Learn the difference between sono and sto
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| Micheal:What's the difference between sono and sto? |
| Ofelia: And how are they used? |
| Micheal:At ItalianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| The following situation is typical. FEDERICA FONTANA (@COLLEGE-FRIENDF), |
| a college student, calls her classmate, BEN LEE (@HERO-SON), on the phone and says, |
| "Hi Ben. It's Federica. How are you?" |
| Federica (@COLLEGE-FRIENDF): Ciao Ben. Sono Federica. Come stai? |
| [DIALOGUE - ITALIAN ONLY] |
| FEDERICA FONTANA (@COLLEGE-FRIENDF): Ciao Ben. Sono Federica. Come stai? |
| BEN LEE: Ciao Federica. Sto bene, grazie. |
| Micheal:Once more with the English translation. |
| [DIALOGUE - WITH TRANSLATION] |
| FEDERICA FONTANA (@COLLEGE-FRIENDF): Ciao Ben. Sono Federica. Come stai? |
| Micheal:"Hi Ben. It's Federica. How are you?" |
| BEN LEE: Ciao Federica. Sto bene, grazie. |
| Micheal:"Hi Federica. I'm fine, thank you." |
| Micheal:Many students have noticed that the verb, |
| Ofelia: sono, |
| Micheal:which is from the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere, |
| Micheal:and the verb, |
| Ofelia: sto, |
| Micheal:which is from the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare, |
| Micheal:are both often translated into English in the same way. That is, they both seem to mean "am" as in "I am," and the conjugated forms all seem to be different forms of the English "to be." |
| Micheal:Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Federica says, |
| "It's Federica." |
| [Pause 4 seconds] |
| BEN LEE |
| Sono Federica. |
| Micheal:Here, Federica uses the first person singular conjugation of the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere. |
| Micheal:It's a more or less exact equivalent of the English verb "to be." And it's used with adjectives and nouns to express a permanent condition. |
| You can use the verb to talk about |
| one, identity |
| two, profession |
| three, nationality |
| four, physical aspects, |
| And five, emotions |
| Micheal:Now let's take a look at the second verb. |
| Do you remember how Ben says, |
| "I'm fine." |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Ofelia: Sto bene. |
| Micheal:Here Ben uses the first person singular conjugation of the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare. |
| Micheal:This literally means something like "to stand," "to stay," "to be situated," or "to remain." It's used to refer to a temporary state or being at a particular location. Furthermore, the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare, |
| Micheal:is commonly used with adverbs. |
| Recall that the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere, |
| Micheal:is a direct equivalent of the verb "to be" and will always be translated as such. The meaning of the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare, |
| Micheal:on the other hand, depends on the context we use it in. For example, |
| Ofelia: La maglietta mi sta bene. |
| Micheal:"The t-shirt fits me well." |
| Again, this verb is also used with adverbs or phrases indicating location or temporary state. |
| For example, |
| Ofelia: Oggi sto a casa. |
| Micheal:"I'll stay home today." The sentence treats staying at home as something unusual. The speaker would usually go or be somewhere else during the day, but has decided to make a change in schedule that's temporary. However, the verb |
| Ofelia: essere |
| Micheal:refers to conditions that don't change. If someone says, "I'm tall," |
| Ofelia: Sono alta, |
| Micheal:It means being tall is a permanent condition. It's not something that suddenly happened or is likely to change. The verb, |
| Ofelia: Sto, |
| Micheal:is frequently used to give a sentence a sense of what's current or ongoing, rather than permanent. It's even used with the gerund verb forms to create the progressive tense. For example, |
| Ofelia: Sto studiando italiano. |
| Micheal:"I'm studying Italian." |
| Micheal:So far we have learned that the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere |
| Micheal:or |
| Ofelia: sono |
| Micheal:when conjugated in the first person singular, is used with adjectives or nouns to talk about a permanent state. It's used to talk about |
| one, identity |
| two, profession |
| three, nationality |
| four, physical aspects, |
| five, emotions |
| We have also learned that the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare, |
| Micheal:or |
| Ofelia: sto |
