Learn how to use the condizionale presente tense in expressing desires, wishes, and aspirations
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buonasera a tutti! |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 40 - What Will You Drink in Italy? |
| Cinzia: Hello everyone! I’m Cinzia and welcome to ItalianPod101.com. |
| Marco: With us, you’ll learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Cinzia: We also provide you with cultural insights… |
| Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, we will learn how to use the condizionale presente tense in expressing desires, wishes, and aspirations. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place in Elena’s car. |
| Marco: And it is between Luca and Elena. |
| Cinzia: They are friends, therefore, they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Elena: Siamo arrivati? Ho sete, vorrei bere una Coca Cola fredda. |
| Luca: Siamo partiti da dieci minuti! |
| Elena: E allora? Sono nervosa e mi è venuta sete. |
| Luca: Avresti potuto bere prima di uscire di casa. |
| Elena: Uffa. |
| Luca: Pensa a tutto quello che ci sarà da bere al matrimonio! |
| Marco: Let's hear it slowly now. |
| Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente. |
| Elena: Siamo arrivati? Ho sete, vorrei bere una Coca Cola fredda. |
| Luca: Siamo partiti da dieci minuti! |
| Elena: E allora? Sono nervosa e mi è venuta sete. |
| Luca: Avresti potuto bere prima di uscire di casa. |
| Elena: Uffa. |
| Luca: Pensa a tutto quello che ci sarà da bere al matrimonio! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione. |
| Elena: Siamo arrivati? Ho sete, vorrei bere una Coca Cola fredda. |
| Elena: Have we arrived? I’m thirsty; I’d like to drink a cold Coke. |
| Luca: Siamo partiti da dieci minuti! |
| Lucar: We left ten minutes ago! |
| Elena: E allora? Sono nervosa e mi è venuta sete. |
| Elena: So what? I’m nervous and I’ve got thirsty. |
| Luca: Avresti potuto bere prima di uscire di casa. |
| Luca: You could have drunk before getting out of the house. |
| Elena: Uffa. |
| Elena: Whatever. |
| Luca: Pensa a tutto quello che ci sarà da bere al matrimonio! |
| Luca: Think about all the drinks there will be at the wedding! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: Uffa. |
| Marco: What’s the matter? |
| Cinzia: Uffa. |
| Marco: I don’t understand. |
| Cinzia: We have to explain uffa. |
| Marco: Oh yes, you’re absolutely right. |
| Cinzia: Uffa is an exclamation used when we want to express boredom, tiredness, especially if it was caused by repetitive acts. |
| Marco: Or displeasure. If, like we have seen in the dialogue, someone is reproaching us. |
| Cinzia: So, how can we translate it? |
| Marco: Well, the best way is to just find the best exclamation that fits the situation or just use an annoyed tone. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we shall look at is… |
| Cinzia: arrivare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to arrive, to come |
| Cinzia: arrivare [slowly - broken down by syllable] arrivare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next, we have an expression |
| Cinzia: avere sete [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to be thirsty |
| Cinzia: avere sete [slowly - broken down by syllable] avere sete [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The next word we shall look at is… |
| Cinzia: freddo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: cold |
| Cinzia: freddo [slowly - broken down by syllable] freddo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: And the next word is… |
| Cinzia: dieci [natural native speed] |
| Marco: ten |
| Cinzia: dieci [slowly - broken down by syllable] dieci [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The next word we shall look at is… |
| Cinzia: minuto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: minute |
| Cinzia: minuto [slowly - broken down by syllable] minuto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: And today’s last word is… |
| Cinzia: nervoso [natural native speed] |
| Marco: nervous, edgy, bad-tempered |
| Cinzia: nervoso [slowly - broken down by syllable] nervoso [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is arrivare. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Sono arrivati i vicini. |
| Marco: "The neighbors have arrived." |
| Cinzia: Next, we have an expression, avere sete. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Avete sete? |
| Marco: “Are you thirsty?” |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is freddo. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Ho freddo. |
