Learn how to use and form negative imperative statements
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno! Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner series, Season 1, Lesson 14 - Italian Negative Commands: Don't joke! Bongiorno tutti! Hi, my name is Marco and I’m joined here by who other, who other but Elena! I mean, Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Who’s this Helena, Marco? |
| Marco: I said Elena, not Helena. Have you got any competition by Helena, girl? |
| Cinzia: No, I don’t have any competition, but I would like to know who is this Elena. |
| Marco: Elena. No one, just a name, just to make you angry today. |
| Cinzia: Okay. |
| Marco: Come on, let’s go on. Now… |
| Cinzia: Thank you for asking me. I’m fine. Thanks. |
| Marco: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, come on. Hello everyone and welcome to the 14th lesson of the beginner series. |
| Cinzia: So here, we’re going to take a broad approach to the language, emphasizing listening, comprehension… |
| Marco: Speech, grammar… |
| Cinzia: Vocabulary and usage. |
| Marco: So, join us for this funny, funny, funny lesson of ItalianPod101.com. In this lesson, we will learn how to make the negative form of the imperative. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place in an Italian house. |
| Marco: And it is between Peter and Anna. |
| Cinzia: They are friends, therefore, they will be speaking informal Italian. I will be Anna and who are you, Marco, sorry? |
| Marco: Come on, I’ll be Peter. |
| Cinzia: All right, Peter. So let’s start! |
| Marco: Yes! Now, before we begin, what happened in the last episode of the beginner series? |
| Cinzia: I don’t remember. |
| Marco: Okay, I’ll give you a hint. Anna went to Peter’s house… |
| Cinzia: Oh, yes, yes, I remember now. |
| Marco: What happened in the… |
| Cinzia: She was asking about his brother. |
| Marco: Yes, and he’s angry, isn’t he? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: And that’s why, he’s gonna start this dialogue with something interesting. |
| Cinzia: Okay, but I agree with Anna. |
| Marco: Okay then, so here is the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Peter: Non scherzare! |
| Anna: Perché, qualcosa non va? |
| Peter: Bè ehm, vedi… |
| Anna: Dimmi! |
| Peter: E tu Anna, hai sorelle? |
| Anna: No, sono figlia unica. |
| Peter: Peccato! |
| Anna: Cosa vuoi dire? |
| Marco: Let's hear it slowly now. |
| Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente. |
| Peter: Non scherzare! |
| Anna: Perché, qualcosa non va? |
| Peter: Bè ehm, vedi… |
| Anna: Dimmi! |
| Peter: E tu Anna, hai sorelle? |
| Anna: No, sono figlia unica. |
| Peter: Peccato! |
| Anna: Cosa vuoi dire? |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione. |
| Peter: Non scherzare! |
| Peter: Don't joke! |
| Anna: Perché, qualcosa non va? |
| Anna: Why, is there something wrong? |
| Peter: Bè ehm, vedi… |
| Peter: Well, ehm, you see… |
| Anna: Dimmi! |
| Anna: Tell me! |
| Peter: E tu Anna, hai sorelle? |
| Peter: Anna, do you have any sisters? |
| Anna: No, sono figlia unica. |
| Anna: No, I’m an only child. |
| Peter: Peccato! |
| Peter: That’s too bad! |
| Anna: Cosa vuoi dire? |
| Anna: What do you mean? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: So Marco, tell me, would you get jealous like Peter in this kind of situation? |
| Marco: Well, if I had a crush on someone and that someone said she like somebody close to me, I would get very mad, I think. What about you? |
| Cinzia: I think I would do the same. |
| Marco: Yes, yes, but I’m sure we’ll see in future lessons, I mean in future episodes, what will happen between Peter and Anna. |
| Cinzia: Hmm, I’m so curious. |
| Marco: Yes, stay tuned. Okay, let us take a look at today’s vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: First. |
| Cinzia: scherzare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to joke |
| Cinzia: scherzare [slowly - broken down by syllable] scherzare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: qualcosa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: something |
| Cinzia: qualcosa [slowly - broken down by syllable] qualcosa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: figlia unica [natural native speed] |
| Marco: only child |
| Cinzia: figlia unica [slowly - broken down by syllable] figlia unica [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: peccato [natural native speed] |
| Marco: too bad |
| Cinzia: peccato [slowly - broken down by syllable] peccato [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. The first word we will look at is scherzare. |
| Cinzia: Marco, can you give us an example sentence, please? |
| Marco: Certainly. Sto scherzando. |
| Cinzia: "I am joking." |
| Marco: The next word is qualcosa. |
| Cinzia: Let’s have an example. |
| Marco: Hai qualcosa da mangiare? |
| Cinzia: "Do you have something to eat?" |
| Marco: Next expression is figlia unica. |
| Cinzia: One example, please. |
| Marco: Anna è figlia unica. |
