Learn how to use the Italian modal verb dovere to express a hypothesis and how to use the negative prefix in- for Italian adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| None (manual write in): |
| Jason: Ciao, Jason here. Welcome to ItalianPod101.com! |
| Cristina: Cristina here! Intermediate. Lesson 1 - Complaining is Pointless in Italy |
| Jason: In this lesson you will learn how to use the modal verb dovere to expresses the hypothetical and the negative prefix in- for adjectives. Such as... |
| Cristina: ”Sara dovrebbe essere andata dall’oculista per una visita”. |
| Jason: “Sara should be at the ophthalmologist for a checkup” |
| Cristina Or… |
| Jason: “For now it’s pointless to complain”. |
| Cristina: ” Per ora è in-utile lamentarsi”. |
| Jason: This conversation takes place in the teachers’ room of a music academy. |
| Cristina: Sandro e Giovanna parlano insieme. Sono due colleghi di lavoro e amici. |
| Jason: The conversation is between Sandro and Giovanna.They are co-workers and friends so they'll be speaking informal Italian. |
| Cristina: Ascoltiamo |
| Jason: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sandro: Giovanna, buongiorno. Come mai sei così in ritardo? Tutto bene? |
| Giovanna: Sì. La mia macchina è dal meccanico e con i mezzi pubblici ci vuole un’eternità a venire qui. E’ impossibile fare affidamento sull’autobus di questa città! Per fortuna stasera la mia 500 dovrebbe essere pronta e vado a ritirarla. |
| Sandro: Ho capito. E’ che anche Sara non è in ufficio e mi stavo preoccupando. Sono mica venuto al lavoro in un giorno di ferie? |
| Giovanna: No, no. Oggi ci sono lezioni regolarmente. Sara non si è fatta ancora vedere perchè dovrebbe essere andata dall’oculista per una visita. Mi ha detto che vede le note un po’ sfocate. |
| Sandro: A che ora arriva? |
| Giovanna: Non mi ha detto esattamente, ma forse arriverà per l’ora di pranzo. |
| Sandro: Allora noi iniziamo a lavorare sul programma dello spettacolo del prossimo mese. |
| Giovanna: Volevo proprio parlarti della scaletta. Sono un po’ insoddisfatta della scelta dei pezzi. Forse è meglio inserire anche una canzone di Natale visto che siamo a dicembre. Che ne dici? |
| Sandro: Potrebbe essere un’idea. |
| Giovanna: Aspetta vado a prendere il catalogo delle canzoni natalizie. Dovrebbe essere nell’altro ufficio se Sara non ha dimenticato di restituirlo l’altro giorno. Torno subito. |
| Sandro: Trovato? |
| Giovanna: No, niente. Appena arriva, mi sente! Si dimentica sempre di riportare i libri di uso ufficio... |
| Sandro: Per ora è inutile lamentarsi. Tanto vale concentrarsi su qualcos’altro. Abbiamo talmente tanto da preparare e così poco tempo. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Sandro: Giovanna, buongiorno. Come mai sei così in ritardo? Tutto bene? |
| Giovanna: Sì. La mia macchina è dal meccanico e con i mezzi pubblici ci vuole un’eternità a venire qui. E’ impossibile fare affidamento sull’autobus di questa città! Per fortuna stasera la mia 500 dovrebbe essere pronta e vado a ritirarla. |
| Sandro: Ho capito. E’ che anche Sara non è in ufficio e mi stavo preoccupando. Sono mica venuto al lavoro in un giorno di ferie? |
| Giovanna: No, no. Oggi ci sono lezioni regolarmente. Sara non si è fatta ancora vedere perchè dovrebbe essere andata dall’oculista per una visita. Mi ha detto che vede le note un po’ sfocate. |
| Sandro: A che ora arriva? |
| Giovanna: Non mi ha detto esattamente, ma forse arriverà per l’ora di pranzo. |
| Sandro: Allora noi iniziamo a lavorare sul programma dello spettacolo del prossimo mese. |
| Giovanna: Volevo proprio parlarti della scaletta. Sono un po’ insoddisfatta della scelta dei pezzi. Forse è meglio inserire anche una canzone di Natale visto che siamo a dicembre. Che ne dici? |
| Sandro: Potrebbe essere un’idea. |
| Giovanna: Aspetta vado a prendere il catalogo delle canzoni natalizie. Dovrebbe essere nell’altro ufficio se Sara non ha dimenticato di restituirlo l’altro giorno. Torno subito. |
| Sandro: Trovato? |
| Giovanna: No, niente. Appena arriva, mi sente! Si dimentica sempre di riportare i libri di uso ufficio... |
| Sandro: Per ora è inutile lamentarsi. Tanto vale concentrarsi su qualcos’altro. Abbiamo talmente tanto da preparare e così poco tempo. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Sandro: Giovanna, buongiorno. Come mai sei così in ritardo? Tutto bene? |
| Jason: Giovanna, good morning. Why are you so late? Is everything okay? |
| Giovanna: Sì. La mia macchina è dal meccanico e con i mezzi pubblici ci vuole un’eternità a venire qui. E’ impossibile fare affidamento sull’autobus di questa città! Per fortuna stasera la mia 500 dovrebbe essere pronta e vado a ritirarla. |
| Jason: Yeah. My car is at the mechanic, and with the public transportation, it takes ages to get here. It's impossible to rely on the bus system in this city! Fortunately, my car should be ready tonight, and I can pick it up. |
| Sandro: Ho capito. E’ che anche Sara non è in ufficio e mi stavo preoccupando. Sono mica venuto al lavoro in un giorno di ferie? |
