Learn the congiuntivo (subjunctive), delving into the difference regarding its employment in the formal and informal speech
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 13. Learn How to Compliment a Woman in Italian. |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone. I am Consuelo and welcome to italianpod101. |
| Marco: With us, you learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Consuelo: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In today’s class, we continue our explanation regarding the congiuntivo, subjunctive, delving into the difference regarding its employment in the formal and informal speech. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place in a car. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Manuel and Giulia. |
| Consuelo: The speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informally. |
| Marco: Now before we listen to the conversation. |
| Consuelo: We want to ask |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen. |
| Consuelo: We received an email about the study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you’ve tried it and if so |
| Consuelo: What do you think of it? |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Manuel: Perché ti guardi allo specchio di continuo? |
| Giulia: Beh, non sono molto convinta della mia nuova pettinatura. Il mio parrucchiere è così incompetente! |
| Manuel: Ma cosa dici? Penso che tu sei bella così! |
| Giulia: Forse volevi dire penso che tu sia bella così, non sai neanche parlare italiano! Poi che ne sai tu di acconciature da donna? |
| Manuel: Hai ragione, forse non so molto di pettinature, ma so ancora riconoscere bene una bella donna! |
| Giulia: Oh Manuel, grazie. Comunque mi preferivo prima, li ha tagliati troppo. Adesso però pensa a guidare che gli altri ci aspettano. |
| Manuel: Ok, ma non dobbiamo correre. Non siamo in ritardo. |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Manuel: Perché ti guardi allo specchio di continuo? |
| Giulia: Beh, non sono molto convinta della mia nuova pettinatura. Il mio parrucchiere è così incompetente! |
| Manuel: Ma cosa dici? Penso che tu sei bella così! |
| Giulia: Forse volevi dire penso che tu sia bella così, non sai neanche parlare italiano! Poi che ne sai tu di acconciature da donna? |
| Manuel: Hai ragione, forse non so molto di pettinature, ma so ancora riconoscere bene una bella donna! |
| Giulia: Oh Manuel, grazie. Comunque mi preferivo prima, li ha tagliati troppo. Adesso però pensa a guidare che gli altri ci aspettano. |
| Manuel: Ok, ma non dobbiamo correre. Non siamo in ritardo. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Manuel: Perché ti guardi allo specchio di continuo? |
| Manuel: Why do you continuously look at yourself in the mirror? |
| Giulia: Beh, non sono molto convinta della mia nuova pettinatura. Il mio parrucchiere è così incompetente! |
| Giulia: Well, I'm not so convinced about my new hairstyle. My hairdresser is such an incompetent! |
| Manuel: Ma cosa dici? Penso che tu sei bella così! |
| Manuel: What are you talking about? I think you are cute like the way you are! |
| Giulia: Forse volevi dire penso che tu sia bella così, non sai neanche parlare italiano! Poi che ne sai tu di acconciature da donna? |
| Giulia: You probably mean I think you are beautiful the way you are, you can't even speak Italian! But then what do you know about women's hairstyles? |
| Manuel: Hai ragione, forse non so molto di pettinature, ma so ancora riconoscere bene una bella donna! |
| Manuel: You're right, probably I don't know that much about hairstyles, but I can still recognize a beautiful woman well! |
| Giulia: Oh Manuel, grazie. Comunque mi preferivo prima, li ha tagliati troppo. Adesso però pensa a guidare che gli altri ci aspettano. |
| Giulia: Oh, Manuel, thank you. Anyway, I preferred myself before. He cut them too much. But now focus on driving. The others are waiting for us. |
| Manuel: Ok, ma non dobbiamo correre. Non siamo in ritardo. |
| Manuel: Okay, but we don't need to run. We're not late. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: In Italy, girls are used to receiving compliments from men. Did you notice Marco? |
| Marco: Well yes I can see Italian men are well known for how they compliment women. |
| Consuelo: So in Italy, it’s normal to say Sei una bella ragazza, meaning you are a beautiful girl, or Penso tu sia bellissima, meaning I think you are beautiful. |
| Marco: That’s true. |
| Consuelo: We Italian girls are lucky but girls are not so generous with words when talking to guys. |
