Learn how to describe people and use adjectives with plural nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey: Hi everyone! Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower beginner Season 1 Lesson 10 - Describing People in Italian. I'm Betsey. |
| Ofelia: Ciao! Ofelia here. In this lesson you'll learn how to use adjectives with plural nouns. Such as…'Sara ha gli occhi azzurri. Luisa e Carla hanno due giacche azzurre.' |
| Betsey: Which means "Sara has blue eyes. Luisa and Carla have two blue jackets." |
| Ofelia: The conversation takes place at school. Mieke and Jack parlano insieme. |
| Betsey: The conversation is between Mieke and Jack. The speakers are schoolmates, so they'll be using informal language. |
| Ofelia: Ascoltiamo. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jack: E che carattere ha Silvia? |
| Mieke: È molto simpatica. Al lavoro è molto gentile e paziente con me. Quando sono in difficoltà mi aiuta sempre. Ha anche una sorella gemella, Serena. Hanno un carattere molto simile- sono molto socievoli ed espansive. I loro fratelli invece sono molto timidi. |
| Jack: Sì, mi ricordo. |
| Mieke: Veramente? li hai visti solo una volta, più di due anni fa. Hai una memoria da elefante! |
| Betsey: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Jack: E che carattere ha Silvia? |
| Mieke: È molto simpatica. Al lavoro è molto gentile e paziente con me. Quando sono in difficoltà mi aiuta sempre. Ha anche una sorella gemella, Serena. Hanno un carattere molto simile- sono molto socievoli ed espansive. I loro fratelli invece sono molto timidi. |
| Jack: Sì, mi ricordo. |
| Mieke: Veramente? li hai visti solo una volta, più di due anni fa. Hai una memoria da elefante! |
| Betsey: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Jack: E che carattere ha Silvia? |
| Jack: And what personality does she have? |
| Mieke: È molto simpatica. Al lavoro è molto gentile e paziente con me. Quando sono in difficoltà mi aiuta sempre. Ha anche una sorella gemella, Serena. Hanno un carattere molto simile- sono molto socievoli ed espansive. I loro fratelli invece sono molto timidi. |
| Mieke: She is very nice. At work, she is very kind and patient with me. When I'm in trouble, she always helps me. She also has a twin sister, Serena. They have similar personalities…they are very friendly and outgoing. Their brothers, on the other hand, are very shy. |
| Jack: Sì, mi ricordo. |
| Jack: Yes, I remember! |
| Mieke: Veramente? li hai visti solo una volta, più di due anni fa. Hai una memoria da elefante! |
| Mieke: Really? You met them only once, more than two years ago. You have a memory like an elephant! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ofelia: Now let's learn some new expressions. |
| Betsey: What kind of expressions? |
| Ofelia: In Italian, there are some expressions used to describe personality traits that compare people to animals. |
| Betsey: Oh, like in Aesop's fables, where animals are used to describe people's personality traits? |
| Ofelia: Esatto! |
| Betsey: For example, Mieke said... |
| Ofelia: Hai la memoria di un elefante. |
| Betsey: Which is, "You have a memory like an elephant." Why do Italians say this? |
| Ofelia: I suppose it's because elephants are intelligent animals, and live for a long time. Another common expression is Furbo come una volpe. |
| Betsey: Which is "Cunning like a fox." It's similar to the English. |
| Ofelia: There is also 'Testardo come un mulo.' |
| Betsey: Which is "Stubborn as a mule." |
| Ofelia: Maybe this next one is less known - ‘Mite come il bue.' |
| Betsey: I see…"Good-natured like an ox." |
| Ofelia: And what do you think is the adjective for "snail"? |
| Betsey: I'm guessing it's slow. How do you say 'slow' in Italian? |
| Ofelia: 'Lento.' And the expression is ‘Lento come una lumaca.' |
| Betsey: "Slow as a snail." |
| Ofelia: Right! How would you describe yourself, Betsey:? |
| Betsey: (laughs) how about...clever! |
| Ofelia: (laughs) Well, you could say 'Sono intelligente come un'aquila!' |
| Betsey: "I am clever as an eagle..." but this phrase doesn't sound very clever! |
| Ofelia: In reality, in most cases it is said ironically! (laughs) |
| Betsey: (laughs) Okay, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Betsey: The first word we shall see is... |
| Ofelia: carattere [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: personality |
| Ofelia: carattere [slowly - broken down by syllable] carattere [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: simpatico [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: nice, funny, likable |
| Ofelia: simpatico [slowly - broken down by syllable] simpatico [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: gentile [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: kind, nice, polite |
| Ofelia: gentile [slowly - broken down by syllable] gentile [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: paziente [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: patient |
| Ofelia: paziente [slowly - broken down by syllable] paziente [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: gemello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: twin |
