Learn more about the Italian verb tense we use to refer to events that happened in the remote past
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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 lesson, we will continue focusing on the usage of the passato remoto and the passato prossimo tenses. In addition, we will see the passato remoto reference board of second conjugation regular verbs. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at the bakery. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Elena and Antonio. |
| Consuelo: The speakers are not friends; therefore, they will be speaking formally. |
| 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 |
| Elena: Signor Antonio, ecco la sua valigia. |
| Antonio: Grazie mille e scusi per l'inconveniente. Perchè quella faccia? Problemi a lavoro? |
| Elena: Eh sì. Riesco sempre a sbagliare e non me ne accorgo neanche. |
| Antonio: Eh, ricordo 10 anni fa quando ricevei una proposta di lavoro a Londra. Appena arrivato mi sentivo inadeguato e pensavo di non essere capace. |
| Elena: Esattamente come mi sento adesso. Sono un pò delusa di me stessa. |
| Antonio: Non ti preoccupare col passare del tempo vedrai che le cose miglioreranno. Sbagliando s'impara. |
| Elena: Grazie Signor Antonio, apprezzo molto le sue parole. |
| Antonio: Prego mia cara e non abbatterti, forza! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Elena: Signor Antonio, ecco la sua valigia. |
| Antonio: Grazie mille e scusi per l'inconveniente. Perchè quella faccia? Problemi a lavoro? |
| Elena: Eh sì. Riesco sempre a sbagliare e non me ne accorgo neanche. |
| Antonio: Eh, ricordo 10 anni fa quando ricevei una proposta di lavoro a Londra. Appena arrivato mi sentivo inadeguato e pensavo di non essere capace. |
| Elena: Esattamente come mi sento adesso. Sono un pò delusa di me stessa. |
| Antonio: Non ti preoccupare col passare del tempo vedrai che le cose miglioreranno. Sbagliando s'impara. |
| Elena: Grazie Signor Antonio, apprezzo molto le sue parole. |
| Antonio: Prego mia cara e non abbatterti, forza! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Elena: Signor Antonio, ecco la sua valigia. |
| Marco: Mr. Antonio, here's your suitcase. |
| Antonio: Grazie mille e scusi per l'inconveniente. Perchè quella faccia? Problemi a lavoro? |
| Marco: Thank you very much and sorry for the inconvenience. Why that face? Any problems at work? |
| Elena: Eh sì. Riesco sempre a sbagliare e non me ne accorgo neanche. |
| Marco: Oh yes. I'm always making mistakes and I don't even notice them. |
| Antonio: Eh, ricordo 10 anni fa quando ricevei una proposta di lavoro a Londra. Appena arrivato mi sentivo inadeguato e pensavo di non essere capace. |
| Marco: Eh, I remember ten years ago when I received a job offer in London. As soon as I arrived, I felt inadequate and I thought I wasn't able to do it. |
| Elena: Esattamente come mi sento adesso. Sono un pò delusa di me stessa. |
| Marco: Exactly the way I feel now. I am a little disappointed with myself. |
| Antonio: Non ti preoccupare col passare del tempo vedrai che le cose miglioreranno. Sbagliando s'impara. |
| Marco: Don't worry, as time passes you'll see that things get better. Practice makes perfect. |
| Elena: Grazie Signor Antonio, apprezzo molto le sue parole. |
| Marco: Thank you, Mr. Antonio, I really appreciate your words. |
| Antonio: Prego mia cara e non abbatterti, forza! |
| Marco: You're welcome my dear, and don't be discouraged, come on! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Consuelo, are there many Italians who decide to work in Great Britain? |
| Consuelo: Oh yes, a lot of Italians go mainly to London. |
| Marco: Oh really? Why? |
| Consuelo: Because compared to Italy, salaries are higher and you can learn English at the same time. |
| Marco: I guess now it is very important to learn English for Italians. |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco, it's becoming more and more important for Italians to learn English, not only for travel purposes but also because more and more companies require knowledge of English when hiring new staff. |
| Marco: I see, and why England? |
| Consuelo: Because it is in Europe and it is the nearest country in which English is spoken! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: sbagliare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to make a mistake, be wrong |
| Consuelo: sbagliare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: sbagliare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: proposta [natural native speed] |
| Marco: proposal, offer, suggestion |
| Consuelo: proposta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: proposta [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: inadeguato [natural native speed] |
| Marco: inadequate, deficient, unsatisfactory |