| Cinzia: "Anna is an only child." |
| Marco: Now, we have to take a look at this expression, I think. |
| Cinzia: Tu sei figlio unico? “Are you an only child?” |
| Marco: No, non sono figlio unico. “No, I’m not an only child.” Now, be careful listeners, because I am a male, so I would say figlio unico. Figlio ends in “o” and unico ends in “o,” while Cinzia would say… |
| Cinzia: figlia unica |
| Marco: So, figlia ends in “a” and unica ends in “a.” This is because the adjective unico has to match the gender of the noun it follows. |
| Cinzia: Ah, very interesting! Let’s move on now. |
| Marco: The next word we will see is peccato. |
| Cinzia: And the example is… |
| Marco: È un peccato. |
| Cinzia: “It’s too bad.” |
| Marco: What else can we say about this word, Marco? |
| Cinzia: Peccato has other meanings, right? Yes, yes, you’re right, Marco. I use it very often, actually. |
| Marco: Really? Meaning what? |
| Cinzia: Yes! For example, “Oh, such a shame” or “It’s a pity.” |
| Marco: So, it can mean “too bad, ashamed, a pity,” and one more meaning that’s actually a bit far from these. |
| Cinzia: Yes, definitely far. |
| Marco: And it has religious connotations, right? |
| Cinzia: Marco, have you seen the movie, The Original Sin? |
| Marco: I haven’t, actually. |
| Cinzia: You should. |
| Marco: Really? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: And how do we say the original sin in Italian? |
| Cinzia: il peccato originale |
| Marco: So, peccato also means “sin.” |
| Cinzia: Yes, exactly. |
| Marco: So, for example, “the seven capital sins” are translated in Italian as… |
| Cinzia: I sette peccati capitali. Interesting topic. |
| Marco: Yes. So many meanings in this word. So many sinful meanings in this word. |
| Cinzia: Okay then, this wraps it up for the vocabulary usage. |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: So today, we will learn about the negative imperative. |
| Marco: Now, to make the negative form of the imperative, for the first person plural (noi, “we”) and the second person plural (voi, “you”), you need to add non. I repeat, you need to add non, that is the English “not” before the conjugated verb. |
| Cinzia: For the first conjugation, -ARE; with the verb raccontare “to tell,” what do we have? |
| Marco: Well, we would have noi non raccontiamo, voi non raccontate. |
| Cinzia: Yes. And be careful because you can omit noi and voi and simply say non raccontiamo and non raccontate. |
| Marco: Perfect! So, let’s also explain to our listeners the second conjugation , -ERE; prendere “to take.” |
| Cinzia: Noi non prendiamo, voi non prendete. |
| Marco: Perfect! And now, let’s take a look at… |
| Cinzia: The third conjugation, -IRE, and we have the verb sentire “to listen, hear, feel.” |
| Marco: Noi non sentiamo, voi non sentite. |
| Cinzia: Benissimo, Marco. |
| Marco: Grazie, grazie. Where are the applauses? Where are the applauses? |
| Cinzia: So, dear listeners, please don’t forget that you can still omit noi and voi and simply use the non + the verb conjugated. |
| Marco: Yes. Okay, but moving on, this was only for the first person plural noi and second person plural voi. What about the second person singular tu? |
| Cinzia: This is pretty different from others, isn’t it, Marco? |
| Marco: Yes. Because the negative form of the imperative for tu, I repeat, tu “you” singular is built with non + the infinitive of the verb. |
| Cinzia: Exactly, Marco. |
| Marco: So, for example, Cinzia, what will we have with the first conjugation -ARE, raccontare “to tell”? |
| Cinzia: Tu non raccontare or omitting the subject, non raccontare. |
| Marco: Perfect, very easy. I mean, it’s just that non + the infinitive. What about don’t eat? Always a verb in the first conjugation. |
| Cinzia: non mangiare |
| Marco: That’s so easy. What about “speak”? |
| Cinzia: Non parlare, Marco. |
| Marco: I was gonna say something, but you cut me off. Okay. So, it’s so easy, listeners. This is very, very easy. Now, let’s take a look at… |
| Cinzia: The second conjugation, -ERE; prendere “to take.” |
| Marco: Tu non prendere or just non prendere. And lastly, the third conjugation -IRE; sentire “to listen, hear, feel.” |
| Cinzia: Tu non sentire or omitting the subject, non sentire. |
| Marco: Now, that’s so easy, isn’t it? |
| Cinzia: Yes, it’s very easy. |
| Marco: non parlare |
| Cinzia: non gridare |
| Marco: Non gridare means “don’t shout” and I’m sorry if I shouted, Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Yes, please, don’t shout at me, Marco. |
| Marco: Okay then. Well, we hope we made it clear because it’s really easy, especially the tu for the second person singular as it’s the most commonly used. |
| Cinzia: That’s right, Marco. This time, I have nothing to say. |
| Marco: Brava, non parlare. |
| Cinzia: Hmm, okay. |
Outro |
| Cinzia: So, this closes the lesson. |
| Marco: So, have a nice day! |
| Cinzia: Buona giornata a tutti, ciao! |
| Marco: Ciao! |
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