Learn about Italian reflexive verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno a tutti, mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 26 - How Will You Spend Your Saturday Night in Italy? Buongiorno a tutti. I am Marco and we’d like to welcome you to the 26th lesson of the beginner series in ItalianPod101.com. |
| Cinzia: Benvenuti. |
| Marco: Here, we will be guiding you through basic grammar and vocabulary. |
| Cinzia: As always, don’t forget that we’re going to discuss different aspects of the language, culture and customs that you’ll find in Italy. What are we talking about today, Marco? |
| Marco: Well, in today’s lesson. Peter and Anna are speaking on the phone and they are getting ready to meet and go out on next Saturday night. |
| Cinzia: And so in this lesson, we will study the reflexive verbs and we will see how often they are used in the Italian language. |
| Marco: So, as always, Anna and Peter are friends, so informal Italian. And please, don’t forget to check out the learning center for tools like vocabulary flashcards also with audio. You can hear Cinzia’s voice while learning with the flashcard system. |
| Cinzia: So, let’s start now. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anna: Allora usciamo sabato sera? |
| Peter: Si, si. A che ora ci incontriamo? |
| Anna: Vediamoci verso le otto, al Bar Sport e guardiamo la partita. |
| Peter: OK. Allora ci sentiamo venerdì! |
| Anna: Si, così finalmente ci divertiamo! |
| Marco: Let's hear it slowly now. |
| Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente. |
| Anna: Allora usciamo sabato sera? |
| Peter: Si, si. A che ora ci incontriamo? |
| Anna: Vediamoci verso le otto, al Bar Sport e guardiamo la partita. |
| Peter: OK. Allora ci sentiamo venerdì! |
| Anna: Si, così finalmente ci divertiamo! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione. |
| Anna: Allora usciamo sabato sera? |
| Anna: So, are we going out Saturday night? |
| Peter: Si, si. A che ora ci incontriamo? |
| Peter: Yes, yes. What time are we meeting? |
| Anna: Vediamoci verso le otto, al Bar Sport e guardiamo la partita. |
| Anna: Let's meet around eight, at Bar Sport and let's watch the match. |
| Peter: OK. Allora ci sentiamo venerdì! |
| Peter: OK. So I'll speak to you on Friday! |
| Anna: Si, così finalmente ci divertiamo! |
| Anna: Yes, so finally we will have fun! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Cinzia, but why is Peter saying in his last line - Allora ci sentiamo venerdi “So I’ll speak to you on Friday”? Haven’t they already made up their mind for Saturday evening at 8? |
| Cinzia: Yes, good point, Marco. But actually in Italy, we are used to speak to each other the day before the appointment. |
| Marco: Ah! Many things can go wrong in the meantime? |
| Cinzia: Exactly, and sometimes, we can forget, for example. |
| Marco: Yes. So many appointments, you always forget some things sooner or later. |
| Cinzia: Yes. So, the day before is actually used as a confirmation day. |
| Marco: Okay. |
| Cinzia: So… |
| Marco: So in this case, I think Anna left Peter out in the cold many times, so maybe he’s like let’s talk again before we meet. I don’t wanna stay outside. |
| Cinzia: Yes, maybe. |
| Marco: What about Bar Sport? Is that a normal name, a famous name, a bar name? What is it? |
| Cinzia: Oh, Bar Sport is a common name of a bar. |
| Marco: And I think, traditionally, it was…well, yes, recent tradition. It was a place where people could go and watch the partita, the football match. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Now, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for today’s lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we will look at is… |
| Cinzia: uscire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to go out |
| Cinzia: uscire [slowly - broken down by syllable] uscire [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word is… |
| Cinzia: sera [natural native speed] |
| Marco: evening |
| Cinzia: sera [slowly - broken down by syllable] sera [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: incontrarsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to meet |
| Cinzia: incontrarsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] incontrarsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: vedersi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to see each other, meet |
| Cinzia: vedersi [slowly - broken down by syllable] vedersi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: verso [natural native speed] |
| Marco: around, toward |
| Cinzia: verso [slowly - broken down by syllable] verso [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: partita [natural native speed] |
