Learn about the pronominal Italian verbs that mean "to take care," "to think about something," and "to try something"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson #21. No Mere Mortal Should Try To Handle This Italian Situation. |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone. I am Consuelo and welcome to italianpod101.com |
| 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 will focus on pronominal verbs with Ci, pensarci and provarci. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at the football field |
| Marco: And it’s between Claudia, Irene and Filippo. |
| Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (Urla dei tifosi) |
| Irene: Che casino, vedi dei posti liberi? |
| Claudia: Hey ma quello è Pippo, andiamo accanto a lui! |
| Irene: Ah sì, sta facendo un cenno con la mano. |
| (Dissolvenza) |
| Filippo: Non mi sembra vero che siate venute qui, che onore avervi tra noi comuni mortali di domenica pomeriggio! |
| Claudia: Siamo venute per fare una sorpresa a Mirco. Adesso che la partita è finita andiamo a salutarlo. |
| Irene: Oh mio Dio!! Eccolo là, ma che sta facendo e chi è quella vestita in quel modo?! |
| Claudia: Sbaglio o lo ha baciato sulla guancia? |
| Filippo: E lui le tiene pure la mano! |
| Irene: Bene, andiamo via! |
| Claudia: Cosa hai intenzione di fare? Non vai a parlargli? |
| Irene: No, sono troppo arrabbiata, non posso pensarci adesso. |
| Claudia: Beh almeno provaci, perché poi è troppo tardi! |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| (Urla dei tifosi) |
| Irene: Che casino, vedi dei posti liberi? |
| Claudia: Hey ma quello è Pippo, andiamo accanto a lui! |
| Irene: Ah sì, sta facendo un cenno con la mano. |
| (Dissolvenza) |
| Filippo: Non mi sembra vero che siate venute qui, che onore avervi tra noi comuni mortali di domenica pomeriggio! |
| Claudia: Siamo venute per fare una sorpresa a Mirco. Adesso che la partita è finita andiamo a salutarlo. |
| Irene: Oh mio Dio!! Eccolo là, ma che sta facendo e chi è quella vestita in quel modo?! |
| Claudia: Sbaglio o lo ha baciato sulla guancia? |
| Filippo: E lui le tiene pure la mano! |
| Irene: Bene, andiamo via! |
| Claudia: Cosa hai intenzione di fare? Non vai a parlargli? |
| Irene: No, sono troppo arrabbiata, non posso pensarci adesso. |
| Claudia: Beh almeno provaci, perché poi è troppo tardi! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| (Urla dei tifosi) |
| (Screams of the fans) |
| Irene: Che casino, vedi dei posti liberi? |
| Irene: What a commotion; do you see any free seats? |
| Claudia: Hey ma quello è Pippo, andiamo accanto a lui! |
| Claudia: Hey, that's Pippo; let's go sit next to him! |
| Irene: Ah sì, sta facendo un cenno con la mano. |
| Irene: Ah yes, he's gesturing with his hand. |
| (Dissolvenza) |
| (Fade out) |
| Filippo: Non mi sembra vero che siate venute qui, che onore avervi tra noi comuni mortali di domenica pomeriggio! |
| Filippo: It doesn't seem real that you came here; what an honor to have you with us mere mortals on a Sunday afternoon. |
| Claudia: Siamo venute per fare una sorpresa a Mirco. Adesso che la partita è finita andiamo a salutarlo. |
| Claudia: We came to surprise Mirco. Now that the match is over, let's go say hi. |
| Irene: Oh mio Dio!! Eccolo là, ma che sta facendo e chi è quella vestita in quel modo?! |
| Irene: Oh my God! There he is, but what is he doing? And who is that dressed in that way? |
| Claudia: Sbaglio o lo ha baciato sulla guancia? |
| Claudia: Am I wrong or did she kiss him on the cheek? |
| Filippo: E lui le tiene pure la mano! |
| Filippo: And he is also holding her hand! |
| Irene: Bene, andiamo via! |
| Irene: Right, let's get away! |
| Claudia: Cosa hai intenzione di fare? Non vai a parlargli? |
| Claudia: What are you going to do? Aren't you going to talk to him? |
| Irene: No, sono troppo arrabbiata, non posso pensarci adesso. |
| Irene: No, I'm too angry; I can't think about that right now. |
| Claudia: Beh almeno provaci, perché poi è troppo tardi! |
| Claudia: Well, at least try! Because afterward it's going to be too late! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Oh oh! Something tells me that Mirco is not the nice guy he told he was. |
| Consuelo: You know Marco, surprises are dangerous sometimes. Poor Irene. |
| Marco: We will see what happens. Consuelo, I have a question. |
| Consuelo: Si? |
| Marco: Why is Filippo using the words mere mortals? |
| Consuelo: That’s a typical example of Italian humor. We use this joke when we want to point out that someone is acting haughty. |
| Marco: Ah! In this case because the two girls usually dislike football matches. |
| Consuelo: Yep. |
| Marco: I also noticed that Irene uses quella to talk about the girl who is with Mirco. |
| Consuelo: The pronoun quella immediately lets us know that she is talking about the girl, quella. |
| Marco: Quella vestita in quel modo. How could she be dressed up? |
| Consuelo: I don’t know but according to Irene’s tone of voice, I assume she would have dressed for a cozy Sunday afternoon. |
| Marco: Provocative girls in soccer, a common match in Italy. |
| Consuelo: Nice choice of words and sadly true. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Casino. |
| Marco: Noise, racket, mess. |
| Consuelo: Casino. Casino |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Accanto. |
| Marco: Next to, near. |
| Consuelo: Accanto. Accanto. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Cenno. |
| Marco: Sign, nod, wave. |
