I. THE BASICS. 1. Why You Should Study Italian. You Love Life. Get Real. Getting Wet. There's Nothing to Stop You. 2. Immerse Yourself. Latin Lovers. So What's Your Story? How Much Italian Is Enough? Your Dictionary Is Your Best Friend. Speak Easy. It All Depends on How You Look at. What's the Object; Who's the Subject? Drawing from Esperienza. Read It, Write It, Say. 3. Sound Like an Italian. Italian Pronunciation. Your ABCs. Don't Get Stressed Out. Rolling Your R's. The Long and the Short of It: Vowels. The Hard and Soft of It: Consonants. Give Me the Combo. Dipthongs. Double Consonants. A Is for Ancona. Get Help! Patience and Practice Pay Off. 4. You Know More Than You Think. Cognates: A Bridge Between Languages. If It Looks Like a Duck. Nouns. Trojan Horses-False Friends. Verb Cognates. Put It All Together. 5. Expressively Yours. How Do You Do? Communications. I Giorni: Days. I Mesi: Months. Expressing Your Honest Opinion. Idiomatically Speaking. Idiomatic Expressions in Italian. It's All in the Details. What's Your Opinion? Seventh Heaven. 6. Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex. Determining Gender: He Versus She. An Article Is Not What You Read in a Newspaper. Singular Nouns. Rules Are Made to Be Broken. More Is Better: Making Plurals. 7. What's the Subject? Your Loyal Subject. Subject Pronouns. You and You and You. II. YOU'RE OFF AND RUNNING. 8. An Action-Packed Adventure. All in the Family. The -are Family. The -ere Verbs. Practice Makes Perfetto II. The -ire Family. The -ire Verbs (Group I). More -ire Verbs (Group II). Asking Questions. 9. Being There. The Birds and the Be's. The Verb Essere. The Verb Stare. Essere vs. Stare: What's the Difference? C'e and Ci sono (There Is, There Are). It's Time to Have Some Fun: Avere. Professionally Speaking. In My Professional Opinion. So, What's Your Story? We, the People. Ecco! 10. Tell Me About Your Childhood. One of the Famiglia. Are You Possessed? Using Di to Show Possession. Possessive Adjectives. A Sense of Belonging. It's Good to Know. Making Introductions. Who Is Who. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Bello and Quello. Buono. How Do You Do: Adverbs. 11. Finally, You're at the Airport. On the Plane. On the Inside. Going Crazy: The Verb Andare. Prepositions: Sticky Stuff. Contractions. The Imperative: Giving Directions. Dazed and Confused. Passively Yours: Si. La Dogana (Customs). 12. Moving Around. Hoofing and Spinning. Which One? On the Road. Baby, I Got Your Number. It's Not What You Do, but with Whom You Do It. Questions, Questions. Ask Away. Getting On with Salire. Things to Do: The Verb Fare (to Do; to Make). 13. Hallelujah, You've Made It to l'Hotel. A Cave Will Do. Who's on First? Feeling Moody: The Modal Verbs. Infinitive Verbs and Prepositions. A Review of the Irregular Verbs. 14. Rain or Shine. Talking About the Weather: Che Tempo Fa? Il Clima: The Climate. La Temperatura: What's Hot and What's Not. The Four Seasons. Buon Viaggio! It's a Date! What Century? Do You Have un Appuntamento? How Often? From What Realm Are You? What's Your Sign? III. FUN AND GAMES. 15. I Can't Believe My Eyes! Seeing Is Believing. Let's Go Visit, Find, See, Look At... Critters. More Irregular Verbs. The Power of Suggestion. How About...? The Big, Blue Marble. Once Upon a Time. Present Progressive Tense (-ing). Making Progress. 16. Shop 'Til You Drop. Stores Galore. The Stationery Store: La Cartoleria. The Florist. Objection! Objectify Me, Baby. 17. Bread, Wine, and Chocolate. To Market, to Market. Expressing Quantity. What's Your Pleasure? The Verb Piacere. A Special Treat. 18. Shall We Dine? So Many Restaurants. Double Object Pronouns. You've Got Good Reflexes. Reciprocity. 19. Having Fun Italian Style. Name Your Game. The Arts. Il Passato Prossimo (the Present Perfect). IV. TROUBLE IN PARADISE. 20. You're Not Having Un Buon Giorno. Get Down to the Basics. Stressed Out. Comparatives and Superlatives. Ci and Vi. 21. Is There a Doctor in the House? What a Bod! La Profumeria (The Cosmetics Store). I Was What I Was: The Imperfect. 22. Can You Read Me? Il Telefono. Just the Fax. Rain or Shine: The Post Office. Che Sara Sara: The Future. The Future Perfect. 23. Home Sweet Home. Your Home Away from Home. That Would Be Nice: The Conditional Tense. What Would You Have? 24. Money Matters. Bank on It. The Wheel of Life. Everyone Has Needs: Il Congiuntivo (The Subjunctive). Practice Makes Perfetto. V. APPENDIXES. Appendix A. Answer Key. Appendix B. Glossary. Appendix C. Map of Italy. Appendix D. An Idiot's Guide to Additional Resources. Index.