| Ofelia: gemello [slowly - broken down by syllable] gemello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: simile [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: similar, alike |
| Ofelia: simile [slowly - broken down by syllable] simile [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| #REF! |
| Betsey: sociable, social, genial |
| #REF! |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: socievole [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: outgoing |
| Ofelia: socievole [slowly - broken down by syllable] socievole [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: fratello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: brother |
| Ofelia: fratello [slowly - broken down by syllable] fratello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: And last... |
| Ofelia: timido [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: shy |
| Ofelia: timido [slowly - broken down by syllable] timido [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Betsey: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Ofelia: The first word is CARATTERE. |
| Betsey: Which means "PERSONALITY." |
| Ofelia: This noun is used to translate the English word 'character'. As in English, we can also say PERSONALITA', 'personality'. |
| Betsey: Wait, in English "personality" can also indicate a famous person or VIP... |
| Ofelia: And it's the same in Italian. For example, "Stephen Spielberg è una personalità del cinema," |
| Betsey: "Stephen Spielberg is a personality in the motion picture industry." Ok, and what about 'character'? |
| Ofelia: "Giulia ha un carattere estroverso" or "Guilia ha una personalità estroversa," |
| Betsey: Both sentences means "Giulia has a friendly character," The second one we'll look at is... |
| Ofelia: PAZIENTE |
| Betsey: PATIENT |
| Ofelia: Another way you can describe a patient person is by using the noun pazienza, avere pazienza. |
| Betsey: Which means "To have patience." Is there any difference between these two expressions? |
| Ofelia: Not at all! |
| Betsey: Ok, now let's move on to the next word. What is it? |
| Ofelia: FRATELLO |
| Betsey: Which means "BROTHER" |
| Ofelia: For "sister." we should say SORELLA. |
| Betsey: I see. So, in Italian, to say that you have a great relationship with a friend of yours, you can say... |
| Ofelia: "essere come fratelli." or "essere come sorelle," |
| Betsey: "To be like brothers" or "To be like sisters" |
| Betsey: Can you give us an example, Ofelia? |
| Ofelia: 'Io e Betsey: siamo come sorelle.' |
| Betsey: Which is "Betsey: and I are like sisters." |
| Ofelia: Since we're on the topic of families, next up is 'cugino' |
| Betsey: This means "cousin," Ofelia, what's an example using this? |
| Ofelia: 'Giovanni gioca spesso con i suoi cugini' |
| Betsey: "John often plays with his cousins." Okay, now let's move onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Betsey: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use descriptive adjectives when they are together with plural nouns. |
| Ofelia: For example in the sentence I loro fratelli invece sono molto timidi. |
| Betsey: Their brothers, on the other hand, are very shy. |
| Ofelia: The adjective timido goes with the plural noun 'fratelli'. |
| Betsey: As we saw in the previous lesson, adjectives always agree in gender and number. |
| Ofelia: Right. Remember that adjectives are divided in two groups, the ones ending in –o and the ones ending in –e. |
| Betsey: For example... |
| Ofelia: 'Buono' (good, tasty) or 'azzurro' (light blue). |
| Betsey: These all belong to the first group. |
| Ofelia: While grande (big) or felice (happy) belong to the second group. |
| Betsey: When the first group adjectives go with a plural masculine noun… |
| Ofelia: The -o changes into –i |
| Betsey: For example... |
| Ofelia: Azzurro-azzurri. (LITTLE PAUSE) Sara ha gli occhi azzurri. |
| Betsey: Sara has blue eyes. |
| Ofelia: Also for the second group, the plural ends in –i. |
| Betsey: For example? |
| Ofelia: Felice-felici. (LITTLE PAUSE) Giovanni ha tre cani felici. |
| Betsey: Giovanni has three happy dogs. |
| Betsey: Now when adjectives go with a plural feminine noun… |
| Ofelia: The first group ending in -a, will change into –e |
| Betsey: For example? |
| Ofelia: Azzurra-azzurre. Luisa e Carla hanno due giacche azzurre. |
| Betsey: Luisa and Carla have two blue jackets. |
| Ofelia: And the second group ending in -e will change into –i, like in the masculine. |
| Betsey: For example? |
| Ofelia: Grande-grandi. Queste case sono grandi. |
| Betsey: These houses are big. |
| Ofelia: Now don't forget that the endings of the nouns do not always match. |
| Betsey: If the adjective and the noun belong to different groups, then the ending will not match. |
| Ofelia: Yes, for example, Giovanna e Daria sono due ragazze felici. |
| Betsey: Which is "Giovanna and Daria are two happy girls." |
| Ofelia: Here, "Ragazze" and "felici" have different endings. |
| Betsey: Ok. Now listeners, remember to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you've learned in this lesson. |
Outro |
|---|
| Betsey: OK. That's all for this lesson. |
| Ofelia: Thank you all for listening! A presto! |
| Betsey: See you next time! |
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