Grammar and translation: the prescribed system and the two directions

Translate into Italian. If you want to understand the debate, you must read the Italian newspapers. Many students begin to follow them online and then decide to buy a digital subscription, because they realise that they will need it for their research.

1. 01If you want to understand the debate

   Se vuoi capire il dibattito. Vuoi is the second singular of volere, irregular; volere governs a bare infinitive with no preposition, so capire follows directly. Se plus indicative is correct here because this is a real condition, not a hypothesis. Note il dibattito with the article.

2. 02you must read the Italian newspapers

   devi leggere i giornali italiani. Devi is the second singular of dovere; dovere also governs a bare infinitive. English the Italian newspapers keeps the article in Italian too, and the adjective follows the noun: i giornali italiani. Writing gli italiani giornali would be a visible error.

3. 03Many students begin to follow them online

   Molti studenti cominciano a seguirli online. Cominciare governs a plus infinitive — this is the kind of detail the points-based scheme rewards section by section. The object pronoun li attaches to the infinitive, giving seguirli, because the infinitive is not governed by a modal here; with a modal both positions would be available.

4. 04and then decide to buy a digital subscription

   e poi decidono di comprare un abbonamento digitale. Decidere governs di plus infinitive — a different preposition from cominciare a, and the contrast in a single sentence is exactly what the translation is testing. Un abbonamento is a subscription; una sottoscrizione would be a signature or a fundraising subscription and is wrong here.

5. 05because they realise that they will need it for their research

   perché si rendono conto che ne avranno bisogno per la loro ricerca. To realise in the sense of becoming aware is rendersi conto di; realizzare means to achieve or to bring about and is a false friend. Avere bisogno di is the fixed expression for to need, and because the thing needed is already known, di plus it becomes the pronoun ne: ne avranno bisogno. Avranno is the future of avere, with the irregular stem avr-.

Result: Se vuoi capire il dibattito, devi leggere i giornali italiani. Molti studenti cominciano a seguirli online e poi decidono di comprare un abbonamento digitale, perché si rendono conto che ne avranno bisogno per la loro ricerca.

Translate into English. Quando arrivammo a Torino era già buio e nevicava. Mio nonno aveva lasciato la Sicilia dieci anni prima e da allora non era più tornato. Ci aspettava alla stazione con lo stesso cappotto che portava nelle fotografie, e quando ci vide non disse niente: ci abbracciò e basta.

1. 01Sort the tenses before translating a word

   Arrivammo, vide, disse and abbracciò are passato remoto: completed events in a narrative, rendered by the English simple past. Era, nevicava, aspettava and portava are imperfetto: background and ongoing states, rendered by was or the past continuous. Aveva lasciato and era tornato are trapassato prossimo: prior events, rendered by the English pluperfect. Doing this sort first converts the passage from a puzzle into a shape.

2. 02Quando arrivammo a Torino era già buio e nevicava

   When we arrived in Turin it was already dark and it was snowing. Note arrivare a for a city. Era buio is an impersonal state — it was dark — and nevicava is an impersonal weather verb in the imperfetto, which English renders with the past continuous because the snowing was ongoing. Turin, not Torino, in an English translation: place names with established English forms should be translated.

3. 03aveva lasciato la Sicilia dieci anni prima e da allora non era più tornato

   Had left Sicily ten years earlier and had not been back since. Dieci anni prima is ten years earlier, not ten years ago: in reported or past narrative Italian uses prima where direct speech would use fa, and English makes the same shift from ago to earlier or before. Da allora is since then. Non era più tornato is the trapassato of a verb taking essere, with agreement.

4. 04Ci aspettava alla stazione con lo stesso cappotto che portava nelle fotografie

   He was waiting for us at the station in the same coat he wore in the photographs. Aspettare takes a direct object in Italian with no preposition, so ci is the direct-object pronoun us and the English needs for. Portare of clothing means to wear, not to carry — a common and costly false step. Che portava is imperfetto for a habitual state, so wore or used to wear.

5. 05quando ci vide non disse niente: ci abbracciò e basta

   When he saw us he said nothing: he simply hugged us. Vide and disse are passato remoto. Non ... niente is a double negative that English renders with a single one: said nothing, not did not say nothing. E basta is an idiom meaning and that was all or simply; translating it literally as and enough would be meaningless. Note that the colon can stay in English, where it does the same work.

Result: When we arrived in Turin it was already dark and it was snowing. My grandfather had left Sicily ten years earlier and had not been back since. He was waiting for us at the station in the same coat he wore in the photographs, and when he saw us he said nothing: he simply hugged us.

Translate into Italian. Although the government claims that the situation has improved, many economists doubt that the recovery will last. It is possible that the figures conceal a deeper problem, and if the crisis returned, the country would be less prepared than it was ten years ago.

1. 01Although the government claims that the situation has improved

   Benché il governo sostenga che la situazione sia migliorata. Two subjunctives, for two different reasons. Benché always takes the congiuntivo, giving sostenga. And although sostenere che normally takes the indicative, here the claim is being reported and immediately contested, so sia migliorata is defensible and stylistically better; the indicative è migliorata would also be accepted. Migliorare takes essere when intransitive, so the participle agrees with situazione.

2. 02many economists doubt that the recovery will last

   molti economisti dubitano che la ripresa durerà. Dubitare che takes the congiuntivo, but here the meaning is future, and Italian has no future subjunctive: the ordinary solution is either the future indicative durerà or the present subjunctive duri. Both are current; durerà makes the futurity explicit and is the safer choice in a translation. La ripresa is the standard economic term for a recovery.

3. 03It is possible that the figures conceal a deeper problem

   È possibile che i dati nascondano un problema più profondo. È possibile che is an impersonal expression and takes the congiuntivo: nascondano, third person plural. I dati is the correct word for figures in this sense; le figure would mean shapes or characters. Più profondo, with the comparative formed by più and no ending change on the adjective.

4. 04and if the crisis returned, the country would be less prepared

   e se la crisi tornasse, il paese sarebbe meno preparato. This is a second-type conditional: se plus congiuntivo imperfetto (tornasse) with the condizionale presente in the main clause (sarebbe). Writing se la crisi tornerebbe would be the single most visible grammatical error available in this sentence. Meno preparato, with the participle used adjectivally and agreeing with paese.

5. 05than it was ten years ago

   di quanto lo fosse dieci anni fa. The comparison is with a clause rather than a noun, so Italian uses di quanto plus the congiuntivo — lo fosse — with the neuter pronoun lo standing for preparato. A simpler and entirely acceptable alternative is rispetto a dieci anni fa. Note fa, not prima, because the reference point is the present moment of writing.

Result: Benché il governo sostenga che la situazione sia migliorata, molti economisti dubitano che la ripresa durerà. È possibile che i dati nascondano un problema più profondo, e se la crisi tornasse, il paese sarebbe meno preparato di quanto lo fosse dieci anni fa.

Translate into Italian. The law was approved last year, but it has not yet been applied. The regions complain that the government has not explained it to them, and that the money promised to the schools has still not been paid. This problem must be resolved before the start of the school year.

1. 01The law was approved last year

   La legge è stata approvata l'anno scorso. This is a completed action with a resulting state, so the essere passive is right; venire would suggest a recurring process. È stata approvata: the auxiliary essere plus the participle of essere plus the main participle, and both agree with legge, feminine singular. L'anno scorso, with the article.

2. 02but it has not yet been applied

   ma non è ancora stata applicata. The subject is still la legge, so the participles again agree in the feminine singular. Note the position of ancora: Italian places it between the auxiliary and the participle in this construction, and non è stata ancora applicata is equally correct. Applicare, not appliare.

3. 03The regions complain that the government has not explained it to them

   Le regioni si lamentano che il governo non gliel'abbia spiegata. Lamentarsi is reflexive; here it introduces a complaint about someone else's action, so the congiuntivo abbia spiegata is appropriate. The combined pronoun does the work of it to them: indirect gli plus direct la gives gliela, elided before the vowel to gliel'; and because the direct-object pronoun precedes the verb, the participle agrees with it — spiegata, feminine singular, matching legge.

4. 04and that the money promised to the schools has still not been paid

   e che i soldi promessi alle scuole non siano ancora stati versati. I soldi is masculine plural, so promessi and stati versati agree accordingly. Promessi alle scuole is a reduced relative — the money that was promised — using the participle adjectivally, with the preposizione articolata a plus le giving alle. Versare is the exact verb for paying out a sum; pagare would mean settling a bill.

5. 05This problem must be resolved before the start of the school year

   Questo problema va risolto prima dell'inizio dell'anno scolastico. The andare passive expresses obligation in three words where deve essere risolto takes four, and it is the more idiomatic choice; both are correct. Risolto is the irregular participle of risolvere. Prima di plus a noun requires the preposizione articolata twice: dell'inizio, dell'anno. L'anno scolastico is the school year, and la scuola dell'anno would be nonsense.

Result: La legge è stata approvata l'anno scorso, ma non è ancora stata applicata. Le regioni si lamentano che il governo non gliel'abbia spiegata e che i soldi promessi alle scuole non siano ancora stati versati. Questo problema va risolto prima dell'inizio dell'anno scolastico.

You are given an English passage of about a hundred words on one of the four themes and thirty recommended minutes. Show how the time is spent under a points-based mark scheme.

1. 01Minutes 0 to 3: read and mark the verbs

   Read the English twice. On the second reading, underline every finite verb and write above it the Italian tense and mood you intend: presente, passato prossimo, imperfetto, congiuntivo presente, condizionale. Do not write any Italian yet. Deciding the tense system before writing prevents the commonest structural failure, which is a passage that drifts between past tenses.

2. 02Minutes 3 to 18: write the Italian, in order, without stopping

   Translate clause by clause in sequence. If a word is missing, write the nearest correct Italian and mark the margin with a dot rather than stopping — under a segmenting scheme the surrounding segments are still scoring, and the time cost of freezing is far higher than the cost of an approximate noun. Leave a blank line between sentences for corrections.

3. 03Minutes 18 to 22: the agreement pass

   Go through the whole passage looking at one thing only: agreement. Every participle after essere against its subject; every participle after a preceding direct-object pronoun; every adjective against its noun; every verb ending against its subject. Doing this as a single dedicated pass finds far more than reading for general correctness, because you are looking for one shape rather than for anything wrong.

4. 04Minutes 22 to 26: the article and preposition pass

   A second single-purpose pass. Every abstract noun, country name and possessive should have its article — la libertà, l'Italia, il mio amico. Every preposition plus article should be contracted — nel, dalla, degli. Every verb should have the preposition it governs before an infinitive — cominciare a, decidere di. These are cheap segments and they are lost silently.

5. 05Minutes 26 to 30: the dots, then stop

   Return to the words you marked with a dot. Now that the passage is written and checked, one or two of them will come back; for the rest, choose the best available circumlocution rather than leaving a gap, since an unrendered segment scores nothing while an approximation may score. Then stop. Rereading a finished translation a fourth time changes correct answers into wrong ones more often than the reverse.

Result: A worked thirty minutes: three minutes deciding the tense system, fifteen writing without stopping, four on a dedicated agreement pass, four on a dedicated article-and-preposition pass, and four returning to the marked gaps — with nothing spent rereading the English.