| Marco: match, game |
| Cinzia: partita [slowly - broken down by syllable] partita [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: sentirsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to hear from each other, to speak to each other |
| Cinzia: sentirsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] sentirsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: finalmente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: finally |
| Cinzia: finalmente [slowly - broken down by syllable] finalmente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: And our last word is… |
| Cinzia: divertirsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to have fun, enjoy oneself |
| Cinzia: divertirsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] divertirsi [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: How many reflexive verbs we have in this lesson! |
| Marco: Mmm…maybe this lesson is about reflexive verbs, isn’t it? |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course. |
| Marco: We said that at the beginning, didn’t we? And now, let’s take a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is incontrarsi. |
| Marco: So, the first sample is… |
| Cinzia: Ci incontriamo per un caffè? |
| Marco: “Shall we meet for a cup of coffee?” |
| Cinzia: As we can see, we have incontrarsi which is a reflexive verb, but it cannot be translated as a reflexive verb in English, because there is the verb “to meet.” |
| Marco: True. So it becomes, “Shall we meet for a cup of coffee?” |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: The next word is… |
| Cinzia: vedersi |
| Marco: And the next sample phrase is… |
| Cinzia: Ci vediamo domani. |
| Marco: “See you tomorrow.” |
| Cinzia: So, the verbs vedersi and incontrarsi can be actually used for the same meaning. |
| Marco: Yes, certainly, because if you see someone, you maybe also meet him. |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course. So, if I say - Ci vediamo domani, I can also say in place of it, [*]. The next word we will look at is verso. |
| Marco: And the next sample is… |
| Cinzia: Verso sera. |
| Marco: “Around evening.” |
| Cinzia: The next word is partita. |
| Marco: And the sample is… |
| Cinzia: Facciamo una partita? |
| Marco: “Shall we play a match?” You can hear it very often, right? |
| Cinzia: Yes, but it can also be una partita carte. |
| Marco: Oh, a card game, yeah. |
| Cinzia: Not only a sport match. |
| Marco: True, true. So, partita is a card game, volleyball game… |
| Cinzia: Soccer. |
| Marco: Yeah. |
| Cinzia: Tennis. |
| Marco: Yeah. |
| Cinzia: Everything. |
| Marco: Yeah! Anything where there is a game inside. |
| Cinzia: Yes. And the next word we will look at is sentirsi. |
| Marco: And the sample phrase is… |
| Cinzia: Ci sentiamo stasera. |
| Marco: “I’ll speak to you this evening.” |
| Cinzia: And the last word is divertirsi. |
| Marco: The last sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Mi diverto a cantare al karaoke. |
| Marco: “I enjoy singing at the karaoke.” |
| Cinzia: Do you like karaoke, Marco? |
| Marco: No, I don’t. |
| Cinzia: I was sure you didn’t. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Today’s grammar is about reflexive verbs, I guess. |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course! You’re so clever, Marco. I can’t believe it. |
| Marco: Thank you. |
| Cinzia: So, Italian reflexive verbs are used to express actions done by the subject that are reflected on the subject itself. Is it clear? |
| Marco: Let me try with an example - io mi lavo. |
| Cinzia: “I wash myself.” |
| Marco: So, in this case, “I” (the subject) am doing an action that is coming on myself. |
| Cinzia: Yes, right. So, io mi lavo means that the action of “to wash” reflects on me, on myself. |
| Marco: For example, if I say, Io lavo i piatti, I am washing something else, “I am washing dishes”. |
| Cinzia: Yes, exactly! The action doesn’t reflect. They are very easy and straightforward to form. In fact, we just we just add the pronominal particles (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, and si) |
| Marco: Respectively for "myself, yourself, his/herself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves" before the verb. |
| Cinzia: Yes and why don’t we see some more examples? |
| Marco: Sure. |
| Cinzia: La mattina mi sveglio presto. |
| Marco: "In the morning, I wake up early." Mi sveglio “I wake up myself early.” And the next example, Cinzia? |
| Cinzia: Mi sposo l'anno prossimo. |
