Domini Lucas May 29, 2023:

@Rosario You're very welcome. :-)

Rosario Liberto (asker) May 29, 2023:

Thanks a lot again Domini Lucas for clearing it up.

Domini Lucas May 27, 2023:

now, ... Also, now..., at the beginning of a sentence, is a filler word meaning something like, so... and may sometimes equate to something like allora in Italian. However, as I said earlier, I'm not an Italian speaker, so best double check my Italian.

Domini Lucas May 27, 2023:

bitesize link vs. your query This is rushed as I'm between things but in case it helps:
Your recipe link is imperative, giving instructions. And it hasn't happened yet. It equates to:
First=step 1; next/then = step 2; finally = the last/final step.

The ungrammatical bitesize link (which is for the very young so in simplified language) is referring to something that has happened between the past and present:
a) What happened first - 6 owls on the branch (meaning originally, in the past)
b) Then what happened - 2 flew away (in the past)
c) How many are there now (at this moment in the present after a) and b) have happened).

That's a rough synopsis.

Also no urgency, as I read it. Just fact.

Rosario Liberto (asker) May 27, 2023:

Very interesting.....how would you rephrase that?

Tony M May 27, 2023:

@ Asker That example is rather curious — and arguably ungrammatical!
'Now there were...' is definitely odd, and I don't think this is a good example of satisfactory style; it is also made slightly artificial by the format of the text overall. I wouldn't use this as an example of proper usage. Plus, it is not really a good example even of a sequence of events, quite different from your recipe example.

Rosario Liberto (asker) May 27, 2023:

Well, in Italian '' now is the moment to adjust the seasoning if necessary to taste '' can have a final effect, although it doesn't happen in English. Another thing, I think that the three sequence adverbs I was meaning may be used in a story, as well in instructions as shown at the following link in the middle of the page where there are three strawberries. Please, take a look and let me know.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwv39j6/articles/zxkbs...

Tony M May 27, 2023:

@ Asker Possibly; but that doesn't really affect the sense of 'now' if used in this way.
There is no sense of 'finality' to now; in the way you are trying to use it, it effectively means the same as 'next'. I think you have got the wrong idea as to what you think it really means.

Rosario Liberto (asker) May 27, 2023:

Thanks Tony. So, if I have understood well from your example, after the part ' now is the moment to adjust the seasoning if necessary to taste ' , there must be another paragraph starting for example with ' After that ' or ' Finally ' depending on the instructions to be given, right?

Tony M May 27, 2023:

@ Asker There's a fine distinction to be made here in the sense of 'now':
in your list of instructions, it would tend to suddenly 'fix' the sequence in a specific present time — as I said, as if it meant 'now, as you are reading this...' I don't believe this is the same sense you are trying to achieve to render 'adesso'
However, without the imperatives, one might understand a 'softer' sense of 'now', as part of a sequence, as in for example "now is the moment to adjust the seasoning if necessary to taste" — referring to a specific moment in time, but within the sequence of actions.

Domini Lucas May 27, 2023:

@Rosario You're welcome. :-)

Rosario Liberto (asker) May 27, 2023:

Thanks again!

Domini Lucas May 27, 2023:

immediacy finally doesn't have a sense of immediacy. It describes the last thing to be done at the end of a sequence.

I think there is a confusion here re what you're trying to achieve with this sentence.

In this instance in English there is no immediacy. It is a sequence and that is how we use it. It may be that there is no direct translation equivalent between the immediacy you use in Italian in this context and the sequence we use in English.

If you are wanting to know whether you can use now for adesso when it has a sense of immediacy in other Italian contexts, I think you will need to look at that separately.

We don't use now in English in a sequence of this kind and/or written recipes.