Learn Italian disjunctive conjunctions, delving into ovvero
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao a tutti sono la vostra Consuelo! |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner Season 2 , Lesson 15 - Which Italian Car Will You Choose - a Fiat or a Ferrari? |
| Marco: Hello, and welcome to the ItalianPod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Italian! |
| Consuelo: I'm Consuelo, and thanks again for being here with us for this Beginner Series S2 lesson. |
| Marco: In this lesson, we will be studying Italian disjunctive conjunctions, delving into ovvero. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place out of the bakery. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Elena and Carlo, her brother. |
| Consuelo: The speakers are family; therefore, they will be speaking informally. |
| Marco: Now, if you're listening on an iPod... |
| Consuelo: or an iTouch or iPhone... |
| Marco: click the center button of the iPod or tap the screen on an iTouch or iPhone, to see the notes for this lesson while you listen! |
| Consuelo: Read along, while you listen. |
| Marco: This technique will help you remember faster! Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Carlo: Elena, allora dove ti porto? Vuoi andare a casa? |
| Elena: Mmm, non so se passare da Valeria o andare direttamente a casa. |
| Carlo: Valeria non lavora più alla panetteria? |
| Elena: No. |
| Carlo: Ok, cosa devo fare? O ti lascio da Valeria, o ceniamo assieme, scegli tu. |
| Elena: Lo so, è che proprio stasera hai ricevuto la tua nuova macchina, potevamo andare a cena insieme… |
| Carlo: Non ti preoccupare dai, possiamo cenare insieme dopodomani, ovvero domenica. |
| Elena: Allora va bene, andiamo pure da Valeria. Vuoi prendere l'autostrada o la strada statale? |
| Carlo: Penso che sia meglio l'autostrada, con questo traffico! |
| Elena: Ok! |
| Consuelo: One more time, slowly. |
| Marco: Ancora una volta, lentamente. |
| Carlo: Elena, allora dove ti porto? Vuoi andare a casa? |
| Elena: Mmm, non so se passare da Valeria o andare direttamente a casa. |
| Carlo: Valeria non lavora più alla panetteria? |
| Elena: No. |
| Carlo: Ok, cosa devo fare? O ti lascio da Valeria, o ceniamo assieme, scegli tu. |
| Elena: Lo so, è che proprio stasera hai ricevuto la tua nuova macchina, potevamo andare a cena insieme… |
| Carlo: Non ti preoccupare dai, possiamo cenare insieme dopodomani, ovvero domenica. |
| Elena: Allora va bene, andiamo pure da Valeria. Vuoi prendere l'autostrada o la strada statale? |
| Carlo: Penso che sia meglio l'autostrada, con questo traffico! |
| Marco: Once again, this time with the translation. |
| Consuelo: Questa volta con la traduzione. |
| Carlo: Elena, allora dove ti porto? Vuoi andare a casa? |
| Carlo: Elena, so where should I take you? Do you want to go home? |
| Elena: Mmm, non so se passare da Valeria o andare direttamente a casa. |
| Elena: Mmm, I don't know if I should pass by Valeria's place or go straight home. |
| Carlo: Valeria non lavora più alla panetteria? |
| Carlo: Valeria isn't working at the bakery anymore? |
| Elena: No. |
| Elena: No. |
| Carlo: Ok, cosa devo fare? O ti lascio da Valeria, o ceniamo assieme, scegli tu. |
| Carlo: Okay, what should I do? Either I leave you at Valeria's place, or we have dinner together, that's your call. |
| Elena: Lo so, è che proprio stasera hai ricevuto la tua nuova macchina, potevamo andare a cena insieme… |
| Elena: I know, it's just that tonight you received your new car, we could have had dinner together… |
| Carlo: Non ti preoccupare dai, possiamo cenare insieme dopodomani, ovvero domenica. |
| Carlo: Come on, don't worry. We can have dinner together the day after tomorrow, that is, Sunday. |
| Elena: Allora va bene, andiamo pure da Valeria. Vuoi prendere l'autostrada o la strada statale? |
| Elena: It's all right, then let's go to Valeria's place. Do you want to take the highway or the state highway? |
| Carlo: Penso che sia meglio l'autostrada, con questo traffico! |
| Carlo: I think the highway may be better with all this traffic! |
| Elena: Ok! |
| Elena: Okay! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Let's talk about Italian cars. They are pretty famous, right? |
| Consuelo: Yes, that's something we are really famous for, right after the Pizza Margherita, fashion, and soccer. |
| Marco: Everybody knows Ferrari, Fiat, and so on, right? |
| Consuelo: Oh, yes we do. Have you ever driven a Ferrari, Marco? |
| Marco: No, I haven't! Have you? |
| Consuelo: Yes, it was brutal, so fast I thought I was going back in time! |
| Marco: Oh, I'm so jealous; all I have driven are a Fiat and a Renault. |
| Consuelo: Renault? That's a French car right? |
| Marco: Yes. Many Italians drive French cars. |
| Consuelo: Or German ones. |
| Marco: After all, we are all part of the European Union. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: casa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: home, house, one's place |
| Consuelo: casa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: casa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The next word is... |
| Consuelo: direttamente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: directly, straight |
