Learn how to recognize masculine and feminine nouns (and their exceptions)
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey: Hi everyone! Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower beginner Season 1 Lesson 14 - Is Italian Grammar Difficult? I'm Betsey. |
| Ofelia: Ciao! I'm Ofelia. In this lesson, you will learn how to express feelings of confusion and difficulty. |
| Betsey: You will also learn how to recognize masculine and feminine nouns in Italian, and their exceptions. Such as… |
| Ofelia: Questo pigiama è molto carino. |
| Betsey: Which means "These pajamas are very nice." This conversation takes place at the local library. |
| Ofelia: Jack and Claudio parlano insieme. |
| Betsey: The conversation is between Jack and Claudio. The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal language. |
| Ofelia: Ascoltiamo. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Claudio: Sembri confuso... |
| Jack: Sto studiando grammatica italiana, ma questo capitolo non è facile. |
| Claudio: Questa pagina parla dei sostantivi femminili e maschili e delle eccezioni... In bocca al lupo! Per le eccezioni, devi imparare a memoria le parole. |
| Jack: Oddio! Ripetiamo-...pigiama è femminile mentre pilota è maschile, giusto? |
| Claudio: No, pigiama è maschile come pilota. |
| Jack: Uff... e il mio esame è dopodomani. |
| Betsey: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Claudio: Sembri confuso... |
| Jack: Sto studiando grammatica italiana, ma questo capitolo non è facile. |
| Claudio: Questa pagina parla dei sostantivi femminili e maschili e delle eccezioni... In bocca al lupo! Per le eccezioni, devi imparare a memoria le parole. |
| Jack: Oddio! Ripetiamo-...pigiama è femminile mentre pilota è maschile, giusto? |
| Claudio: No, pigiama è maschile come pilota. |
| Jack: Uff... e il mio esame è dopodomani. |
| Betsey: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Claudio: Sembri confuso... |
| Claudio: You look confused... |
| Jack: Sto studiando grammatica italiana, ma questo capitolo non è facile. |
| Jack: I'm studying Italian grammar, but this chapter is not easy. |
| Claudio: Questa pagina parla dei sostantivi femminili e maschili e delle eccezioni... In bocca al lupo! Per le eccezioni, devi imparare a memoria le parole. |
| Claudio: This page talks about feminine and masculine nouns and the exceptions... Good luck! You have to learn the words by heart with the exceptions. |
| Jack: Oddio! Ripetiamo-...pigiama è femminile mentre pilota è maschile, giusto? |
| Jack: Gosh! Let's repeat them..."pajama" is feminine while "pilot" is masculine, right? |
| Claudio: No, pigiama è maschile come pilota. |
| Claudio: No, "pajama" is masculine like "pilot." |
| Jack: Uff... e il mio esame è dopodomani. |
| Jack: Oh...and my exam is the day after tomorrow. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ofelia: Let's talk about the Italian language itself. |
| Betsey: Is Italian spoken in other countries beside Italy? |
| Ofelia: Sure. It is the official language in the Republic of San Marino. |
| Betsey: Of course! And of the Vatican City too I guess. |
| Ofelia: Actually in the Vatican City, there is no official language established but Italian is primarily spoken. |
| Betsey: I see. How about in Switzerland? |
| Ofelia: In Switzerland, it is one of the official languages, and it is studied and learned in all the confederation schools. It is spoken in the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni. |
| Betsey: And I read that it is co-official also in some areas in Slovenia and in Croatia. |
| Ofelia: Exactly. Italian is also widely known in some of the former colonies of Italy, like Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. |
| Betsey: And on the other hand, are there other languages that are spoken in Italy besides Italian? |
| Ofelia: Oh yes! In Valle d'Aosta on the border with France, French is spoken. And in Trentino Alto Adige, near Austria, German is spoken. |
| Betsey: I remember going to Bolzano and reading all the signs both in Italian and German! |
| Ofelia: Another interesting thing is that in Italy, in some little communities some ancient languages are still spoken. They have survived through the centuries. |
| Betsey: Really? |
| Ofelia: Yes, like the language called Griko, still spoken in Calabria, in South Italy, which directly derives from ancient Greek. |
| Betsey: And is Sardo a language or a dialect? |
| Ofelia: Sardo is spoken in Sardinia and it is a co-official regional language. It is not a dialect, but one of the most conservative Roman languages. |
| Betsey: Okay, now let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Betsey: The first word we shall see is... |
| Ofelia: confuso [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: confused |
| Ofelia: confuso [slowly - broken down by syllable] confuso [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: capitolo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: chapter |
| Ofelia: capitolo [slowly - broken down by syllable] capitolo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: parlare [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: to talk, to speak |