| Consuelo: Cenno. Cenno. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Onore. |
| Marco: Honor. |
| Consuelo: Onore. Onore |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Mortale. |
| Marco: Mortal. |
| Consuelo: Mortale. Mortale |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Sbagliare. |
| Marco: To make a mistake, be wrong. |
| Consuelo: Sbagliare. Sbagliare |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Guancia. |
| Marco: Cheek. |
| Consuelo: Guancia. Guancia |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Consuelo: Mano. |
| Marco: Hand. |
| Consuelo: Mano. Mano. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: Today, we are studying the word “casino”. |
| Marco: Noise, racket, mess. |
| Consuelo: Dear listeners, don’t confuse this word with casinò, with the accent. That’s Casino, a completely different meaning. |
| Marco: Thank you for reminding us. I was already confused. |
| Consuelo: We will talk about gambling another time. |
| Marco: Now Casino in Italian has different meanings. |
| Consuelo: Yes Marco. It can refer to noise but it can also have a figurative meaning and it is best to use it in informal settings. |
| Marco: Any examples? |
| Consuelo: A mensa c’è sempre un casino. |
| Marco: There is always so much of noise in the canteen. |
| Consuelo: Or: la mia camera è veramente un casino. |
| Marco: My room is really a mess. |
| Consuelo: You can find Casino also in the expression un casino di. |
| Marco: Oh, loads of. |
| Consuelo: As in: durante la mia vacanza ho fatto un casino di foto. |
| Marco: During my holiday, I took loads of pictures. |
| Consuelo: Marco, in Italian, we have a similar expression with the same meaning. Do you remember which one it is? |
| Marco: Are you talking about un sacco di, meaning a lot of? |
| Consuelo: Exactly. Perfetto, grazie Marco. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Marco: In today’s lesson, we will continue focusing on pronominal verbs combined with the particle Ci. |
| Consuelo: This time we have pensarci |
| Marco: To think about something, |
| Consuelo: And provarci |
| Marco: To try something. |
| Consuelo: Pensarci comes from the verb pensare, |
| Marco: To think but it has a more specific meaning here. |
| Consuelo: Pensarci indicates to specifically think about something or someone. |
| Marco: This is why it is very close to take care of something. |
| Consuelo: In the dialogue, Irene says: non posso pensarci. |
| Marco: I can’t think about that. |
| Consuelo: In English, you use the pronoun that or it, while in Italian we use Ci |
| Marco: Can you give us other examples? |
| Consuelo: Sure. Ho un problema e continuo a pensarci costantemente. |
| Marco: I have a problem and I constantly think about it. |
| Consuelo: Chi ci pensa a me? |
| Marco: Who takes care of me? |
| Consuelo: Ci penso io. |
| Marco: I will take care of that or I will do it. |
| Consuelo: So che non è facile ma cerca di non pensarci. |
| Marco: I know it’s not easy but try not to think about it. |
| Consuelo: Next we have the verb provarci. |
| Marco: Provarci comes from the verb provare, meaning to try. |
| Consuelo: And as for pensarci the particle Ci gives the verb a more specific meaning. |
| Marco: That is to try to do something. |
| Consuelo: In the dialogue, Claudia tells her sister: almeno provaci. |
| Marco: At least try. This verb is often used at the imperative tense. |
| Consuelo: Another similar example is: è difficile ma provaci. |
| Marco: It’s hard but give it a try. What about other tenses? |
| Consuelo: Non so esattamente come fare ma ci provo. |
| Marco: I don’t know exactly how to do that but I will try. |
| Consuelo: Mi piace chi ci prova, sempre e comunque. |
| Marco: I like those who try doing it, always and anyhow. |
| Consuelo: Questa danza è difficile ma proviamoci a farla. |
| Marco: This dance is difficult but let’s try doing it. Thank you Consuelo. These sentences sound very useful. |
| Consuelo: They are. But I have something to add. |
| Marco: Okay. Go ahead. |
| Consuelo: Watch out because provarci has also another meaning in Italian. |
| Marco: I think I know it. |
| Consuelo: To pick up boys and girls. Provarci con qualcuno. |
| Marco: I remember it is a very common expression. |
| Consuelo: Yes it is. |
| Marco: This time I will make a sample sentence okay. |
| Consuelo: Okay. |
| Marco: Consuelo, Luca non ci ha mai provato con nessuna ragazza, sono loro che ci provano con lui. |
| Consuelo: Ahaha, very funny. Luca never tries to pick up girls but the girls are the ones who try to pick him up. |
| Marco: Certo. |
| Consuelo: Si, come no. |
Outro |
| Marco: Hehe! That just about does it for today. |
| Consuelo: Listeners! Can you understand Italian TV shows, movies or songs? |
| Marco: How about friends and loved ones conversations in Italian. |
| Consuelo: If you want to know what’s going on, we have a tool to have. |
| Marco: Line by line audio. |
| Consuelo: Listen to the lesson conversation line by line and learn to understand natural Italian fast. |
| Marco: It’s simple really. |
| Consuelo: With a click of a button, listen to each line of the conversation. |
| Marco: Listen again and again and tune your ear to natural Italian. |
| Consuelo: Rapidly understand natural Italian with this powerful tool. |
| Marco: Find this feature on the lesson page under premium member resources at italianpod101.com |
| Consuelo: Ciao, a presto. |
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