Learn how to use the pronomi combinati in the Italian language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| None (manual write in): |
| Jason: Ciao! Jason here. Welcome to ItalianPod101.com! |
| Cristina: Cristina here! Intermediate. Lesson 4 – Suffering Losses in Italy. |
| Jason: In this lesson you'll learn how use pronomi combinati. Such as me lo, te lo, and so on… |
| Cristina: Me li devo mettere al collo. |
| Jason: "I should put them around my neck" – This conversation takes place at work. |
| Cristina: Sara e Giovanna parlano insieme. |
| Jason: The conversation is between Sara and Giovanna.The speakers are co-workers and friends, so they'll be speaking informal language. |
| Cristina: Ascoltiamo |
| Jason: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sara: Giovanna hai per caso visto i miei occhiali? Li lascio sempre in giro... |
| Giovanna: Quelli piccoli e dorati? No mi dispiace. Sai, dovresti usare una catenella. |
| Sara: Hai ragione. Me li devo mettere al collo. Ogni due per tre, li perdo! |
| Giovanna: Ti porto in un negozio dove fanno degli accessori molto carini, incluse delle catenelle per occhiali simpatiche e colorate. |
| Sara: Dovrei anche decidermi a comprare un portaocchiali. |
| Giovanna: Ma non te l’ha regalato Lucia a Natale? |
| Sara: Era nero e così ho perso pure quello. |
| Giovanna: Al tuo compleanno te lo regalo arancio! |
| Sara: Spiritosa! |
| James: Scusate, qualcuna ha portato lo spartito delle musiche di Morricone da provare oggi? Lo volevo prestare a Sandro, ma credo di averlo lasciato a casa. Glielo avevo promesso! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Sara: Giovanna hai per caso visto i miei occhiali? Li lascio sempre in giro... |
| Giovanna: Quelli piccoli e dorati? No mi dispiace. Sai, dovresti usare una catenella. |
| Sara: Hai ragione. Me li devo mettere al collo. Ogni due per tre, li perdo! |
| Giovanna: Ti porto in un negozio dove fanno degli accessori molto carini, incluse delle catenelle per occhiali simpatiche e colorate. |
| Sara: Dovrei anche decidermi a comprare un portaocchiali. |
| Giovanna: Ma non te l’ha regalato Lucia a Natale? |
| Sara: Era nero e così ho perso pure quello. |
| Giovanna: Al tuo compleanno te lo regalo arancio! |
| Sara: Spiritosa! |
| James: Scusate, qualcuna ha portato lo spartito delle musiche di Morricone da provare oggi? Lo volevo prestare a Sandro, ma credo di averlo lasciato a casa. Glielo avevo promesso! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Sara: Giovanna hai per caso visto i miei occhiali? Li lascio sempre in giro... |
| Jason: Giovanna, have you seen my glasses by any chance? I always leave them around... |
| Giovanna: Quelli piccoli e dorati? No mi dispiace. Sai, dovresti usare una catenella. |
| Jason: The small, golden ones? No, I'm sorry. You should use a glasses chain. |
| Sara: Hai ragione. Me li devo mettere al collo. Ogni due per tre, li perdo! |
| Jason: You're right. I should put them around my neck. I lose them every so often. |
| Giovanna: Ti porto in un negozio dove fanno degli accessori molto carini, incluse delle catenelle per occhiali simpatiche e colorate. |
| Jason: I'll take you to a shop where they make some really nice accessories, including some cute and colorful glasses chains. |
| Sara: Dovrei anche decidermi a comprare un portaocchiali. |
| Jason: I should also finally buy a case for my glasses. |
| Giovanna: Ma non te l’ha regalato Lucia a Natale? |
| Jason: Lucia gave one to you for Christmas, didn't she? |
| Sara: Era nero e così ho perso pure quello. |
| Jason: Yes, but it was black, and I lost that too. |
| Giovanna: Al tuo compleanno te lo regalo arancio! |
| Jason: For your birthday, I'll give you an orange one. |
| Sara: Spiritosa! |
| Jason: Very funny. |
| James: Scusate, qualcuna ha portato lo spartito delle musiche di Morricone da provare oggi? Lo volevo prestare a Sandro, ma credo di averlo lasciato a casa. Glielo avevo promesso! |
| Jason: Excuse me, has anyone brought the score of Morricone's music that we're going to rehearse today? I wanted to lend it to Sandro, but I think I left it at home. I had promised it to him! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cristina: Hey Jason, do you know the composer of A fistful of dollars’ soundtrack, Ennio Morricone? |
