of even trying to memorize everything (and just so you know, Italian verbs have a total of 21 tenses!).
So look up the topic you’re studying and be sure you understand the explanations. Instead of trying to memorize all the rules like crazy, think a little bit about each one until you’re able to articulate the rule in your own words.
For example, let’s say you’re studying the differences between passato prossimo (past simple tense) and imperfetto (imperfect tense). If you understand that passato prossimo is used to describe an action in the past that happened only once, and imperfetto is used to describe repeated actions in the past, you’ll have a better understanding of when to use them.
When you see examples of each tense (in these grammar exercises and elsewhere), make a concerted effort to stop and articulate the rules:
“The author conjugated the verb that way because it’s an action that happened repeatedly in the past.”
It makes sense, doesn’t it? Once you’ve understood how it works, everything else will be easier (of course there are some things that you should really memorize, like irregular verbs)
Do a lot of grammar exercises
Textbooks are great for learning Italian, there’s no doubt. However, if you really want to improve your grammar skills, you should also include other resources in your study repertoire. Sometimes textbooks go too fast and don’t give you the feedback you need on a certain concept.
Also, you’re limited by the number of exercises in a textbook. There’s simply not enough material for you to completely understand and learn all the new grammar.
So if you really want to finally learn how to use correctly passato prossimo and imperfetto, you need a lot of practice. And when I say a lot, I really mean a lot. Seriously.
Only by doing lots of exercises will you be able to learn how to use the different tenses, articles, prepositions, adverbs, etc.
So if you want lots of practice and would love to be able to communicate in Italian without the constant fear of grammar mistakes, check out these awesome sites for free grammar exercises!
5 Websites with Free Italian Grammar Exercises
Impariamo l’italiano
Impariamo l’italiano (Let’s learn Italian) is a great resource for students that want to reach a higher grammar level because it has a wide range of grammar topics.
The website is entirely in Italian and it’s very simple to use. Just pick a grammar concept like indicativo presente (present indicative mood) and you’ll see a number of activities to choose from (some topics have up to 55 different activities). After you complete the exercises, click “Check” to see how you fared.
Impariamo l’italiano also has vocabulary exercises, language quizzes, grammar lessons and lots of common Italian sayings. The modi di dire (sayings) are explained in Italian, so you’ll probably need to be somewhere around the intermediate level to understand them.
iLUSS
ILUSS offers a variety of options for Italian language learners. The website is in both Italian and English, and you can choose whether to sign up for a membership or to explore their free resources.
The paid membership, which isn’t expensive at all, will give you the chance to follow a more structured study plan. This includes lots of readings, listening units, grammar lessons and exercises, interactive online courses and tests. This is a good solution for people who are serious about their Italian studies and ready to significantly improve their level.
The free resources are great if you want to ease into Italian or simply want a refresher. Their free resources are divided into four levels: beginner, elementary, intermediate and advanced. Before starting with the grammar exercises, you can also test your level. It’s a free service that could save you lots of time by choosing the best exercises for you.
Tutorino
Tutorino is an innovative resource and a really fun tool to improve your Italian. You’ll find lots of free resources along with the grammar lessons. And since the explanations are in English, it’s even perfect for beginners.
Tutorino works a little differently because you can’t do the activities on the website (you’ll find the correct answers under each activity), so grab a piece of paper and a pen.
Besides the usual exercises, you can also practice your grammar skills with timed quizzes. They have a wide range of these that you can do online and check instantly. If you feel like you work better under a little pressure, this feature is great for you.
For a more relaxed approach, try reducing some stress with some language games in Tutorino’s Grammar Gym. After choosing your grammar topic, you’ll be redirected to the Game Zone. You can then choose whether to do flashcards, matching games, concentration games or a word search. It’s a less rigid way to practice your Italian grammar!
Speakitalian.org
Speakitalian.org is a very modern website written both in Italian and English. The grammar exercises are divided into three levels: A1-A2, B1-B2 and C1-C2. Just like Tutorino, you’ll have to complete the exercises offline then check your answers at the end of the page.
Aside from the traditional grammar exercises, you also have translation exercises (talk about putting grammar rules into practice!). The translation activities include a couple of short texts written in English that you have to translate to Italian. Again, you can’t do the activity online but you can check the correct answers directly from the website.
They also have interactive exercises like games and audio that will teach you more about vocabulary and culture than grammar.
Italian-grammar
Italian-grammar is ideal for people that can’t get enough grammar practice. All the exercises and worksheets are free and divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
The great thing about this website is that you can download all the exercises. It’s very convenient because you can download, print and complete them whenever you want. You can do them while sitting on the train on your way to work or during your lunch break. There are also solutions to the exercises, you just have to download the separate file to check your answers.
Apart from the grammar exercises and worksheets, Italian-grammar has created the Italian vocabulary trainer in English to help you improve your vocabulary. The trainer offers lots of fun, interactive and free vocabulary exercises that will help you learn basic Italian words. Sounds samples by native speakers are also provided in order to help you learn the correct pronunciation.
Bonus: FluentU
Are you a visual learner? Then you’ll just love the video-based learning on FluentU!
FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons, as you can see here:
FluentU helps you get comfortable with everyday Italian by combining all the benefits of complete immersion and native-level conversations with interactive subtitles.
Tap on any word to instantly see an image, in-context definition, example sentences and other videos in which the word is used.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab, and review words and phrases with convenient audio clips under Vocab.
Once you've watched a video, you can use FluentU's quizzes to actively practice all the vocabulary in that video. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
FluentU will even keep track of all the Italian words you’ve learned to recommend videos and ask you questions based on what you already know.
Plus, it'll tell you exactly when it's time for review. Now that's a 100% personalized experience!
The best part? You can try FluentU for free!
Start using FluentU on the website, or better yet, download the app from iTunes or the Google Play store.
So what are you waiting for? Pick a website and start improving your grammar right now!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
