Learn the Italian adjectives that you can use to refer to various ethnicities
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao |
| Marco: Marco here. Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 4: By Chance, You Weren’t Italian, Are You? Hello and welcome back to the ItalianPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Italian. I’m joined in the studio by… |
| Consuelo: Hello, everyone. Consuelo here. |
| Marco: In today’s class, we will focus on asking about someone’s nationality. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at the bar. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Melissa, Alessio, and other friends. |
| Consuelo: In the first conversation, they will be speaking informal Italian. In the second conversation, they’ll use formal Italian. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Marco: Informal. |
| Alessio: Io sono italiano e tu? |
| Melissa: Io non sono italiana, sono americana. |
| Alessio: (rivolto all'amica di Melissa) E tu? Anche tu sei americana? |
| Amica: No, io sono spagnola. |
| Marco: Formal |
| Alessio: Io sono italiano, e Lei? Di che nazionalità è? |
| Melissa: Sono americana. |
| Alessio: (rivolto al signore accanto a Melissa) E Lei? E' americano? |
| Amico: No, non sono americano. Sono francese. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Marco: Informal. |
| Alessio: Io sono italiano e tu? |
| Melissa: Io non sono italiana, sono americana. |
| Alessio: (rivolto all'amica di Melissa) E tu? Anche tu sei americana? |
| Amica: No, io sono spagnola. |
| Alessio: Io sono italiano, e Lei? Di che nazionalità è? |
| Melissa: Sono americana. |
| Alessio: (rivolto al signore accanto a Melissa) E Lei? E' americano? |
| Amico: No, non sono americano. Sono francese. |
| Marco: And now with the translation. |
| Alessio Io sono italiano e tu? |
| Marco I am Italian, and you? |
| Melissa Io non sono italiana, sono americana. |
| Marco I'm not Italian, I'm American. |
| Alessio (rivolto all'amica di Melissa) E tu? Anche tu sei americana? |
| Marco (talking to Melissa's friend) And you? Are you also American? |
| Amica No, io sono spagnola. |
| Marco No, I'm Spanish. |
| Alessio Io sono italiano, e Lei? Di che nazionalità è? |
| Marco I am Italian, and you? What nationality are you, madame? |
| Melissa Sono americana. |
| Marco I'm American. |
| Alessio (rivolto al signore accanto a Melissa) E Lei? E' americano? |
| Marco (talking to the man next to Melissa) And you? Are you American, sir? |
| Amico No, non sono americano. Sono francese. |
| Marco No, I'm not American. I am French. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: Hey, Marco, do you know the origin of the word "ciao?" |
| Marco: Mmm. I think not, but it sounds interesting… |
| Consuelo: At one time, the word "schiavo"… |
| Marco: Ah, "servant." |
| Consuelo: Yes, "servant." Can I go on with the explanation? As I was saying, "schiavo" was used as a greeting to show great respect to the person you were talking to. |
| Marco: Meaning "I am your servant." |
| Consuelo: Right. Then in north-eastern regions of Italy, "schiavo" was abbreviated first to "s-ciao" and finally to "ciao." |
| Marco: Wow! "Ciao" has a completely different meaning today, and it is also used throughout the world. |
| Consuelo: So "ciao a tutti!" |
| Marco: "Bye everyone!" Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Consuelo italiano [natural native speed] |
| Marco Italian |
| Consuelo italiano [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo italiano [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo americano [natural native speed] |
| Marco American |
| Consuelo americano [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo americano [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo nazionalità [natural native speed] |
| Marco nationality |
| Consuelo nazionalità [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo nazionalità [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo francese [natural native speed] |
| Marco French |
| Consuelo francese [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo francese [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo spagnolo [natural native speed] |
| Marco Spanish |
| Consuelo spagnolo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo spagnolo [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: Today I'll teach you some adjectives of nationality. |
| Marco: Ah, okay. In the dialogue, we heard "italiano," meaning "Italian," "americano," meaning "American," "spagnolo," meaning "Spanish," and "francese," meaning "French." Can you give us some other examples? |
| Consuelo: Sure. As we'll see in the grammar point, we have adjectives that only follow the number – those adjectives ending with "-e," such as "canadese." |
| Marco: "Canadian." |
| Consuelo: "cinese." |
| Marco: "Chinese." |
| Consuelo: Or "giapponese." |
| Marco: "Japanese." |
| Consuelo: But we also have adjectives that follow gender and number. For example, "tedesco." |
| Marco: "German." |
| Consuelo: "greco." |
| Marco: "Greek." |
| Consuelo: "coreano." |
| Marco: "Korean." Thank you, Consuelo! |
Lesson focus |
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: The focus of this lesson is on asking about someone's nationality. |
| Consuelo: In the dialogue, we saw how to ask about someone's nationality. The construction of "è americano?" is the same as "Are you American?" with two exceptions. |
| Marco: First, as we have seen in the previous lesson, there is no "lei." |
| Consuelo: The Italian for "you" in formal situations. |
| Marco: And the reason is that there is no need to state the subject since "è" can only indicate "lei" or "lui," but not in this context. |
| Consuelo: Second, when expressing nationalities, Italians do not use capital letters. |