| Jason: I see. Sara also hasn't shown up yet in the office, and I was getting worried. Did I come to work on a holiday? |
| Giovanna: No, no. Oggi ci sono lezioni regolarmente. Sara non si è fatta ancora vedere perchè dovrebbe essere andata dall’oculista per una visita. Mi ha detto che vede le note un po’ sfocate. |
| Jason: No, no. Today there are regular lessons. Sara should be at the ophthalmologist for a checkup. She told me that recently she sees notes a bit out-of-focus. |
| Sandro: A che ora arriva? |
| Jason: At what time will she arrive? |
| Giovanna: Non mi ha detto esattamente, ma forse arriverà per l’ora di pranzo. |
| Jason: She didn't tell me exactly, but maybe she'll arrive at lunchtime. |
| Sandro: Allora noi iniziamo a lavorare sul programma dello spettacolo del prossimo mese. |
| Jason: Then let's start working on the program for the show of next month. |
| Giovanna: Volevo proprio parlarti della scaletta. Sono un po’ insoddisfatta della scelta dei pezzi. Forse è meglio inserire anche una canzone di Natale visto che siamo a dicembre. Che ne dici? |
| Jason: Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the set list of songs. I'm a bit unsatisfied with the choice of the pieces. Maybe it's better to add a Christmas song too since we are in December. What do you think? |
| Sandro: Potrebbe essere un’idea. |
| Jason: That could be an idea. |
| Giovanna: Aspetta vado a prendere il catalogo delle canzoni natalizie. Dovrebbe essere nell’altro ufficio se Sara non ha dimenticato di restituirlo l’altro giorno. Torno subito. |
| Jason: Okay, I'm going to get the catalog of Christmas songs. It should be in the other office if Sara didn't forget to return it the other day. I'll be back right away. |
| Sandro: Trovato? |
| Jason: Did you find it? |
| Giovanna: No, niente. Appena arriva, mi sente! Si dimentica sempre di riportare i libri di uso ufficio... |
| Jason: Nope, nothing. As soon as she arrives, I'll have a word with her. She always forgets to return the books that are to be used in the office... |
| Sandro: Per ora è inutile lamentarsi. Tanto vale concentrarsi su qualcos’altro. Abbiamo talmente tanto da preparare e così poco tempo. |
| Jason: For now, it's pointless to complain. We might as well focus on something else. We have so much to prepare and so little time. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cristina: So Jason, did you know that there are a lot of cheap ways to get around in Italy? And some of them are quite interesting! |
| Jason: Oh really? |
| Cristina: Yes! The best way to visit an Italian city is public transportation. It is usually cheap and quite efficient. Every city has an extensive bus or tram network… even though they get slow at peak hours! |
| Jason: Are there underground networks in Italy? |
| Cristina: Yes, there are some in big cities, such as Rome, Naples and Milan. Oh, and a new one has been built in Turin, recently. |
| Jason: What was the “interesting” way to get around you were thinking of? |
| Cristina: Oh, I was thinking about bicycles! Since there are a lot of small towns in Italy, a bike is a great option! And you can also use it out of town, if you stick to country roads. |
| Jason: Isn’t it dangerous to ride in Italian traffic? |
| Cristina: Well, city centers are often closed to traffic, so they are very pleasant to visit by bike; but of course when you ride through traffic you have to watch out for Italian drivers… they are not that disciplined! Unfortunately, there aren’t many cycling lanes. |
| Jason: Ok, thanks for the info and tips! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jason: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Cristina: meccanico [natural native speed] |
| Jason: mechanic |
| Cristina: meccanico [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: meccanico [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: eternità [natural native speed] |
| Jason: ages |
| Cristina: eternità [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: eternità [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: fare affidamento [natural native speed] |
| Jason: to rely |
| Cristina: fare affidamento [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: fare affidamento [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: farsi vedere [natural native speed] |
| Jason: to show up |
| Cristina: farsi vedere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: farsi vedere [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: visita [natural native speed] |
| Jason: checkup, visit |
| Cristina: visita [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: visita [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: scaletta [natural native speed] |
| Jason: set list of songs, schedule |
| Cristina: scaletta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: scaletta [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: restituire [natural native speed] |
| Jason: to give back, to return |
