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Sicilian

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Cursu di lingua siciliana
Sicilian language course

Sicilian (Sicilianu) is a Romance language of Italy, mostly spoken in Sicily. Sicilian dialects (or dialects comprising the Italiano meridionale-estremo language group) are spoken on the island of Sicily (and all of its satellite islands), as well as in the southern and central sections of Calabria ("southern Calabro") and Puglia ("Salentino") on the Italian mainland. Ethnologue (see section below) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language".


The Alphabet

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a b c d e f g h i j l m n o p q r s t u v z


Doubled consonants

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Sicilian with along a Italian
Sicilian (USA version)

Sicilian has a lot of words that begin with doubled consonants but the ones that are written are:

cci nni cchiù dda ddi ddu ssa ssi ssu ccà ḍḍòcu ḍḍà

S'attròvanu puru ddi paroli chi pirderu la vucali, lassannu cunzunanti duppricati ô principiu di na palora, p'asempiu: mmeci; mmernu; nnuccenti; mmàggini; llustrari; ecc.

Articles

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Definite:

lu la li (l') with elision of l, they become:
u a i (l') (in the spoken language)

Indefinite:

un o nu nu na (n')
un cavaddu nu zìu/nu scantu na fìmmina n’abbitùdini

Unu (masculine) and una (feminine) are used as cardinal numbers and as articles.

Simple prepositions

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a cu 'n di tra pi nna nni nta ntra senza supra sutta

Pripusizzioni cumposti

These prepositions may be joined with the definite article:

Prepositions: + Article: lu = + Article: la = + Article: li = + Article: un =
a ô â ê ôn
cu chî c'un
di d'un
pi p'un
nni nnû nnâ nnî nn'un
nna/nta nnô/ntô nnâ/ntâ nnê/ntê nn'un/nt'un
ntra ntrô ntrâ ntrê ntr'un

Adverbs

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Of place:

sutta supra ccà ddà unni ntunnu dintra avanti vicinu versu allatu

Of time:

doppu ora aieri oi dumani quannu mai mentri nzinu

Of quantity:

abbastanza picca assai menu cchiù tantu anticchia

Of manner:

comu beni accussì nùtili ammucciuni diversamenti

Other adverbs:

siccomu dunca macari avanti prìmisi mmenzu mmeci

Conjunctions

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e puru sparti però mancu ancora anchi ma pirchì sippuru mmeci

The apostrophe

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The apostrophe is a graphic sign that is used when two vowels meet. Nna lu casu di eliminazzioni naturali di na vucali chi si trova a principiu di parola, nun è nicissariu usari l'apòstrufu, picchì, secunnu Giorgiu Piccittu anchi senza l'apòstrufu la parola si capisci lu stissu e livannu l'apòstrufu, quannu si pò, si elìminanu tutti sti signali nni la lingua scritta. Pi la stissa raggiuni, sempri secunnu Piccittu, l'apòstrofu nun s'havi mai a usari mancu nni la cuntrazzioni di l'artìculu nditerminativu picchì lu senzu è chiaru:

               na                nu
                                                       

Words that begin with i, where the i is lost, as said before, the apostrophe isn't used to demonstrate the loss of the vowel:

Mpurtanti; Nnuccenti; Nzignanti; Ntattu; Ntisu; Mparari.

So, we can say that the articles la, lu, li and pronouns la, lu, li, take the apostrophe as demonstrative adjectives ddu, dda, ddi, stu, sta, sti, ssa, ssu, ssi. The personal pronouns ti, nni, vi, and reflexives si and cci may take apostrophe too. If cci meets a, o, u it doesn't take the apostrophe.

Other phrases where the apostrophe may be used:

C'avem'a fari = chi avemu a fari
C'avem'a diri = chi avemu a diri

Verbs

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The verb is the most important part of speech. The verbs are divided in: regulars, irregulars, transitives, intransitives, reflexives, defectives and modals. Sicilian has one verb that is auxiliary.

Auxiliary Verbs

Regular Verbs

Irregular Verbs

Other Special Forms

See also:

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Other links:

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Sites where you can find good examples of sicilian standard:

Common phrases

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English Sicilian
Yes
No No
Thank you Grazzî
Please Pi favuri
What is your name? Comu ti chiami?
What time is it? Chi ura sunnu?
I don’t know Nun lu sacciu
Goodbye Nni videmu