Learn how to form the pluperfect verb tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone! I'm Consuelo, and welcome to ItalianPOD101. |
| Marco: With us, you'll 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... |
| Marco: In this class, we'll study the usage of trapassato prossimo tense. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at Elena and Carlo's home. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Elena and Carlo. |
| Consuelo: The speakers are friends; therefore, they will be speaking informally. |
| Marco: Now, before we listen to the conversation... |
| Consuelo: We want to ask... |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes, while you listen? |
| Consuelo: We received an e-mail about this study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you've tried it, and if so, |
| Consuelo: what do you think of it. |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comment section of this lesson. Okay... |
| Marco: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Carlo: Che cosa avete fatto poi ieri sera? |
| Elena: Abbiamo visto un film dell'orrore che aveva portato il cugino di Valeria. |
| Carlo: Com'era? |
| Elena: Veramente spaventoso, dopo il film Valeria non voleva rimanere da sola. |
| Carlo: Davvero? Se mi dici il titolo lo noleggio! |
| Elena: Adesso non mi ricordo, ma ti farò sapere... e tu hai visto la partita poi? |
| Carlo: Quando sono arrivato da Marco era già finito il primo tempo. |
| Elena: Perché sei arrivato tardi? |
| Carlo: Ho trovato un incidente per la strada e c'era una coda lunghissima! |
| Elena: Ti avevo detto che era meglio il motorino! |
| Carlo: Hai ragione, quando si è in ritardo il motorino è sempre meglio. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Carlo: Che cosa avete fatto poi ieri sera? |
| Elena: Abbiamo visto un film dell'orrore che aveva portato il cugino di Valeria. |
| Carlo: Com'era? |
| Elena: Veramente spaventoso, dopo il film Valeria non voleva rimanere da sola. |
| Carlo: Davvero? Se mi dici il titolo lo noleggio! |
| Elena: Adesso non mi ricordo, ma ti farò sapere... e tu hai visto la partita poi? |
| Carlo: Quando sono arrivato da Marco era già finito il primo tempo. |
| Elena: Perché sei arrivato tardi? |
| Carlo: Ho trovato un incidente per la strada e c'era una coda lunghissima! |
| Elena: Ti avevo detto che era meglio il motorino! |
| Carlo: Hai ragione, quando si è in ritardo il motorino è sempre meglio. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Carlo: Che cosa avete fatto poi ieri sera? |
| Marco: What did you do then yesterday evening? |
| Elena: Abbiamo visto un film dell'orrore che aveva portato il cugino di Valeria. |
| Marco: We saw a horror movie that Valeria's cousin had brought. |
| Carlo: Com'era? |
| Marco: How was it? |
| Elena: Veramente spaventoso, dopo il film Valeria non voleva rimanere da sola. |
| Marco: Really frightening; after the movie, Valeria didn't want to stay alone. |
| Carlo: Davvero? Se mi dici il titolo lo noleggio! |
| Marco: Really? If you tell me the title, I'll rent it! |
| Elena: Adesso non mi ricordo, ma ti farò sapere... e tu hai visto la partita poi? |
| Marco: Now I don't remember, but I'll let you know…and did you see the match then? |
| Carlo: Quando sono arrivato da Marco era già finito il primo tempo. |
| Marco: When I arrived at Marco's place, the first half was already finished. |
| Elena: Perché sei arrivato tardi? |
| Marco: Why did you arrive late? |
| Carlo: Ho trovato un incidente per la strada e c'era una coda lunghissima! |
| Marco: I found an accident on the road and there was a very long traffic jam! |
| Elena: Ti avevo detto che era meglio il motorino! |
| Marco: I told you the scooter would have been better! |
| Carlo: Hai ragione, quando si è in ritardo il motorino è sempre meglio. |
| Marco: You're right; when one's late, the scooter is always better. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Consuelo, scooters are very popular in Italy, right? |
| Consuelo: Sure, especially in cities. They're very useful! |
| Marco: Why? |
| Consuelo: Because Italian cities have a lot of traffic, and small cities like Firenze lack car parking! |
| Marco: I see, so if you don't have time to waste, using a scooter is better? |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco, that's why I have one in Italy, like the majority of Italian families. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: orrore [natural native speed] |
| Marco: horror |
| Consuelo: orrore [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: orrore [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: cugino [natural native speed] |
| Marco: cousin |
| Consuelo: cugino [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: cugino [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: spaventoso [natural native speed] |
| Marco: frightening, scary |
