Learn how to communicate using simple Italian -ire verbs in the third-and final-conjugation, such as dormire ("to sleep") and preferire ("to prefer"), among many others, in the presente indicativo tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buon giorno a tutti! Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here. Newbie Series, season 1, lesson 19 - I Prefer to Sleep in Italy! Buon giorno a tutti! Hello and welcome to Italianpod101.com. My name is Marco and I am joined here by Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Today we have nineteenth lesson of our Newbie Series. |
| Marco: This series focuses on the essentials of Italian for anyone who wants to start learning. |
| Cinzia: So our dear listeners, join us for this lesson on Italianpod101.com. Wow nineteen Newbie lessons! |
| Marco: Yes, one more and we reach venti, that is twenty. |
| Cinzia: We have covered quite a lot, haven't we? |
| Marco: We sure have, and these are only the building blocks from which we can really teach our listeners Italian! |
| Cinzia: Yes, Italian has a steep learning curve at the beginning but it is well worth it! |
| Marco: You bet it is! The focus of this lesson is the presente indicativo tense of the third conjugation verbs. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place on the streets of Italy. |
| Marco: And it is between Laura and John. |
| Cinzia: The speakers are friends, therefore they will be speaking informal Italian. Don't forget to press the center button on your ipod to see the lesson transcript in your display. |
| DIALOGUE |
| John: Ciao Laura. |
| Laura: Ciao John. |
| John: Cosa fai stasera? |
| Laura: Dormo! |
| John: Dormi? |
| Laura: Si domani parto per Firenze. |
| John: Parti presto? |
| Laura: Si preferisco partire presto. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| John: Ciao Laura. |
| Laura: Ciao John. |
| John: Cosa fai stasera? |
| Laura: Dormo! |
| John: Dormi? |
| Laura: Si domani parto per Firenze. |
| John: Parti presto? |
| Laura: Si preferisco partire presto. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| John: Ciao Laura. |
| Marco: Hi, Laura. |
| Laura: Ciao John. |
| Marco: Hi, John. |
| John: Cosa fai stasera? |
| Marco: What are you doing this evening? |
| Laura: Dormo! |
| Marco: I am sleeping. |
| John: Dormi? |
| Marco: You are sleeping? |
| Laura: Si domani parto per Firenze. |
| Marco: Yes, tomorrow I am leaving for Florence. |
| John: Parti presto? |
| Marco: Are you leaving early? |
| Laura: Si preferisco partire presto. |
| Marco: Yes, I prefer to leave early. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: So Cinzia, do you do the same as Laura, do you wake up early in the morning when you're leaving for some nice exotic place? |
| Cinzia: Well, actually no. I don't do the same of Laura because I stay up all night, simply. |
| Marco: You mean you don't even go to sleep? |
| Cinzia: No I just don't go to sleep. |
| Marco: Well, that's one way to wake up on time, I'm sure... |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course, because I don't need to set the alarm, I don't need to wake up and get nervous before leaving, so I'm not worried about losing the trains or the airplanes... |
| Marco: Yes... Trains in Italy, we shall talk about them in future lessons, I'm sure. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at today’s vocabulary. |
| Marco: First |
| Cinzia: stasera [natural native speed] |
| Marco: tonight |
| Cinzia: stasera [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: stasera [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: dormire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to sleep |
| Cinzia: dormire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: dormire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: domani [natural native speed] |
| Marco: tomorrow |
| Cinzia: domani [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: domani [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: partire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to leave, to start, to take off |
| Cinzia: partire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: partire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: presto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: early |
| Cinzia: presto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: presto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: And last word |
| Cinzia: preferire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to prefer |
| Cinzia: preferire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: preferire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Now, stasera, one of our listeners asked us about stasera, didn’t she? |
| Cinzia: Yes, Yes, I remember her, she’s Dap, isn’t she? |
| Marco: Yes, well, her username is Dap, we don’t know her real name. |
| Cinzia: Oh well, yes, but I remember her comment about stasera and questa sera. So Marco, do you know the difference between stasera and questa sera? |
| Marco: Questa sera they are two separate words. |
| Cinzia: Exactly. |
| Marco: And stasera is one word. |
| Cinzia: Yes, it’s one word, and it comes from questa sera. Questa has become sta because we cut off que, and we joined sta with sera. So we have stasera. |
| Marco: What about the usage, can they both be used the same way? |
| Cinzia: Oh, well, I think the usage is the same, but maybe you can find questa sera more often in the formal speech. |
| Marco: Yes. Well, anything that get contracted, I think in any language, actually, is more, let’s say informal, more young style. So you will always hear Cinzia talking stasera and every short... |
| Cinzia: Sì, usciamo stasera. |
| Marco: That means “Yes, let’s go out tonight.” |
| Cinzia: OK, let’s move on. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: So now let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. The first word we will look at is stasera. |
| Marco: Can you give us an example sentence please? |
| Cinzia: Stasera usciamo? |
| Marco: Shall we go out tonight? |
| Cinzia: But not me and you Marco. |
