Today let’s look at when and where to use CAPITAL letters in English.
Oggi studieremo quando e dove usare le maiuscole in inglese.
Firstly and very importantly the first person singular subject pronoun ”I” is always capitalised. Look at a couple of examples:
•I have already seen that movie.
Io ho già visto quel film.
•Jack said that I could go on holiday with him.
Jack ha detto che sarei potuto andare in vacanza con lui.
Days of the week, months of the year and important holidays start with capital letters in English, for example:
•Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Lunedì, martedì, mercoledì
•January, February, March
Gennaio, febbraio, marzo
•Christmas, Easter
Natale, Pasqua
We also use capital letters for countries, cities, continents and monuments. Look…
•Last year I visited several cities in Spain, for example, Barcelona, where I saw the Sagrada Familia.
L’anno scorso ho visitato varie città della Spagna, ad esempio Barcellona, dove ho visto la Sagrada Familia.
•I love Big Ben in London.
Adoro il Big Ben a Londra.
•He has visited Europe and Asia.
Ha visitato l’Europa e l’Asia.
• Her favourite country is Italy.
Il suo Paese preferito è l’Italia.
We also use them for people’s names and titles. Look at some examples:
•William Shakespeare
•Mrs Jones
•Dr Smith
•Queen Elizabeth
They are also used whenever you start a new sentence or after a full stop.
• The car drove very fast. It was hard to see it in the dark.
La macchina andava molto veloce. Era difficile vederla al buio.
•Would you like more tea? No, thank you!
Vuoi un po’ di tè? No, grazie.
•My parents like to go swimming on the weekend. However, my sister prefers seeing her friends.
Ai miei piace andare a nuotare durante il fine settimana. Tuttavia mia sorella preferisce vedersi con gli amici.
Languages are also capitalised in English. Here are some examples:
•She speaks Spanish very well.
Parla molto bene lo spagnolo.
•I can’t believe how hard Chinese is. I have studied it for years and still don’t understand anything!
Non riesco a credere quanto sia difficile il cinese. Lo studio da anni e continuo a non capirci niente.
•English is a very useful language for travelling and work. ☺
L’inglese è una lingua molto utile per viaggiare e per lavoro. ☺