| Consuelo: spaventoso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: spaventoso [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: noleggiare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to rent |
| Consuelo: noleggiare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: noleggiare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: incidente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: accident, incident |
| Consuelo: incidente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: incidente [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: motorino [natural native speed] |
| Marco: scooter |
| Consuelo: motorino [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: motorino [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Marco: Consuelo, which word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: That's the Italian word "coda" |
| Marco: "line," "queue." |
| Consuelo: Yes, but this word also means "tail" in Italian, and we even use it for a hairstyle - "farsi la coda" means make a braid of hair hanging. |
| Marco: I see, but let's go back to the first meaning, how could I say "stand in line?" |
| Consuelo: "Fare la coda." |
| Marco: Ah okay, so I can use "fare la coda" in every situation, right? |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco, at the bank, at the supermarket, in the traffic…. |
| Marco: But Italians don't like standing in line, do they? |
| Consuelo: That's for sure! So if you are in Italy and someone is not standing in line, you can say "Si metta in coda per favore!" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: Today, we are going to focus on the usage of the "trapassato prossimo" tense. |
| Consuelo: "pluperfect." |
| Marco: The pluperfect is used to convey the completeness or anteriority of a past action in relation to another past event. |
| Consuelo: We must first of all say that the usage of the "trapassato prossimo" tense is not absolute, but relative to another past action, which would be usually, but not always, expressed in English through the past perfect tense. |
| Marco: For instance… |
| Consuelo: "Quando sono arrivati i miei amici, avevo già mangiato." |
| Marco: "When my friends arrived, I had already eaten." |
| Consuelo: "Ieri io e la mia ragazza abbiamo visto un film che avevo visto." |
| Marco: "Yesterday, my girlfriend and I watched a movie I'd watched." |
| Consuelo: "Ho comprato la gonna che avevo visto la settimana scorsa." |
| Marco: "I bought the skirt I had seen last week." Note that the past action to which the "trapassato prossimo" refers to does not need to be stated; it may be implied. For instance… |
| Consuelo: "Ieri alle 5 del pomeriggio ero già tornato a casa." |
| Marco: Literally, "Yesterday at five o'clock p.m., I was already back home." |
| Consuelo: In the previous sentence, the "trapassato prossimo" means that I was already back home before five o'clock p.m. |
| Marco: The past action that the "trapassato prossimo" refers to may be conjugated in any past tense, though the most commonly employed past tenses are "passato prossimo," "imperfetto," and "passato remoto." For instance... |
| Consuelo: "Io aspettavo una lettera che era già stata consegnata." ("imperfetto") |
| Marco: "I was waiting for a letter that had been already delivered." |
| Consuelo: "Loro vollero verificare se le informazioni che avevano ricevuto erano corrette." ("passato remoto") |
| Marco: "They wanted to verify whether the information they had received was correct or not." |
| Consuelo: "Hai voluto prendere la penna che avevi provato." |
| Marco: "You wanted to buy the pen you had tried out." |
| The "trapassato prossimo" tense is also used in conjunction with the so-called "presente storico" ("historical present"). For instance… |
| Consuelo: "I senatori criticano Antonio per ciò che aveva fatto." |
| Marco: "The senators criticize Antonio for what he did." |
| Consuelo: "Cicerone sa che viene giudicato per ciò che aveva pubblicato." |
| Marco: "Cicero knows he's being judged for what he published." |
| Consuelo: "Napoleone aspetta che lo arrestino per i crimini che aveva commesso." |
| Marco: "Napoleon is waiting to be arrested for the crimes he committed." |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Marco: Okay, some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool on ItalianPOD101.com.... |
| Consuelo: line-by-line audio. |
| Marco: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension... |
| Consuelo: by listening to lines of the conversation again and again. |
| Marco: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically, we breakdown the dialog into comprehensible, bite-size sentences. |
| Consuelo: You can try the line-by-line audio in the Premium Learning Center at ItalianPOD101.com. |
| Marco: [ transition phrase ] |
| Marco: Arrivederci! |
| Consuelo: Ciao! |
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