Listen and repeat.

C’era una volta
Once upon a time

C’era una volta una strega buona
There was once a good witch

cattivo / cattiveria
wicked / wickedness

Nelle favole le streghe sono spesso cattive
In fairy tales witches are often evil

felice / felicità
happy / happiness

Eravamo così felici nel villaggio
We were so happy in the village

infelice / infelicità
unhappy / unhappiness

La cattiveria della gente mi rende infelice
People’s wickedness makes (renders) me unhappy

allegro / allegria
cheerful / cheerfulness

E i bambini non erano più allegri come prima
And kids were not as cheerful as before anymore

triste / tristezza
sad / sadness

Genoveffa era triste perché la gente la giudicava solo per il suo aspetto
Genoveffa was sad because people judged her only by her appearance

debole / debolezza
weak / weakness

Le fate nel bosco erano deboli e indifese
The fairies in the woods were weak and helpless

forte / forza
strong / strength

Gli gnomi del villaggio erano piccoli, ma forti
The gnomes in the village were small, but strong

lento / lentezza
slow / slowness

In passato i carri erano lenti
In the past carts were slow

veloce / velocità
fast / speed

Oggi i mezzi di trasporto sono molto veloci
Today means of transportation are very fast

fortunato / fortuna
lucky / luck

In passato la vita era semplice. Eravamo fortunati.
In the past, life was simple. We were lucky.

sfortunato / sfortuna
unlucky / bad luck

Uno specchio rotto porta sfortuna
A broken mirror brings bad luck

NOMI ASTRATTI E SUFFISSI

In Italian, nouns that refer to abstract concepts are usually used in combination with their definite article:

• La fortuna aiuta i coraggiosi = Luck helps the brave
• L’amore è un bellissimo sentimento = Love is a beautiful feeling

Some of these nouns are formed from their corresponding adjectives by dropping the last vowel and by adding some specific endings (lento – lentezza). Sometimes we need to slightly modify the adjective before adding these endings (buono – bontà; forte – forza).

The most common endings for abstract nouns are:

-eria

-ità

-ezza

-ia