| Marco: I'm sure about that! |
| Cinzia: Ahahah! |
| Cinzia: OK. The next word is dormire. |
| Marco: Let’s have an example. |
| Cinzia: Il gatto dorme. |
| Marco: The cat is sleeping. |
| Cinzia: Next word is domani |
| Marco: One example please. |
| Cinzia: A domani! |
| Marco: See you tomorrow! This is a common way to say goodbye isn't it? |
| Cinzia: Yes, it's a common way to say goodbye but it is used when you are going to meet the persone the next day. |
| Marco: So because I'm gonna see you in the office tomorrow I can say |
| Cinzia: Certo Marco, of course. |
| Marco: Ok then, let's move on! |
| Cinzia: The next word we will see is partire |
| Marco: And the example is? |
| Cinzia: Domani parto per Roma |
| Marco: Tomorrow I am leaving for Rome. And listeners please be careful, because just as in English we use to leave for and then the place, in Italian we would use... |
| Cinzia: ... partire per and then the place. |
| Marco: So in the phrase we have just seen |
| Cinzia: I am leaving for Rome. |
| Marco: So per in this case is translated exactly as for. |
| Cinzia: Benissimo Marco. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will see is presto. |
| Marco: And the example is? |
| Cinzia: Il lunedi esco presto! |
| Marco: Mondays I have to go out early! Yes, mondays we always have to go out early... It's raining on mondays. Not every monday... |
| Cinzia: No... not every monday, but it's a hard work to wake up early... |
| Marco: And recently it's been raining so much in Italy. |
| Cinzia: Oh yes! |
| Marco: I mean the area near Torino, Turin, fludded. |
| Cinzia: Yes, in Piemonte... a very bad situation, I hope it gets better Marco. |
| Marco: Hope so too. Anyway the summer is just around the corner, let's hope it dries everything up. |
| Cinzia: Oh yes, and let's go to the beach everyone! |
| Marco: Yay! |
| Cinzia: The last word we will see is preferire. |
| Marco: And the example is? |
| Cinzia: Io preferisco viaggiare che lavorare. |
| Marco: I prefer travelling to working. Don't we all? |
| Cinzia: Of course, especially me! |
| Cinzia: Ok then, this wraps it up for the vocabulary usage. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: As for the other two conjugations, the third conjugation presente indicativo is realized by taking out the verb’s stem. |
| Marco: Yes, but I'm sure our listeners know it already by heart, but let's repeat it one last time I hope. The verb's stem is what we are left with when we take out the ending -ire from the infinitive. |
| Cinzia: and adding the endings presented in the scheme below. |
| Marco: Let’s take the regular verb dormire. |
| Io dorm-o “I sleep” |
| Tu dorm-i “You sleep” |
| Egli/lei dorm-e “He/she/it sleeps” |
| Noi dorm-iamo “We sleep” |
| Voi dorm-ite “You sleep” |
| Loro dorm-ono “They sleep” |
| Cinzia: And, Marco, don’t forget also partire, “to leave”, which we have seen in the dialogue, follows the above pattern. |
| Marco: Yes I won’t forget, and not even our listeners will forget. I’m sure. |
| Cinzia: Benissimo. |
| Marco: Now, a great number of regular verbs of the third conjugation add, let’s say, an interfix, that is a group of letters just between the stem and the conjugation. Now, listeners, it’s all so complex in words, but let’s just see the conjugation, and it’ll be all so clear. Cinzia, take it from here. |
| Cinzia: Let’s see the verb preferire. |
| Io prefer-isc-o “I prefer” |
| Tu prefer-isc-i “You prefer” |
| Egli/lei prefer-isc-e “He/she/it prefers” |
| Noi prefer-iamo “We prefer” |
| Voi prefer-ite “You prefer” |
| Loro prefer-isc-ono “They prefer” |
| Cinzia: I see some differences, Marco. |
| Marco: Compared to, for example, dormire. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Certainly. Now, dormire, the stem was dorm, and then we add the conjugation at the end. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: In this case, the stem is prefer, but in some case we have to add the... |
| Cinzia: -isc. |
| Marco: Yes, the -isc interfix. |
| Cinzia: Oh, yes. |
| Marco: And then at the end, we add the conjugation. |
| Cinzia: And what are the cases? |
| Marco: Well, the cases where we have to add the -isc interfix are the first, second, and third person singular, and the third person plural. Let’s hear them again, Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: And slowly, please. |
| Cinzia: Io prefer-isc-o |
| Marco: “I prefer” |
| Cinzia: Tu prefer-isc-i |
| Marco: “You prefer” |
| Cinzia: Egli/lei prefer-isc-e |
| Marco: “He/she/it prefers” |
| Marco: And finally, |
| Cinzia: Loro prefer-isc-ono |
| Marco: “They prefer”. So please remember, only these four cases have this -isc interfix just between there. But the conjugation doesn’t change. If you check the PDF you’ll certainly see the differences but the pattern is actually very very simple. |
| Cinzia: Ok, Marco. Thank you for your great explanation. And please note that this form applies exclusively to the present indicative, present subjunctive and imperative. |
| Marco: All that grammar from your lips is incredible. |
| Cinzia: In fact, I feel like I’m boring. |
| Marco: No, no, no, no. One last thing for our students, now there is no general rule to distinguish between the normal, let’s say, verbs of the third conjugation, and the... |
| Cinzia: Oh! How many difficult things! |
| Marco: and the verbs of the third conjugation that need this -isc interfix. So the best way is to… |
| Cinzia: Listen to us, for example! |
| Marco: Yes, or if they can’t listen to us every single moment, check on a good dictionary. But I’m sure that our listeners with a little bit of practice will learn them by heart. Right? |
Outro |
| Cinzia: Yes, Marco.OK, This wraps up today's lesson. |
| Marco: Don't forget to try out the Italian Review in the Learning Center, where you'll find test questions, answers and comments on the answers. |
| Cinzia: It's a great way to start practicing on your own |
| Marco: Ok. See you again tomorrow! |
| Cinzia: Ci vediamo. |
| Marco: Ciao! |
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