| Consuelo: direttamente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: direttamente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The next word is... |
| Consuelo: panetteria [natural native speed] |
| Marco: bakery |
| Consuelo: panetteria [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: panetteria [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The next word is...cenare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to have dinner, to dine |
| Consuelo: cenare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: cenare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The next word is... |
| Consuelo: dopodomani [natural native speed] |
| Marco: the day after tomorrow |
| Consuelo: dopodomani [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: dopodomani [natural native speed] |
| Marco: The last word is... |
| Consuelo: autostrada [natural native speed] |
| Marco: highway |
| Consuelo: autostrada [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: autostrada [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we going to see today? |
| Consuelo: Today we'll focus on the words used in Italian for the days. |
| Marco: Yes. Everybody knows words like "today - oggi," "tomorrow - domani," and "the day after tomorrow - dopodomani." What else? |
| Consuelo: So in some parts of Italy we have a way to call "the day after the day after tomorrow." |
| Marco: "The day after the day after tomorrow"? |
| Consuelo: For example, today is Monday. I'm talking about Thursday. |
| Marco: How do you say that? |
| Consuelo: We could say "dopodomani l'altro." |
| Marco: Which literally is like "the other day after tomorrow," right? |
| Consuelo: Yes. |
| Marco: Interesting! Thanks Consuelo! |
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Today we are going to continue with the study of the |
| Consuelo: "congiunzioni disgiuntive" |
| Marco: "disjunctive conjunctions." |
| Marco: Similarly to their English equivalents, the principal function of |
| Consuelo: "congiunzioni disgiuntive" |
| Marco: "disjunctive conjunctions," consists in joining two or more phrases or words whose relation is mutually exclusive. |
| Consuelo: In other words, the employment of "congiunzioni disgiuntive" suggests that the truthfulness or applicability of one phrase automatically excludes the others. |
| Marco: The most important "congiunzioni disgiuntive" are the following… |
| Consuelo: "o" |
| Marco: "or" |
| Consuelo: "ovvero" |
| Marco: "or" |
| Consuelo: "oppure," "altrimenti" |
| Marco: "or," "otherwise," "else" |
| Consuelo: Today, we will study the functioning of "o" and "ovvero." |
| Marco: Whereas "o" is the most commonly used disjunctive conjunction, the use of "ovvero" in this context has been gradually declining in recent years. As stated above, both conjunctions are to relate two phrases, suggesting that only one of them is actually possible. For example… |
| Consuelo: "Scegli o studi, o lavori!" |
| Marco: "Choose you either work or study!" |
| Consuelo: "Vorresti la birra o il vino?" |
| Marco: "Would you rather have beer or wine?" |
| Consuelo: "O vado da Mario, o ceniamo assieme; non posso fare entrambe le cose." |
| Marco: "Either I go to Mario (home), or we dine together; I can't do both." |
| Marco: As you noticed in the first and third example, the conjunction "o" may also be inserted before the first phrase. Although this is not strictly necessary as far grammar is concerned, it serves the purpose of stressing the need to choose between options to achieve more elegant, stylistic results. |
| Consuelo: When enlisting more than two options, in Italian we normally insert the conjunction "o" before the last element of the series. For instance... |
| Consuelo: "Non sapevo cosa comprare...un paio di scarpe, un maglietta, un paio di jeans o un cappello." |
| Marco: "I didn't know what to buy…(either) a pair of shoes, a t-shirt, a pair of jeans or a hat." |
| Marco: Even though Italian grammarians usually include "ovvero" in the "congiunzioni disgiuntive," this specific use has been gradually declining in recent years and it is presently rarely used in that sense in standard Italian (except in the jurisprudential terminology). |
| Consuelo: The most common employment of "ovvero" is to clarify, add additional information, emphasize or better explain a previous statement. When used as such, it means "cioè" ("that is," "namely," etc.) For instance... |
| Consuelo: "Io ho mangiato la pasta, ovvero gli spaghetti." |
| Marco: "I ate pasta, that is, spaghetti." |
| Consuelo: "Pago io, ovvero mia moglie." |
| Marco: "I'll pay, that is, my wife will." |
| Consuelo: "Ci vediamo dopodomani, ovvero domenica." |
| Marco: "I'll see you the day after tomorrow, that is, on Sunday." |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today! |
| Premium members, use the review track to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: Available in the premium section of the website, |
| Marco: the learning center, |
| Consuelo: and through iTunes via the premium feed, |
| Marco: the Review Track gives you vocabulary and phrases followed by a short pause so you can repeat the words aloud. |
| Consuelo: The best way to get good fast! |
| Marco: Ok, ciao! |
| Consuelo: Ciao! A presto! |
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