| Consuelo: inadeguato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: inadeguato [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: capace [natural native speed] |
| Marco: able, capable, skilled |
| Consuelo: capace [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: capace [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: esattamente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: exactly, precisely |
| Consuelo: esattamente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: esattamente [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: deluso [natural native speed] |
| Marco: disappointed, frustrated |
| Consuelo: deluso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: deluso [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 expression are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: That's the Italian expression "sbagliando s'impara." |
| Marco: "Practice makes perfect." |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco. By the way, the English equivalent of this expression is composed of different words. |
| Marco: What do you mean? |
| Consuelo: "Sbagliando s'impara" literally means "making mistakes you learn." |
| Marco: I see, learn is "imparare," isn't it? |
| Consuelo: Yes, in the end, "practice makes perfect" has the same meaning as "making mistakes you learn" because if you don't make any mistakes, you cannot practice, don't you think? |
| Marco: Oh yes, different words, same meaning. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: Today, we'll continue focusing on the usage of the "passato remoto" and the "passato prossimo" tenses. We will also see the "passato remoto" tense of second conjugation regular verbs. |
| Consuelo: As we saw in the previous lesson, both the northern Italian usage of "passato prossimo" and southern Italian usage of "passato remoto" are perfectly acceptable in informal spoken language. |
| Marco: However, in standard Italian, the "passato prossimo" tense is used to convey recent past occurrences, which means past events that the speaker deems to be recent. This is a subjective interpretation and does not in any way relate to any objective evaluation of time. |
| Consuelo: Instead, the "passato remoto" tense is used to communicate distant past events. |
| Marco: The functioning of "passato prossimo" and "passato remoto" is in this sense remarkably different from English, isn't it! |
| Consuelo: The recentness or distance of past events is closely related to the context we are speaking in. |
| Marco: This difference is clear when we employ both tenses in close connection to each other. Note that they may be present either in the same sentence or in consecutive sentences. For example… |
| Consuelo: "Secondo alcuni studiosi, i continenti si formarono ("passato remoto") quattro milioni di anni fa, mentre secondo altri si sono si sono formati ("passato prossimo") solo un milione di anni fa." |
| Marco: "According to some scholars, continents were created four million years ago, whereas according to others, they were created one million years ago." |
| Consuelo: "Dieci anni fa andai ("passato remoto") in Egitto, ma l'anno scorso sono andato ("passato prossimo") in vacanza in Spagna." |
| Marco: "Ten years ago, I went to Egypt, but last year, I went to Spain on vacation." |
| Consuelo: "I Romani costruirono ("passato remoto") molti ponti nei loro territori, ai giorni nostri le autorità italiane ne hanno costruiti ("passato prossimo") meno." |
| Marco: "Romans built many bridges in their territories; nowadays, Italian authorities build fewer bridges." And now, let's see the "passato remoto" tense of the second conjugation regular verb "ricevere" ("to receive"). |
| Consuelo: "Io ricevei" |
| Marco: "I received" |
| Consuelo: "Tu ricevesti" |
| Marco: "You received" |
| Consuelo: "Lui/lei ricevé" |
| Marco: "He/she/it received" |
| Consuelo: "Noi ricevemmo" |
| Marco: "We received" |
| Consuelo: "Voi riceveste" |
| Marco: "You received" |
| Consuelo: "Loro riceverono" |
| Marco: "They received" |
| Consuelo: Please do not forget to put the accent on the "-é" ending of the third person singular. |
| Marco: Otherwise, you'll have… |
| Consuelo: "lui/lei riceve" |
| Marco: "he/she/it receives," the third singular person of the simple present tense. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Marco: Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: The voice recording tool... |
| Marco: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center... |
| Consuelo: Record your voice with a click of a button, |
| Marco: and then play it back just as easily. |
| Consuelo: So you record your voice, and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers... |
| Consuelo: And adjust your pronunciation! |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast! |
| Marco: Ciao! |
| Consuelo: A presto! |
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