| Cristina: restituire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: restituire [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: Sentire qualcuno [natural native speed] |
| Jason: to have a word with someone, to tell someone off |
| Cristina: Sentire qualcuno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: Sentire qualcuno [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: tanto vale [natural native speed] |
| Jason: as well |
| Cristina: tanto vale [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: tanto vale [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: talmente [natural native speed] |
| Jason: so much |
| Cristina: talmente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: talmente [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Jason: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Let's take a closer look at the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jason: The first one we'll look at is... |
| Cristina: fare affidamento su qualcuno |
| Jason: "to rely on somebody" |
| Cristina: Here's a sample sentence. Non puoi fare affidamento su Luisa, è sempre in ritardo. |
| Jason: "You can’t rely on Luisa, she’s always late." |
| Cristina: Fare affidamento means "to rely on somebody" and it requires the preposition su before a personal or general noun. The word affidamento comes from the Italian verb fidarsi, meaning "to trust". Another way to say it could be contare su or the more general fidarsi di. |
| Jason: Another example? |
| Cristina: Quando ho un problema informatico faccio sempre affidamento su mio figlio. |
| Jason: "I always rely on my son when I have a computer problem." |
| Jason: What's the next one we'll look at? |
| Cristina: Sentire (qualcuno) |
| Jason: "to have a word with" |
| Cristina: Here's a sample sentence Sono le due di notte. Quando mia figlia torna a casa, mi sente! |
| Jason: "It’s 2 am. When my daughter comes back I’ll have a word with her!" |
| Cristina: Even though SENTIRE literally means hear, it is used by someone who’s angry to say that he or she is going to reproach the person who made him or her angry by disobeying or doing something wrong. |
| Jason: So, this expression doesn’t have a proper translation in English, but it has some English equivalents, like "tell somebody off" or "have a word with somebody". |
| Cristina: Yes, but unlike the English expressions, in Italian the person who’s angry is the OBJECT, not the SUBJECT, of the sentence. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jason: The focus of this lesson is the usage of the modal verb dovere to express a hypothesis. |
| Cristina: The modal verb dovere is usually translated as ‘must’ or ‘have to’ and expresses an obligation or a duty. |
| Jason: For example… |
| Cristina: Oggi devo consegnare questo progetto, ma sono in ritardo sulla tabella di marcia. |
| Jason: "Today I have to hand in this project but I am behind schedule." |
| Cristina: The modal verb dovere is also used to express a hypothesis. Listen to the sentence – Sara dovrebbe essere andata dall’oculista per una visita. |
| Jason: "Sara should be at the ophthalmologist for a checkup." |
| Cristina: In such cases, the usage of the verb dovere could be replaced by the adverb forse or probabilmente. |
| Jason: Can you give us an example? |
| Cristina: You can either say –Sara dovrebbe essere andata dall’oculista or probablimente è dall’oculista |
| Jason: "She should be at the ophthalmologist" means "she probably is at the ophthalmologist." |
| Cristina: As you can see, the verb dovere is often used in the conditional present tense. Although this is often the case, dovere can express the hypothetical also when it is in the indicative present tense. |
| Jason: For example? |
| Cristina: Carlo non è ancora arrivato. Deve aver perso il treno. |
| Jason: "Carlo has not arrived yet. He must have missed the train. |
| Cristina: Another grammar point of this lesson is the usage of prefix in- to give a negative meaning to adjectives. |
| Jason: Like in the word insoddisfatta that means not satisfied. |
| Cristina: By adding the prefix in- to an adjective, the meaning of the adjective becomes negative. Like in utile/inutile. |
| Jason: "Useful/useless" |
| Cristina: Precisely. Or like in coerente/incoerente. But be wary that the prefix in- becomes il- before a l, like in logico/illogico |
| Jason: "logical/illogical" |
| Cristina: It also becomes im- before b,m,p |
| Jason: For example, like in the word impossibile! |
| Cristina: Exactly, or like in morale/immorale… |
| Jason: "moral/immoral" |
| Cristina: …and like in the word bevibile/imbevibile |
| Jason: "Drinkable/undrinkable." |
| Cristina: Finally, prefix in- becomes ir- before letter r, like in the couple razionale/irrazionale. |
| Jason: "Rational/irrational." |
Outro |
| Jason: OK. That's all for this lesson. In the lesson notes, you can find more examples on this grammar point. So be sure to read them. |
| Cristina: A presto! |
| Jason: Bye-bye! |
Comments
HideAre you a person who complains much?!
