He stared at the page on the passato remoto . In Milan, he rarely used it, preferring the comfortable passato prossimo . But his professor, a stern woman named Signora Moretti, insisted that to understand the soul of Italy, one had to master its furthest reaches.
"Marco," she said, leaning over his shoulder. "The language is like an engine. You cannot just use the gears that are easy. You must use the ones that provide the most power."
He turned to a fresh page in his notebook and wrote his first perfect sentence in the conditional tense: "Vorrei un altro bicchiere di vino, per favore."
He stared at the page on the passato remoto . In Milan, he rarely used it, preferring the comfortable passato prossimo . But his professor, a stern woman named Signora Moretti, insisted that to understand the soul of Italy, one had to master its furthest reaches.
"Marco," she said, leaning over his shoulder. "The language is like an engine. You cannot just use the gears that are easy. You must use the ones that provide the most power."
He turned to a fresh page in his notebook and wrote his first perfect sentence in the conditional tense: "Vorrei un altro bicchiere di vino, per favore."