Torto can also be used as an adjective meaning "wrong", in the sense of "everything is so twisted around that it's not right". (Note, the strong correspondence between adjectives and past participles, we'll visit that in a future blog entry.)
Torto is used with avere to express "being wrong". In other words, it's not that you are wrong, but that you have the wrong. So for example, you can have the following constructions in the various tenses:
The opposite of ho torto is ho ragione (I'm right). For example, a recent blog article was entitled Feltri ha ragione, Berlusconi ha torto (Feltri is right, Berlusconi is wrong).
Similarly, we can conjugate togliere. Although in this case ho tolto etc. does not have any special idiomatic meaning, it is just the normal way of making the past tense.
Torto is used with avere to express "being wrong". In other words, it's not that you are wrong, but that you have the wrong. So for example, you can have the following constructions in the various tenses:
- ho torto (passato prossimo: I was wrong)
- avevo torto (imperfect: I was being wrong, I used to be wrong)
- avevo avuto torto (trapassato: I had been wrong)
- ebbi torto (passato remoto: I was wrong a loooooooooooooong time ago)
- etc.
The opposite of ho torto is ho ragione (I'm right). For example, a recent blog article was entitled Feltri ha ragione, Berlusconi ha torto (Feltri is right, Berlusconi is wrong).
Similarly, we can conjugate togliere. Although in this case ho tolto etc. does not have any special idiomatic meaning, it is just the normal way of making the past tense.
- ho tolto (passato prossimo: I removed)
- avevo tolto (imperfect: I was removing, I used to remove)
- avevo avuto tolto (trapassato: I had removed)
- ebbi tolto (passato remoto: I removed a loooooooooooooong time ago)
- etc.
- mi sono tolto (passato prossimo: I took ___ away)
- mi ero tolto (imperfect: I was taking away, I used to take ___ away)
- mi ero stato tolto (trapassato: I had taken ___ away)
- mi fui tolto (passato remoto: I took ___ away a loooooooooooooong time ago)
- etc.
Ho trovato questo blog molto interessante e continuero' a tenerlo sott'occhio per future entrate educative! Anche i links alle stazioni radio sono favolose. Grazie!
ReplyDeleteHi, I've started learning Italian a while back (I speak some already, because I've been going to Italy my whole life. I've just never structurally learned the language) and I stumbled upon your blog. I see you haven't posted anything in a while, but I was wondering about something and hoped you would still answer me.
ReplyDeleteYou've showed here some past tenses (I removed, I was removing, I had removed, I removed long ago) and I wondered if there is something in between the passato prossimo and the trapassato, like 'I have removed'. I know this tense exists in English (and in my native language, Dutch), but I don't know what it is called exactly so I can't really find anything about it online.
I hope you can find the time to write me a reply :) If not, I'll keep looking around!
Love from the Netherlands!
Veerle