| Marco: "I am cold." |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is dieci. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Ho letto dieci pagine del libro. |
| Marco: “I’ve read 10 pages of the book.” |
| Cinzia: The next word is minuto. |
| Marco: And the sample is… |
| Cinzia: Ci vediamo tra cinque minuti. |
| Marco: “I’ll see you in 5 minutes.” |
| Cinzia: And today’s last word is nervoso. |
| Marco: So today’s last sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: È sempre nervoso. |
| Marco: "He is always nervous." Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: Today, we are going to see how the condizionale presente is used to communicate desires, wishes, aspirations, and hopes. |
| Marco: This is going to be an easy lesson, as it is identical to its English equivalent. For example… |
| Cinzia: Berrei volentieri un bicchiere di vino. |
| Marco: “I'd gladly drink a glass of wine.” |
| Cinzia: Noi preferiremmo organizzare la festa in anticipo. |
| Marco: “We would prefer to organize the party in advance.” |
| Cinzia: Vorrei tanto poter vedere Serena. |
| Marco: “I would very much like to see Serena.” |
| Cinzia: Although we are using the present conditional, the wishes and desires expressed always refer to potential future events. |
| Marco: When we want to talk about hopes and aspirations related to the past (in other words, to actions and facts that cannot become true anymore), what should we use, Cinzia? |
| Cinzia: The condizionale passato, of course. |
| Marco: The past conditional. For instance… |
| Cinzia: Avrei voluto parlare con Mario prima che partisse. |
| Marco: “I would have liked to have spoken with Mario before he left.” |
| Cinzia: We shall see in more detail the condizionale passato in future lessons. |
| Marco: Going back to today’s topic, the condizionale presente tense of regular verbs of the third conjugation is realized by dropping the ending vowel from the infinitive and adding the standard endings. |
| Cinzia: Let’s see how to do this. |
| Marco: First - take the infinitive of the verb. |
| Cinzia: aprire |
| Marco: “To open.” Second - drop the final vowel. |
| Cinzia: aprir |
| Marco: Third - add the appropriate endings. |
| Cinzia: And now, the full conjugation of the verb aprire. |
| Marco: “to open” |
| Cinzia: Io aprir –ei |
| Marco: “I would open” |
| Cinzia: Tu aprir -esti |
| Marco: “You would open” |
| Cinzia: Lui/lei aprir –ebbe |
| Marco: “He/she/it would open” |
| Cinzia: Noi aprir -emmo |
| Marco: “We would open” |
| Cinzia: Voi aprir -este |
| Marco: “You would open” |
| Cinzia: Loro aprir -ebbero |
| Marco: “They would open.” |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Okay, a presto! |
| Cinzia: Ciao, ciao! |
Comments
HideIs there a difference between "avere sete" and "venire sete"? Thanks for all the great lessons!
Hi Lisa,
The subject is "sete" (thurst), so you need to use the third person singular form "è venuta."
It's not a reflexive verb. You have to add the preposition "a" and the name of the person who becomes thirsty. In this case since the thirsty person is the speaker, you can use the pronoun "mi" (= a me) to mean "to me."
You can also say "Mi è venuta fame" (I got hungry), "Mi è venuto sonno" (I got sleepy).
Literally, it is "Hungriness/sleepiness came to me." :smile:
I hope this helps!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Can you explain why it is mi e venuta sete and not mi sono venuta sete? Thabks it is past tense reflexive verb?
Hi Michael,
Yes, that is correct! :thumbsup:
“Potevo comprare una bicicletta nuova….” is a colloquial form of “Potrei aver comprato una bicicletta nuova…”.
Keep up the good work!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao,
In the grammar section, the following example sentence is given:
"Potrei aver comprato una bicicletta nuova..."
Based on prior lessons on the imperfecto, would the following be another way of saying the same thing?
"Potevo comprare una bicicletta nuova...."
Grazie.
Hello Edmar,
You're most welcome!
If you have any questions or suggestion, please feel free to ask:smile:
Cheers,
Neha
Team ItalianPod101.com
Grazie.
Hi Edmar,
Very nice sentence! Just don't forget the question mark (and the right intonation when speaking) , otherwise it's still difficult to understand ;)
Buono studio,
Chiara
ItalianPod101.com
Apriresti la finestra cosi l'aria fresca entra.
Ciao Chuck,
There's not a big difference between "avere sete" and "venire sete" concerning the meaning but they're used in different ways. "Ho sete" is "I'm thirsty", "mi è venuta sete" means also "I'm thirsty" but is conjugated in "passato prossimo".
Consuelo:wink: