Is it easy to learn Italian?

When is this tense "P. perfecto compuesto (spanish) " used? What does it reflect?

The Preterito perfecto compuesto is the equivalent to the italian passato prossimo

Right, but when do Spanish speakers use it?

I have seen a leopard in the garden - "He visto" un leopardo en el jardin

What happened? - Que "ha pasado"?, que pasó?

What did you do?- Que "has hecho"?, que hiciste?

I have bought a car - "he comprado" un coche

They have done more than we have - ellos "han hecho" mas que nosotros

Is it used in everyday conversation... that was my question. It seems like the answer is no, in favor of preterito (It passato remoto).

Yes, it is used a lot.

Ahh, ok. I didn't know. I never got far enough in my Spanish studies. I wondered if like passato remoto in Italian, it was relegated mostly to literary uses (although I hear they use it in place of passato prossimo in Siciliy). What is the difference between preterito and preterito perfecto compuesto? Could I casually say, "Que ha pasado?"

passato remoto is still used in Italian

1) in Tuscany:

you cannot say: è stato ieri, but fu ieri
since IERI (yesterday) has nothing to do with present

(just like you say in English: It was yesterday, and not It's been yesterday)

Northern Italy used Present Perfect here, but it is NOT 100%standard, use Tuscanian pattern: passato remoto for past simple in English, passato prossimo for present perfect in English, l'imperfetto for past simple in English or used to-construction or was/were -ing construction.

Many other parts of Central Italy follow this usage

2) in Southern Italy passato prossimo is never used; passato remoto is used even for PRESENT PERFECT in English:

Lui disse = He's said.
Capisti? = (Have you) understood?

So, this is how it's used:

1) Northern Italy: Passato Prossimo for both actions related to the present (Present Perfect in English) and completed actions occured long ago (Past simple in English); Passato remoto not used in conversation.

2) Central Italy: Passato Prossimo for English Present Perfect; Passato Remoto for English Past simple. Passato remoto still used.

3) Southern Italy: Passato Remoto for both English Present Perfect and Past Simple.

The ''correct'' usage is based on Central Italy's standard, not the Northern one. $$$$$$$$$$$$ of the Northern Italy cannot change the official grammar that has been based on Florence's dialect for ages...

The Perfecto Compuesto in Spanish is used almost for the same actions that Present Perfect in English. At least Mexican Spanish used that way.

For example:

¿Alguna vez has estado en Nueva York?
(Have you ever been in New York?)

No he terminado aún mi tarea.
I haven't finish my homework yet.

PD. Sorry for my bad english

Yupp the Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto is used a lot in normal Spanish conversations.

We have nothing to envy to the French and its Passé Composé!!

=>English is the most difficult European language to learn to read. Children from other European countries learn to speak their words probably about two to three years before children from English-speaking countries, and there is a much higher rate of dyslexia in English-speaking nations than in nations who speak other European languages.<=

Maybe english children are just plain stupid.

Viella,
I blelieve what you say to be mostly correct except for one thing. In Tuscany, we do say: "è stato ieri" for "it was yesterday", not "fu ieri". You slightly contradicted yourself here:

"1) Northern Italy: Passato Prossimo for both actions related to the present (Present Perfect in English) and completed actions occured long ago (Past simple in English); Passato remoto not used in conversation. "

I think Carrara,where my husband's family is from, and where I've learned most of my casual Italian conversation, would be classified somewhere in the middle of North and Central. The Italian I've experienced comes from around the Pisa area (Pisa, Sarzana, Massa-Carrara, Firenze). Anyway, they use the usage you suggest for Northern Italy, though they are in Tuscany. Tuscans, in my experience, do use passato remoto in conversation too albiet mostly when talking about historical figures.

"I'm not sure that English is that hard. Certainly it's not a phonetic language, and there's a lot of oddball exceptions. But Spanish verbs are much harder than English, and I ASSume Italian is the same way"


Despite being the world's lingua franca, English is the most difficult European language to learn to read. Children learning other languages master the basic elements of literacy within a year, but British kids take two-and-a-half years to reach the same point.

In the most extensive cross-national study ever, Philip Seymour of Dundee University and his team compared the reading abilities of children in 15 European countries. They found that those learning Romance languages such as Italian and French progressed faster than those learning a Germanic language such as German and English. "Children do seem to find English particularly complex and problematic though," says Seymour.

The team focused on the earliest phase of learning to read. They tested the children's ability to match letters to sounds, their capacity to recognise familiar written words, and their ability to work out new words from combinations of familiar syllables.

Seymour's findings might explain why more people are diagnosed as being dyslexic in English-speaking counties than elsewhere.

In languages where sounds simply match letters, some symptoms just would not show up, says Maggie Snowling, a dyslexia expert at the University of York. The condition would be more difficult to diagnose in children who speak these languages, though subtle symptoms such as impaired verbal short-term memory would remain. "People might be struggling, but no one would notice," she says.

Consonant clusters

The Germanic languages are tricky because many words contain clusters of consonants. The word "sprint", for example, is difficult because the letter p is sandwiched between two other consonants, making the p sound difficult to learn.

Another feature of English that makes it difficult is the complex relationship between letters and their sounds.

In Finnish, which Seymour found to be the easiest European language to learn to read, the relationship between a letter and its sound is fixed. However, in English a letter's sound often depends on its context within the word. For example, the letter c can sound soft (as in receive) or hard (as in cat). Many words like "yacht" don't seem to follow any logic at all.

Historical accident

However, the things that make English difficult to read might have contributed to Britain's rich literary tradition. Words like "sign" and "bomb" are difficult because of their silent letters, but these hint at relationships with other words. The connection with words like "signature" and "bombard" is obvious.

Mark Pagel, an expert on language diversity at the University of Reading, acknowledges the irony that despite being the international lingua franca, English is the most difficult to learn. The dominance of English has more to do with historical accident than any innate superiority of the language, he says.

"People who speak English happen to have been the ones that were economically and politically dominant in recent history. Those forces greatly outweigh any small difficulties in language acquisition."

15:30 04 September 01

By James Randerson

"Children learning other languages master the basic elements of literacy within a year".
Which basic elements of literacy ?

"The Germanic languages are tricky because many words contain clusters of consonants. The word "sprint", for example, is difficult because the letter p is sandwiched between two other consonants, making the p sound difficult to learn".
So should be words like Fr <exprimer> [EkspRime], Fr <stratifier> [stRatifije], Fr <arc-boutant> [aRkbutÃ] etc.

"However, in English a letter's sound often depends on its context within the word. For example, the letter c can sound soft (as in receive) or hard (as in cat)".
This may be explained by the impact of French on English. French pupils experience same problems : Fr <recevoir> [R@s@vwaR] and Fr <car> [kaR]. The [s]/[k] alternance for <c> is not typical of English.

"Many words like "yacht" don't seem to follow any logic at all".
Neither does Fr <monsieur> [m2sj2], which should logically be *[mÕsj9R] as in Fr <mon sieur> (two words).

"Words like "sign" and "bomb" are difficult because of their silent letters, but these hint at relationships with other words. The connection with words like "signature" and "bombard" is obvious".
Words like Fr <parent> [paRÃ] and Fr <escroc> [Eskro] are difficult because of their silent letters, but these hint at relationships with other words. The connection with words like Fr <parenté> [paRÃte] and Fr <escroquer> [Eskroke] is obvious.

In conclusion, Sander : "Maybe english children are just plain stupid".
Maybe not. Maybe it's the combination of the English education system and the high poverty rate hitting English families.

Erratum : Fr <stratifier> [stRatifje] not *[stRatifije].