Italian GCSE
Italian GCSE glossary
21 key terms for Italian GCSE, A to Z, each linked to the topic pages that use it.
A
- Adjective Agreement
- The grammatical rule that adjectives (including ordinal numbers) must match the noun they describe in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural).AQA
- Auxiliary Verb
- A 'helping' verb (avere or essere) used alongside a main verb to form compound tenses like the passato prossimo.AQA
C
- Cardinal Numbers
- Numbers used for counting or stating quantity (e.g., uno, due, tre).AQA
- Circumlocution
- Using many words to describe something when you don't know the exact word.AQA
- Cognate
- A word that looks similar and has the same meaning in both Italian and English (e.g., problema = problem).AQA
D
- Definite Article
- The word for 'the' (il, lo, la, l', i, gli, le).AQA
- Distractor
- Information in a Listening or Reading text designed to mislead you away from the correct answer.AQA
F
- False Friend
- A word that looks like an English word but has a completely different meaning (e.g., caldo = hot, not cold).AQA
- False Friend (Falso Amico)
- A word in a foreign language that looks similar to a word in the mother tongue but has a different meaning.AQA
- Futuro Semplice
- The simple future tense, formed by adding endings directly to the infinitive stem.AQA
G
- Gist
- The overall, general meaning of a text or audio clip, without focusing on the specific details.AQA
I
- Inference
- The process of deducing the meaning of an unknown word using the surrounding text and logic.AQA
- Infinitive
- The unconjugated 'dictionary' form of a verb, ending in -are, -ere, or -ire.AQA
- Irregular Verb
- A verb that does not follow the standard conjugation patterns.AQA
O
- Ordinal Numbers
- Numbers indicating position or order in a sequence (e.g., primo, secondo, terzo).AQA
P
- Passato Prossimo
- The perfect past tense, formed with an auxiliary verb (avere or essere) and a past participle.AQA
- Preposition 'A'
- A word often translating to 'at' or 'to'.AQA
R
- Reflexive Verb
- A verb where the subject and object are the same (e.g., mi alleno - I train myself).AQA
V
- Verbal Clues
- The grammatical and structural hints provided by the words surrounding an unknown term.AQA
- Visual Clues
- Information gathered from layout, font size, images, and titles before reading the main text.AQA
Other terms
- 24-hour Clock
- A timekeeping system where the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours.AQA
Where these terms come from
Each definition is one we publish on a Italian GCSE topic page or study guide. Open a term to see how each exam board words it and which topic it belongs to. For the full course, go to Italian revision or the glossary for every subject.
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