| Jason: Of course I do, he’s very famous! Didn’t he write the soundtrack of several Sergio Leone movies? |
| Cristina: Yes, he did. He wrote the musical scores of many movies, most of them Spaghetti Westerns. |
| Jason: Is he Italian? |
| Cristina: Yes, he is. He was Leone’s school friend. That’s how he started composing movie music after the conservatory. |
| Jason: That’s interesting…If I remember well he wrote something for the American folksinger Joan Baez, too. |
| Cristina: Infatti! He wrote Sacco and Vanzetti’s soundtrack, and the most famous song of the movie was sang by Joan Baez. It was very famous in the Seventies. |
| Jason: Did he win some prizes for his music? |
| Cristina: Well, Morricone has composed music for more than 500 movies or tv series and received two Grammy Awards and two Golden Globes, among other prestigious prizes. |
| Jason: Did he win any Academy Award? |
| Cristina: First of all he won an Honorary Academy Award for career achievement in 2007. He also had several nominations for his movie musical scores. |
| Jason: That’s amazing! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jason: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Cristina: per caso [natural native speed] |
| Jason: by chance |
| Cristina: per caso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: per caso [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: in giro [natural native speed] |
| Jason: around |
| Cristina: in giro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: in giro [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: dorato [natural native speed] |
| Jason: golden |
| Cristina: dorato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: dorato [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: catenella [natural native speed] |
| Jason: chain |
| Cristina: catenella [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: catenella [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: ogni due per tre [natural native speed] |
| Jason: every so often |
| Cristina: ogni due per tre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: ogni due per tre [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: simpatico [natural native speed] |
| Jason: cute |
| Cristina: simpatico [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: simpatico [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: portaocchiali [natural native speed] |
| Jason: glasses case |
| Cristina: portaocchiali [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: portaocchiali [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: spiritoso [natural native speed] |
| Jason: funny, hilarious, witty |
| Cristina: spiritoso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: spiritoso [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: spartito [natural native speed] |
| Jason: score |
| Cristina: spartito [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: spartito [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: provare [natural native speed] |
| Jason: to rehearse |
| Cristina: provare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: provare [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. |
| Jason: The first one we'll look at is... |
| Cristina: IN GIRO |
| Jason: Literally "AROUND" |
| Cristina: Together with different verbs, it acquires different meanings. |
| Jason: For example? |
| Cristina: Lasciare in giro means "to leave (stuff) lying around." Raccontare/dire in giro generally means "to spread some news around", "to divulge" but also "to snitch." |
| Jason: Is it used in other ways? |
| Cristina: An example that is a bit different is prendere in giro which means "to make fun of somebody/something". Here's a sample sentence. Mi stai prendendo in giro? |
| Jason: "Are you kidding me?" |
| Jason: What's the next one we'll look at? |
| Cristina: PROVARE. |
| Jason: "TO REHEARSE." |