| Marco: Italian does not use capitals as often as English does. Please remember the following rules… |
| Consuelo: Begin proper names, such as "Luca" or "Laura," town names, such as "Milano" or "Roma," and then countries, lakes, rivers, and so forth always with a capital letter. |
| Consuelo: Days of the week, seasons, and months always begin in a lowercase letter. |
| Marco: You should always begin words such as "English," "Italian," and "Japanese" that are always in uppercase in English with a lowercase letter in Italian: "inglese," "italiano," "giapponese." |
| Consuelo: In future lessons, we shall see Italian adjectives in more detail. For now, please remember two points. |
| Marco: First point. Italian adjectives can have feminine, masculine, singular, or plural meanings. You will realize the difference by changing the ending. |
| Consuelo: Second point. In the case of adjectives of nationality, there are only two types, one that follows both gender and number, and one that only follows number. |
| Marco: Now we will give you some examples with the adjective "italiano," meaning "Italian," and "francese," meaning "French." |
| Marco: "Italian," masculine singular |
| Consuelo: "italiano." |
| Marco: "Italian," feminine singular |
| Consuelo: "italiana." |
| Marco: "Italians," masculine plural |
| Consuelo: "italiani." |
| Marco: And finally, "Italians," feminine plural |
| Consuelo: "italiane." |
| Marco: This adjective follows both gender and number. But let's see what happens with "francese," "French." |
| Marco: "French," masculine singular and feminine singular |
| Consuelo: "francese." |
| Marco: "French," masculine plural and feminine plural |
| Consuelo: "francesi." This adjective only follows number. It does not change if the gender changes. |
| Marco: That’s just about does it for today. |
| Consuelo: Ready to test what you just learned? |
| Marco: Make this lesson’s vocabulary stick by using lesson-specific flashcards in the learning center. |
| Consuelo: There is a reason everyone uses flashcards. |
| Marco: They work. |
| Consuelo: They really do help the memorization. |
| Marco: You can get the flashcards for this lesson at… |
| Consuelo: ItalianPod101.com. |
| Marco: Okay. |
Comments
HideIo sono italiano e tu?
Ciao Vincenzo Calipa,
piacere!
If you have any questions, let us know in the comments!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao. Piacere. Mi chiama Vincenzo. Io Sono englese pero mi natzionalita e Italiana.
Grazie
Ciao Ana Maria Guzman,
perfetto! 👍
Thanks for studying with us. if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Io sono Colombiana!
Ciao Hania,
piacere!
If you have any questions, let us know in the comments!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi Julie,
Nice to meet you! You could try completing 2-3 lessons per week. It's important not to burn out, so you should find a pace that feels comfortable for you. Keep in mind that some topics may require more time to master than others, and it's crucial to understand each topic well before moving on.
This is just an estimate—everyone is different, so you might need to adjust the number of lessons to see what works best for you.
Safe travels and happy learning!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao a tutti!
Piacere, sono americana e mi chiamo Julie. Next year I will be travelling per li'Italia. How many lezioni do you suggest that I complete each week for the best learning experience?
Grazie!
ciao, mi chiamo Hania, sono di Warsow. Io sono polacca di Polonia
Ciao Gisleine,
piacere!
Thanks for studying with us. if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao. Mi chiamo Gisleine Mantovani. Io sono di Brasil. sono brasiliana. Io sono una professoressa.E tu?
Ciao saba,
piacere!
Thanks for studying with us, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment 😉
A presto,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
ciao
piacere
mi chiamo saba e sono iraniana
io sono di Tehran
buona sera
Hi matthew c.,
thanks for studying with us!
Just a couple of corrections for you:
sono di Estati Uniti -> sono degli Stati Uniti
concherti -> conoscerti
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let us know in the comments!
A presto,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Io sono Matteo. Sono di Estati Uniti. Piacere di concherti
Hi Cheyanne,
thanks for studying with us!
Italian and Spanish are both Romance languages, which means they both evolved from Latin. That's why they share many similarities in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
French is another Romance language, and it also shares similarities with Italian and Spanish.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ok why does Italian sound like Spanish please. Tell me why thank you.😄
I can learn atalina now I just need a lot of help please give me better lessons😄😆😳
Ciao Lord Brisket,
grazie per il tuo commento.
Great, if you speak French I think it will be easier to learn Italian, since the two languages share lots of similarities.
Let us know whenever you have any doubts or questions!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao Ragazzi,
Piacere!
Sono svizzero! Parlo francese è inglese.
I decided to learn italian because my grandmother was Italian. I went there every holiday. I still have relatives there but I struggle to communicate with them.
Ciao Ciao, a presto!
Ciao eziowho,
piacere!
Thanks for studying with us and thank you for your positive feedback!
I would recommend to check out these two short video lessons about prepositions DI, DA, A, IN.
https://www.italianpod101.com/lesson/absolute-beginner-questions-answered-by-marika-12-prepositions-in-or-a/?lp=141
https://www.italianpod101.com/lesson/absolute-beginner-questions-answered-by-marika-13-prepositions-da-or-di/?lp=141
Hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com