| Marco: “I am getting married next year.” So, I get myself married. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Certainly with somebody else, but still, I get myself married. |
| Cinzia: You’re getting married, Marco. |
| Marco: No…no, no, no, no. |
| Cinzia: Can I come? |
| Marco: No, no, no parties. No, no, no weddings. Nothing. |
| Cinzia: No? |
| Marco: No, no. |
| Cinzia: Don’t you want to get married? |
| Marco: Nessun matrimonio, “No wedding.” |
| Cinzia: Non ti vuoi sposare, Marco? |
| Marco: Non mi voglio sposare. |
| Cinzia: Ahh…Che peccato. |
| Marco: “What a pity.” |
| Cinzia: Anyway, in Italian, reflexive verbs are used very, very often. |
| Marco: I mean, that is one of the most difficult things for foreigners, clearly understanding the usage of the reflexive verbs. But it’s not that difficult at all. |
| Cinzia: No, not at all, but you just have to be careful because you can find some Italian reflexive verbs which do not correspond to their English translations. |
| Marco: Oh…for example? |
| Cinzia: For example, the verb chiamarsi. |
| Marco: Literally “to be called.” |
| Cinzia: Which is used when introducing yourself or someone else. |
| Marco: So, for example - Io mi chiamo Marco “My name is Marco” literally means… |
| Cinzia: “I call myself Marco.” |
| Marco: But we don’t have that in English, do we? |
| Cinzia: No, no, no, no. |
| Marco: “I call myself…” no. |
| Cinzia: And one more difference is that the Italian reflexive verbs can also be used when taking a direct object different from ourselves. We have this habit in Italian, okay. I can say - io mi lavo il viso. |
| Marco: That means "I wash my face." |
| Cinzia: Yes, exactly. But I’m not saying - Io lavo il viso. We still use the reflexive verb lavarsi because il viso “the face” is mine. So, the action reflects on myself again even if it’s for the face. |
| Marco: So, it’s a part of myself. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Instead if I say: Io lavo il viso, it sounds that I’m washing somebody else’s face. |
| Cinzia: Yes, Io lavo il viso di... |
| Marco: Exactly. We would need, for example, Io lavo il viso di Marta “I wash the face of Martha.” |
| Cinzia: So now, why don’t we take a look at the three conjugations. First conjugation, lavarsi. |
| Marco: “to wash oneself” |
| Cinzia: Io mi lavo. |
| Marco: “I wash myself.” |
| Cinzia: Tu ti lavi. |
| Marco: “You wash yourself.” |
| Cinzia: Lui/Lei si lava. |
| Marco: “He/She washes himself/herself.” |
| Cinzia: Noi ci laviamo. |
| Marco: “We wash ourselves.” |
| Cinzia: Voi vi lavate |
| Marco: “You wash yourselves.” |
| Cinzia: Loro si lavano. |
| Marco: “They wash themselves.” |
| Cinzia: So the first conjugation is very easy, isn’t it? |
| Marco: Yes, very, very easy. |
| Cinzia: Let’s take a look at the second conjugation, the verb mettersi. |
| Marco: “To put on.” |
| Cinzia: Io mi metto. |
| Marco: “I put on.” |
| Cinzia: Tu ti metti. |
| Marco: “You put on.” |
| Cinzia: Lui/Lei si mette. |
| Marco: “He/She puts on.” |
| Cinzia: Noi ci mettiamo. |
| Marco: “We put on.” |
| Cinzia: Voi vi mettete. |
| Marco: “You put on.” |
| Cinzia: Loro si mettono. |
| Marco: “They put on.” |
| Cinzia: So, Marco, cosa ti metti per andare al lavoro? |
| Marco: Mi metto giacca e cravatta. |
| Cinzia: Ehh, really? |
| Marco: No, it’s too hot. |
| Cinzia: Yes. Now, with giacca e cravatta, it’s very, very hot. It’s impossible. |
| Marco: So, giacca e cravatta is “jacket and necktie” and what was your question? |
| Cinzia: What do you put on when you go to work? |
| Marco: Yes, no giacca e cravatta, too hot. |
| Cinzia: No, just… |
| Marco: camicia |
| Cinzia: Short trousers and shirt, no? |
| Marco: That would be great. |
| Cinzia: Okay. So, let’s take a look at the third and last conjugation with the verb divertirsi. |
| Marco: “To have fun.” |
| Cinzia: Io mi diverto. |
| Marco: “I have fun.” |
| Cinzia: Tu ti diverti. |
| Marco: “You have fun.” |
| Cinzia: Lui/Lei si diverte. |
| Marco: “He/She has fun.” |
| Cinzia: Noi ci divertiamo. |
| Marco: “We have fun.” |
| Cinzia: Voi vi divertite. |
| Marco: “You have fun.” |
| Cinzia: Loro si divertono. |
| Marco: They have fun.” |
| Cinzia: Ci siamo veramente divertiti oggi! |
| Marco: “We really enjoyed ourselves.” Oh, reflexive verb also here. |
Outro |
| Cinzia: Yes. So, dear listeners, thank you and that’s all for today. |
| Marco: Ci vediamo presto! |
| Cinzia: Ci incontriamo presto! |
| Marco: Mine was, “see you soon” and Cinzia’s was… |
| Cinzia: “We will meet soon.” |
| Marco: Ciao ciao! |
| Cinzia: And ci sentiamo presto! |
| Marco: Oh, yes, “let’s hear each other soon.” |
| Cinzia: Okay, thank you again. Grazie, ciao ciao. |
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