| Micheal:when conjugated in the first person singular, is accompanied by an adverb or a phrase indicating location or state and used to talk about temporary situations that are subject to change. The verb, |
| Ofelia: Stare |
| Micheal:is also used in the Italian progressive tense since this tense connotes what is current or ongoing. |
| Micheal:Now let's look at some examples. Our first example is |
| Ofelia: Sono Paola. (enunciated). Sono Paola. |
| Micheal:"I'm Paola." This uses the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere, |
| Micheal:because Paola refers to the speaker's identity. The next example is |
| Ofelia: Sono un'insegnante. (enunciated). Sono un'insegnante. |
| Micheal:"I'm a teacher." This uses the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere, |
| Micheal:because the word. "teacher," describes the speaker's profession. The next example is |
| Ofelia: Sono italiana. (enunciated). Sono italiana. |
| Micheal:"I'm Italian." This uses the verb, |
| Ofelia: essere, |
| Micheal: because the adjective, "Italian," concerns the speaker's identity. The next example is |
| Ofelia: Sono alta (enunciated). Sono alta. |
| Micheal:"I'm tall." This uses the verb |
| Ofelia: essere, |
| Micheal:because the adjective, "tall," describes one's physical characteristics. |
| The next example is |
| Ofelia: Sono felice. (enunciated). Sono felice. |
| Micheal:"I'm happy." This uses |
| Ofelia: essere |
| Micheal:because certain emotions or mental states, such as happiness, are considered long-lasting. |
| Micheal:On the contrary, the phrase, "I'm well," which is a common reply to "How are you?" indicates how you are feeling at that very moment and hence is considered temporary. |
| Ofelia: Sto bene (enunciated). Sto bene. |
| Micheal:"I'm well." Here it's the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare, |
| Micheal:in its conjugated form, |
| Ofelia: sto. |
| Micheal: The next example is |
| Ofelia: Oggi sto a casa. (enunciated). Oggi sto a casa. |
| Micheal:"I'll stay home today." This also uses |
| Ofelia: stare. |
| Micheal:in this context, this verb will mean "stay," which is a temporary action. And our last example is |
| Ofelia: Sto studiando italiano (enunciated). Sto studiando italiano. |
| Micheal:"I'm studying Italian." This uses |
| Ofelia: stare |
| Micheal:together with the gerund to create the progressive tense, which connotes what is current or ongoing. Once again, remember that |
| Ofelia: stare |
| Micheal:has many different meanings! |
| Micheal:One more context where the verb, |
| Ofelia: stare, |
| Micheal:Is used a little differently than in English is in the imperative form. |
| Ofelia: Stai zitto! |
| Micheal:literally means "Stay quiet!" But it translates as "Be quiet." The idea here is that the person needs to start being quiet but doesn't need to be that way permanently. |
| Micheal:Yet even here, thinking about whether something is temporary or permanent is the key to choosing the right verb! |
| Ofelia: Sii felice! |
| Micheal:means "Be happy!" |
| Practice Section |
| Micheal:Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the Italian speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Federica (@COLLEGE-FRIENDF) says, |
| "It's Federica. How are you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Ofelia as FEDERICA FONTANA: Sono Federica. Come stai? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Sono Federica. Come stai? |
| Micheal:And how BEN LEE (@HERO-SON) says, |
| "I'm fine, thank you." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Ofelia as BEN LEE: Sto bene, grazie. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Sto bene, grazie. |
| Micheal:Before the end of this lesson, let's take a look at some cases where the use of |
| Ofelia: stare |
| Micheal:can become a little bit tricky. For example, |
| Ofelia: La maglietta mi sta bene. (enunciated). |
| La maglietta mi sta bene. |
| Micheal:means "The t-shirt fits me well." Here, the verb |
| Ofelia: stare |
| Micheal:means "to fit" and can't be translated into English as "to be." |
| Ofelia: Sto in piedi. (enunciated) |
| Sto in piedi. |
| Micheal:This literally means means "I'm on my foot." But it translates as "I'm standing." "To stand" is the meaning of the verb phrase, |
| Ofelia: stare in piedi. |
Outro |
|---|
| Micheal:Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Ofelia: A presto! |
| Micheal:"Bye, see you next time!" |
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