| Cristina: This verb can be translated in English both as "to try" or "to rehearse". Here's a sample sentence. Stiamo provando per il concerto di domani |
| Jason: "We are rehearsing for tomorrow concert." |
| Cristina: You can also use fare le prove to replace provare for "practicing". |
| Jason: What does le prove mean? |
| Cristina: "Rehearsals". |
| Jason: Can you give us another example? |
| Cristina: Abbiamo fatto le prove fino a tardi. |
| Jason: "We rehearsed until late." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jason: The focus of this lesson is the usage of pronomi combinati. |
| Cristina: In the dialogue, we heard Me li devo mettere al collo. |
| Jason: "I should put them around my neck." |
| Cristina: The pronomi combinati are pairs of pronouns, formed by an indirect pronoun and the direct pronouns. This pair substitutes a noun that has the function of indirect object, and a noun that has the function of direct complement. |
| Jason: Let’s start reviewing the indirect pronouns. First singular person. |
| Cristina: MI |
| Jason: "TO ME". Second person singular. |
| Cristina: TI. |
| Jason: "TO YOU". Third person singular. Masculine. |
| Cristina: GLI. |
| Jason: "TO HIM". Third person singular. Feminine |
| Cristina: LE. |
| Jason: "TO HER". First person plural. |
| Cristina: CI. |
| Jason: "TO US". Second person plural. |
| Cristina: VI. |
| Jason: "TO YOU" (PLURAL). Third plural person. |
| Cristina: LORO or GLI. |
| Jason: "TO THEM". |
| Cristina: Then let’s review the direct pronouns. |
| Jason: First singular person. |
| Cristina: Mi |
| Jason: "ME". Second person singular. |
| Cristina: TI. |
| Jason: "YOU". Third person singular. Masculine. |
| Cristina: LO. |
| Jason: "HIM". Third person singular. Feminine |
| Cristina: LA. |
| Jason: "HER". First person plural. |
| Cristina: CI. |
| Jason: "US". Second person plural. |
| Cristina: VI. |
| Jason: "YOU" (PLURAL). Third person plural. Masculine. |
| Cristina: LI. |
| Jason: "THEM". Third person plural. Feminine. |
| Cristina: LE. |
| Jason: Let’s do some example with combined pronouns. |
| Cristina: Al tuo compleanno te lo regalo arancio! |
| Jason: "For your birthday, I’ll give you an orange one." |
| Cristina: In the dialogue above the direct pronoun lo refers to the glasses case (il portaocchiali), a singular masculine noun. The indirect pronoun te means "to you". The verb regalare in Italian, as it is in English, requires the preposition a ("to"). |
| Jason: For example… |
| Cristina: Sandro ci porta delle briosches per la colazione. Ce le porta ogni sabato mattina. |
| Jason: "Sandro brings croissants to (for) us for breakfast. He brings them (to us) every Saturday morning." |
| Cristina: There are three rules to follow with the combined pronouns. |
| Jason: First rule. The position – the indirect pronoun always comes first. |
| Cristina: Ma non te l’ha regalato Lucia a Natale? |
| Jason: "Lucia gave one to you for Christmas, didn’t she?" |
| Cristina: Second rule. |
| Jason: The form – the indirect pronoun changes I to E. |
| Cristina: Mi piace quel libro. Me lo presti? |
| Jason: "I like that book. Can you lend it to me?" |
| Cristina: Notice that the indirect pronoun MI ("to me") changes to ME. |
| Jason: Third rule. In combination with GLI ("to them"), the indirect pronoun and the direct pronoun that follows become a single word and the letter E is added in between the two pronouns. |
| Cristina: Glielo volevo prestare. |
| Jason: "I wanted to lend it to him." |
| Cristina: When combined with a direct pronoun, it is not possible to use le as an indirect pronoun for lei. Gli substitutes le. |
| Jason: For example… |
| Cristina: Hai ricordato a Claudia l’ appuntamento dal dentista? Sì, gliel’ho ricordato stamattina. |
| Jason: "Did you remind Claudia about out dentist appointment? Yes I reminded her about it this morning." |
| Cristina: Please notice that the indirect pronoun for the third person singular and plural is the same. There is also the form loro for the third person plural, but it has fallen out of fashion, especially in the spoken language. |
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! |
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