| Marco: Good point Consuelo. And let’s not forget, in Italy, it’s usually the man who starts approaching a woman. |
| Consuelo: Exactly. So which compliments would you first use with a girl? |
| Marco: I think I could say Sei la ragazza più che io abbia mai visto. That is you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life. |
| Consuelo: Wow that’s amazing! |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Specchio. |
| Marco: Mirror. |
| Consuelo: Specchio. Specchio. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Convinto. |
| Marco: Convinced, sure, confident, persuaded. |
| Consuelo: Convinto. Convinto. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Pettinatura. |
| Marco: Hairstyle, coiffure, combing. |
| Consuelo: Pettinatura. Pettinatura. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Incompetente. |
| Marco: Incompetent, unskilled, raw. |
| Consuelo: Incompetente. Incompetente. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Acconciatura. |
| Marco: Hairstyle, headdress, hairdo. |
| Consuelo: Acconciatura. Acconciatura. |
| Marco: And finally we have |
| Consuelo: Riconoscere. |
| Marco: To recognize, acknowledge, identify, see. |
| Consuelo: Riconoscere. Riconoscere. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: So Consuelo, what’s today’s word? |
| Consuelo: That’s the Italian adjective di continuo. |
| Marco: Continuously, continually. |
| Consuelo: The adjective continuo combined with the preposition Di gives it the function of an adverb. We could also use continuamente, which has actually the same meaning but it’s quite long word. Isn’t it? |
| Marco: Well yeah. |
| Consuelo: That’s why Italians now use di continuo instead of continuamente |
| Marco: So if I want to say she keeps calling me, it sounds better if I say lei mi chiama di continuo instead of lei mi chiama continuamente, right? |
| Consuelo: Exactly Marco. It can be said that continuamente is used more in writing. |
| Consuelo: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Today we are going to continue our study of the |
| Consuelo: Modo congiuntivo. |
| Marco: Subjunctive mood and its employment in the informal speech. |
| Consuelo: We already briefly mentioned the difference between formal and informal speech as regards to the employment of the modo congiuntivo. |
| Marco: As we saw in the dialogue, Giulia corrected Manuel when he said |
| Consuelo: Penso che tu sei bella così. |
| Marco: Literally I think you are beautiful the way you are meaning I think you are cute the way you are. |
| Consuelo: As far as meaning is concerned, both the literal and the proper translations have the same meaning. |
| Marco: Since the grammatical difference cannot be properly shown in English, we decided to translate the adjective bella as cute. |
| Consuelo: The main and probably now-a-days the most important reason in choosing between the indicative and subjunctive moods is the context in which we are speaking. |
| Marco: In other words, the combination of both the situation we are in as well as the person we are talking to. |
| Consuelo: Therefore even though both cute and beautiful mean attractive, the two words bear a slightly different degree of attractiveness. |
| Marco: Moreover, cute is socially deemed to be less formal than beautiful. This means that the society unwittingly assigned to the word cute a lower degree of formality than its quadri-synonym beautiful. |
| Consuelo: This precise difference is expressing Italian through the employment of the subjunctive mood in addition to the choice of synonyms. |
| Marco: Giulia in fact rephrases and corrects Manuel’s statement saying |
| Consuelo: Penso che tu sia bella così. |
| Marco: Literally and meaning, I think you are beautiful the way you are. |
| Consuelo: Although we are dealing with an informal conversation between friends. Manuel’s sentence regarded Giulia’s attractiveness. |
| Marco: Therefore he felt the need to enable the level of the language employed and it is rather well known that when praising lady’s physical qualities, it is always wise to choose a variety of language that mirrors their attractiveness. |
| Consuelo: Had it been a conversation about Giulia’s bellezza, beauty, between two male friends, they both would have probably used the indicative mood. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Consuelo: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Consuelo: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Consuelo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. Ciao. |
| Consuelo: A presto. |
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