Learn Italian: Mio nonno mi diceva sempre parole magiche. - My grandfather always told me magical words.

Mio nonno mi diceva sempre parole magiche.

My grandfather always told me magical words.

Breakdown of Mio nonno mi diceva sempre parole magiche.

grandfather / grandparents (plural)

Questions & Answers about Mio nonno mi diceva sempre parole magiche.

Why does the verb diceva have a "c" in it if the infinitive is dire?

Dire (to say/tell) is an irregular verb in the imperfect tense (imperfetto). Instead of using its modern stem, it builds on its old Latin root, giving it the stem dice-. From there, you just add the regular imperfect endings (dicevo, dicevi, diceva, etc.). Here, diceva means "he used to say" or "he would tell".

Why is there no article before mio nonno? I thought possessives usually needed one, like il mio cane.

You are right that possessives normally need an article, but there is a major exception: singular, close family members. Because nonno (grandfather) is a family member and is singular here, you drop the article and just say mio nonno.

Why does the adjective magiche end in -che instead of just -ce?

The singular feminine form is magica (magical), which has a hard "k" sound at the end. When a feminine word ends in -ca, its plural becomes -che by adding an h. This extra h forces the "k" sound to stay. If it were spelled magice, Italians would pronounce it with a soft "ch" sound (like in "cheese").

Does mi mean "me" or "to me" in this sentence?