Italian class

This semester, I am taking Italian, as a course. It is basically the first language for which I have formal instruction, the rest of the languages I speak having learned them on my own. I had talked to the professor before, and she had told me that I could learn Italian on my own, just like I had done with the other language, because, according to her, I had a gift. I did consider that for a while. In the end, I took the decision of taking up the class, because, besides getting the credit I need for it, it is very interesting and fun.
As I expected, I do not find it very difficult, since I behold that "Romance" base of the language. The professor herself has told me that I will learn rather quickly. We discussed how speaking simply Spanish is an advantage over those people who don't speak it. There aren't many Spanish speakers in the class, but I have already noticed the intereference that Spanish language plays on them. Some examples of this would be: saying "dos" for "due", "sinquo" for "cinque", "preguntar" for "domandare", pronouncing G as in "intelligente" as the velar Spanish J. Another interesting confusion ocurred today, where a student wrote "negro" for "nero". The professor explained to us that "negro" in Italian is used solely meaning "a black person". "Negro", of course, being the usual word in Spanish for "black (color)".
Having done comparisons with other languages, I will list here some from Italian of which I am aware so far.
Like French, Italian uses "avere" (Fr. avoir) to form the past perfect with most verbs, and "essere" (Fr. être) with other verbs, that usually have to do with motion. This in contrast to Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese that use "haber", "haver" and "ter/haver", respectively, for all cases.
Sp: (Yo) he venido [literally I have come]
Pt: (Eu) tenho vindo [lit. I have come]
Ct: (Jo) he vingut [lit. I have come]
Fr: Je suis venu [lit. I am come]
It: (Io) sono venutto [lit. I am come]

A pecularity of Italian is that it forms its plural by means of shifts in the final vowel, as opposed to adding an S, as do the other languages. In the example of "thing" and "things", we have:
Sp: cosa, cosas
Pt: cosa, cosas
Ct: cosa, coses
Fr: chose, choses
It: cosa, cose
This same concept to the second person singular of the verbs, in all tenses, where in the other language it is distinguised from the third person singular by adding S, in Italian, it generally ends in I:
Sp: canta [3.p.s.], cantas[2.p.s.]
Pt: canta, cantas
Ct: canta, cantes
Fr: chante, chantes
It: canta, canti

The subject pronouns are as follow: io, tu, lui/lei, noi, voi, loro. There is no such thing as "usted" in Spanish or "vostè" in Catalan, instead, the pronoun "Lei", capitalized, is used as the formal singular address. This, literally, is "she"; therefore, even if addressing a male, one must use "lei" (she). To my understanding this does have a parallel with the Iberian "usted", where "Lei" actually makes reference to "Your lordship". "Lordship" in Romance is feminine, hence the use of "Lei". So if one speaks formally to a male professor, one will say: "Lei è simpatico", literally, She is nice.

Like Catalan and French, Italian makes use of the partitive article "ne" (Fr. en, Ct. en/ne). And the diphtong "uo", usually corresponds to the Spanish "ue": It. buono, Sp. bueno; It. scuola, Sp. escuela.

Italian seems the closest of the Romance languages to Latin. Of course, this is due to it hosting the head of the Roman empire.

I will maintain this blog updated with whatever ocurrences, apt to the theme.