Hi Chanel Gwen,
thank you for leaving a comment.
Well, you can't possibly learn a new language (such as Italian) without using another, more familiar language (such as English).
While full immersion in a language helps a lot, you'll also need some explanations, especially with Italian, which has so many rules and exceptions.
Also keep in mind that the level of this lesson is Intermediate, which isn't an advanced enough level to avoid English completely.
I hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Very disappointed as so much in ENGLISH why? I want to learn italian not english or american???
Hi Louis,
Thank you for posting.
You can learn more about our team members here: https://www.italianpod101.com/about-us/member-introduction/
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Is there a place on the site where the origin/accent of the speakers is listed (so, we can learn to place them)?
I ask because these two people have a particular way of pronouncing certain consonants that sound more like dialect influences than the standard that serves as the model of standard Italian. Eg. The man pronounced ‘prossimo’ as ‘proshimo’, the woman uses a more labial emphasis on ‘vado’ than the standard.
I love how the articulation in the dialogue is sloppy, like real speech, rather than radio pronunciation!
Thanks,
Louis
Hi Clay Brasuell,
yes, reviewing is the key. It can only get easier. Don't give up!
Grazie per il tuo commento (thanks for your comment). Let us know if you have any questions.
A presto,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
there were several words that gave me a problem. i took the vocab test and scored a 80% overall i would only score this as a 25% for me. i will review this again.
oops, sorry heard it!
What is the 500 in line 3? doesn't seem to get mentioned. Thanks
Hi Sazaria Pintu,
We accept the following payment methods:
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If you would like to use an alternate payment method, please email us at contactus@italianpod101.com for more details.
Sincerely,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Voglio imparare bene italiano ma non ćè conto di banco.come pago io.
Hi Sue O'Meara,
Right, it's a car model, la Fiat 500.
A presto,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
When talking about the car, what does the reference to 500 mean? A car model?
Thanks
Hi Rob Windsor,
Thank you for posting.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Great lesson, thank you.
Hi LCz,
Thank you for the positive feedback.
We'll keep in consideration your suggestion about the writing quiz. Thank you very much.
Grazie mille,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi ItalianPod101 Team - thank you for this lesson: it is clear and rich in content on all fronts (vocabulary / grammar). I've tried many language learning apps/sites and, so far, have always been disappointed as they mostly cater to absolute beginners' needs. Finally, I feel that with your method, I'll be able to make some real progress.
Just one thing that would make it even better: in the quiz section (writing test), it would be really helpful to have buttons for accentuated letters. I'm using a standard qwerty keyboard (as I'm guessing most english speakers are) and to get accentuated letters, one needs to open another app (e.g. google translate) and copy/paste the relevant letter from that other app into the quiz window, which is a bit tedious.
Hi Ian,
Thank you for leaving the comment!
Should you have any questions, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ItalianPod101.com
Very helpful for those who have trouble understanding
Hi Daniela,
Thank you so much for your positive feedback!
Looking forward to seeing you often here.
Grazie,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
😄. I've not studied Italian for 20 years and I love this lesson. I can already feel the language coming back. I have worked in online education platforms and content development for online learning and this lesson content - and the varied ways that the material is presented - is really well done. I'm very sure that I have learned. Thank you. PS I also enjoyed reading the other student's questions.