Li misi di l’annu: Innàru January Frivàru February Màrzu March Aprìli April Màiu May Giùgnu June Lùgliu July Aùstu August Sittèmmiru September Ottùviru October Nuvèmmiru November Dicèmmiru December The days of the week: Lùnniri Monday Màrtiri Tuesday Mèrcuri Wednesday Iòviri Thurday Vènniri Friday Sàbatu Saturday Dumìnica Sunday The seasons of the year: […]
Alteration of the Participle The Sicilian language alters the past participle in the same way alters the nouns with the diminutive, augmentative and pejorative forms: Dispiràtu desperate dispiratèddu a little desperate dispiratùni very desperate dispiratàzzu badly desperate Com’ è lu tempu? Canciatèddu. How is the weather? A little changed. Sì nn’iu tô soru? Sì […]
Sicilian verbs have three conjugations the first with ending in ari: Parràri to speak Manciàri to eat Fumàri to smoke The second with the ending in iri short: Ricìviri to receive Scrìviri to write Rispùnniri to answer Finìri to finish Sippillìri to bury Durmìri to sleep Some of these verbs can be interchanged from […]
Verbs: Auxiliary The auxiliary verbs are two: Avìri To have Èssiri To be They are called auxiliary because they help the main verb: Aiu manciàtu I have eaten Sugnu sudàtu I am sweating In Sicilian this form, which is called present perfect, is not much used, instead the preterite is used in most […]
Demostrative Pronouns The demostrative pronouns are: Chistu chista this (near me) Chissu chissa that (near you) Chiddu chidda that (away from us) Chistu nun mi piàci vògghiu chiddu I do not like this, I want that Prefirìsciu chistu a chiddu I prefer this one to that one Chissa nun mi piàci I do no […]
Adjectives Adjective is a modifier, that is it modifies the noun and it agrees with the noun in number and gender. Generally, for the masculine and feminine, they follow the same rules as the nouns. The adjective in Sicilian usually follows the noun, as in: La casa bedda The beautiful house Lu muru autu The […]
The words in the Sicilian language have a gender, that is words refer to objects as if they were feminine or masculine. It is not a gender in the anatomic sense of the word, but a grammatical gender. As a general rule the masculine nouns end in u, as in: Trenu train Muru wall Ferru […]
n Sicilian we have adverbs of place: sutta (under), supra (above,on), ccà (here), ddà (there), unni (where( etc. Mi mìsiru sutta lu ponti They put me under the bridge Iu ddà nun ci iava I was not going to go there Mi mannàru unni c’era pirìculu They sent me where it was dangerous Of time: doppu […]
Articles The Sicilian articles divide into two types, definite: lu, la, li, (the) and indefinite nu, na (a, an). These articles, as the nouns they describe, have a gender, they can be feminine: la (singular), li (plural), and masculine: lu (singular), li (plural). The indefinite nu, masculine, na, feminine, are always singular. Lu cavàddu the […]
A treaties in Sicilian orthography does not exist. Because of the strong influence of other languages, the Sicilian language has been in evolution, maybe, more than any other language. As a matter of fact after quite sometime of the last linguistic imposition, which was the Italian language, we have, what we can call, the first […]
The Vowels Phonetic The vowels in the Sicilian language are five: a, e, i, o, u . These vowels can have a short sound or a long one, according to the position they occupy in the word in which they are located. When these vowels have an accent at the end of the word, […]
According to G. Piccitto the orthography of the Sicilian language should be determined by the pronunciation of the spoken language. This will all be well and good, but in any language we find dialects, or inflections and slang.