Learn how to make comparisons in Italian using "less than"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Ciao a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 1. Italian Comparisons: He’s in Less Trouble Than I Am? Hello and welcome to the lower intermediate series, season 2 at italianpod101.com where we study modern Italian in a fun, educational format. |
| Cinzia: So brush up on the Italian that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
| Marco: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Cinzia, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Cinzia: In this lesson, we will study the comparativo di minoranza, comparative of minority. |
| Marco: This conversation takes place in a grocery store. |
| Cinzia: And it’s between Giulia and Manuel. |
| Marco: They are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal Italian. Now before we listen to the conversation |
| Cinzia: We want to ask |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Cinzia: We received an email about the study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you’ve tried it and if so |
| Cinzia: What do you think of it? |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comments section for this lesson. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Manuel: Ora prendiamo un po’ di carne. |
| Giulia: OK. Cosa ti piace? |
| Manuel: Mi piace il maiale. Cosa ne dici di queste fette? |
| Giulia: No, prendi queste, sono meno grasse. |
| Manuel: Ora vorrei del pollo. Questo com’è? |
| Giulia: Questo petto di pollo mi sembra meno fresco di quello. |
| Manuel: Allora prendo quello. |
| Giulia: Bravo. |
| Manuel: Tutto merito della mia insegnante. |
| Giulia: Grazie. |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Manuel: Ora prendiamo un po’ di carne. |
| Giulia: OK. Cosa ti piace? |
| Manuel: Mi piace il maiale. Cosa ne dici di queste fette? |
| Giulia: No, prendi queste, sono meno grasse. |
| Manuel: Ora vorrei del pollo. Questo com’è? |
| Giulia: Questo petto di pollo mi sembra meno fresco di quello. |
| Manuel: Allora prendo quello. |
| Giulia: Bravo. |
| Manuel: Tutto merito della mia insegnante. |
| Giulia: Grazie. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Manuel: Ora prendiamo un po’ di carne. |
| Manuel: Now, let’s get some meat. |
| Giulia: OK. Cosa ti piace? |
| Giulia: Okay, what do you like? |
| Manuel: Mi piace il maiale. Cosa ne dici di queste fette? |
| Manuel: I like pork. What do you think about these slices? |
| Giulia: No, prendi queste, sono meno grasse. |
| Giulia: No, take these. They have less fat. |
| Manuel: Ora vorrei del pollo. Questo com’è? |
| Manuel: Now, I’d like some chicken. How’s this? |
| Giulia: Questo petto di pollo mi sembra meno fresco di quello. |
| Giulia: This chicken breast looks less fresh than that one. |
| Manuel: Allora prendo quello. |
| Manuel: Then I’ll get that one. |
| Giulia: Bravo. |
| Giulia: Good. |
| Manuel: Tutto merito della mia insegnante. |
| Manuel: It’s all thanks to my teacher. |
| Giulia: Grazie. |
| Giulia: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Whenever I think about Italian meat, I think of Firenze and Toscana. |
| Cinzia: Well I can understand why. It is after all very famous for its meat cuts. |
| Marco: Yes, especially the bistecca alla fiorentina, the fiorentina steak, a thick succulent porterhouse cut. |
| Cinzia: Do you remember the Mad Cow disease scare in the 90s? |
| Marco: Oh, sure I do! |
| Cinzia: Well from 1996 to 2001, fiorentina steak was outlawed in Italy. |
| Marco: Oh yeah but now we and all our listeners can eat it again. |
| Cinzia: So if you go to Firenze, try it out! |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we shall take a look at is |
| Cinzia: Carne. |
| Marco: Meat, flesh. |
| Cinzia: Carne. Carne. |
| Marco: Next word is |
| Cinzia: Maiale. |
| Marco: Pig, pork. |
| Cinzia: Maiale. Maiale |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Fetta. |
| Marco: Slice, cut, piece. |
| Cinzia: Fetta. Fetta |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Cinzia: Pollo. |
| Marco: Chicken. |
| Cinzia: Pollo. Pollo. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Petto. |
| Marco: Chest, breast, bosom. |
| Cinzia: Petto. Petto. |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Cinzia: Insegnante. |
| Marco: Teacher. |
| Cinzia: Insegnante. Insegnante |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is carne. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: I vegetariani non mangiano la carne. |
| Marco: Vegetarians don’t eat meat. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is maiale. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: I maiali sono animali intelligenti. |
| Marco: Pigs are intelligent animals. |
| Cinzia: Next we have fetta. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Mangio una fetta di torta. |
| Marco: I eat a slice of cake. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is pollo. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Mi piace il pollo fritto. |
| Marco: I like fried chicken. |
| Cinzia: Next we have petto. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: Compro dei petti di pollo. |
| Marco: I buy some chicken breasts. |
| Cinzia: And today’s last word is insegnante. |
| Marco: So the last sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: La mia insegnante è giovane. |
| Marco: My teacher is young. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Cinzia: Similarly to the comparativo di maggioranza, the comparativo di minoranza |
| Marco: Comparative of minority |
| Cinzia: Is realized by inserting the adverb “meno” before the adjective or adverb and the preposition Di or Che right after it. |
| Marco: There can be more than one adjective or adverb. Let’s see some examples. |
| Cinzia: La tua bicicletta è meno costosa della mia. |
| Marco: Your bicycle is less expensive than mine. Please note that Della is made up of Di plus La. |
| Cinzia: Le strade moderne sono meno sicure di quelle antiche. |
| Marco: Modern roads are less safe than the old ones. |
| Cinzia: Lucia e Camilla sono meno gentili e disponibili di Maria e Antonietta. |
| Marco: Lucia and Camilla are less kind and helpful than Maria and Antonietta. Here is a learning tip. Although we could theoretically use the comparativo di minoranza when comparing adverbs, it sounds a bit odd. |
| Cinzia: Italians tend to use the comparativo di maggioranza instead, switching the two terms of comparison. |
| Marco: For instance |
| Cinzia: Carlo parla meno velocemente di me. |
| Marco: Carlo speaks less fast than me. |
| Cinzia: That means: io parlo più velocemente di Carlo. |
| Marco: I speak faster than Carlo. The rules regarding the usage of Che instead of Di explained in previous lessons fully apply to the comparativo di minoranza. |
| Cinzia: For example, sono meno legato al lavoro che alla famiglia. |
| Marco: Literally I am less fond of work than family. The second term of comparison is a noun preceded by a preposition. |
| Cinzia: Penso che sia meno utile spendere che risparmiare. |
| Marco: I think that spending is less useful than saving. Comparison of two verbs. |
| Cinzia: Tu reagisci più lentamente che correttamente. |
| Marco: Literally you react more slowly than correctly. The second term of comparison is an adverb. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about the way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Cinzia: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Cinzia: Record your voice with a click of a button |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Cinzia: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers |
| Cinzia: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. Ciao a tutti. |
| Cinzia: Ciao. |
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