| Ofelia: parlare [slowly - broken down by syllable] parlare [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: sostantivo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: noun |
| Ofelia: sostantivo [slowly - broken down by syllable] sostantivo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: In bocca al lupo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: good luck! |
| Ofelia: In bocca al lupo [slowly - broken down by syllable] In bocca al lupo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: a memoria [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: by heart |
| Ofelia: a memoria [slowly - broken down by syllable] a memoria [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: oddio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: my goodness, good grief, good Heavens, my God |
| Ofelia: oddio [slowly - broken down by syllable] oddio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: oddio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: to repeat, to restate, to iterate |
| Ofelia: oddio [slowly - broken down by syllable] oddio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: giusto? [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Right? |
| Ofelia: giusto? [slowly - broken down by syllable] giusto? [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: And last... |
| Ofelia: dopodomani [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: the day after tomorrow |
| Ofelia: dopodomani [slowly - broken down by syllable] dopodomani [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Betsey: Let's take a look at the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. |
| Ofelia: The first word is. PARLARE DI |
| Betsey: TO TALK OF/ABOUT |
| Ofelia: The verb parlare, to talk, is followed by the preposition di, of, and a noun to show the content of the conversation. It is also used to say what a book or movie is about. |
| Betsey: Could you give us a pair of examples ? |
| Ofelia: Questo romanzo parla delle avventure di Robin Hood. |
| Betsey: This novel talks about Robin Hood's adventures. |
| Ofelia: Questo è un film storico: parla della seconda guerra mondiale. |
| Betsey: This is a historical movie: it talks about the Second world war. |
| Betsey: What's the next expression? |
| Ofelia: IN BOCCA AL LUPO! |
| Betsey: GOOD LUCK! |
| Ofelia: It means 'good luck' but it literally means 'in the mouth of the wolf'. |
| Betsey: Really? And what is the appropriate way to answer? |
| Ofelia: The answer to this expression should always be 'crepi!' (meaning 'Die!') and not grazie ('thank you'). This answer is thought to bring bad luck instead. |
| Betsey: Please, let us hear the good luck combination! |
| Ofelia: In bocca al lupo! Crepi! |
| Betsey: Good luck! Thanks! or In the mouth of the wolf! May it die! |
| Betsey: The last word we'll look at is... |
| Ofelia: GIUSTO |
| Betsey: RIGHT |
| Ofelia: This adjective means 'right'. For example, E' giusto dividere i lavori domestici. |
| Betsey: It is right to share house work. |
| Ofelia: Like in English, 'right' can be used at the end of a sentence to confirm the content. It is used as a tag question. The adjective 'vero' is used in the same way. |
| Betsey: For example? |
| Ofelia: Sei francese, giusto? |
| Betsey: You are French, right? |
| Ofelia: Sei il fratello di Marco, vero? |
| Betsey: You are Marco's brother, right? Okay, everyone, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Betsey: In this lesson, you'll learn how to recognize masculine and feminine nouns in Italian. |
| Ofelia: Indeed it is possible to recognize if the nouns are feminine and masculine from the last letter of the word. |
| Betsey: In Italian nouns are divided in two groups |
| Ofelia: The first group includes all –o ending masculine nouns, and –a ending feminine nouns. |
| Betsey: While in the second group, there are –e ending masculine and feminine nouns. |
| Ofelia: Of course, it is easier to recognize the nouns from the first group. But it is necessary to check the dictionary for the ones in the second group, and sometimes for the ones in the first too. |
| Betsey: Let's look at some examples. |
| Ofelia: The word tavolo, table, ends in –o, |
| Betsey: So it's a masculine noun. |
| Ofelia: Yes, and the determinative article before tavolo is il - Il tavolo |
| Betsey: Let's now look at a feminine example from the first group. |
| Ofelia: TORTA, cake. Torta ends in –a, so it's a feminine noun. |
| Betsey: Its determinative article is... |
| Ofelia: LA, La torta |
| Betsey: Let's now consider some nouns from the second group. |
| Ofelia: These are nouns like fiore and stazione, which end in –e. |
| Betsey: So in the beginning, it is necessary to check the dictionary to understand their gender. |
| Ofelia: Yes, otherwise you can just check their articles or related adjectives. Fiore is masculine (il fiore), while a noun like stazione is feminine,( la stazione) |
| Betsey: Are there exceptions to this rule? |
| Ofelia: Yes, and and most of the exceptions concern the nouns belonging to the first group. |
| Betsey: Can you give us some examples? |
| Ofelia: There are -a ending nouns which are masculine |
| Betsey: Like? |
| Ofelia: il pigiama |
| Betsey: the pajama |
| Ofelia: Il pilota |
| Betsey: the pilot |
| Ofelia: Il problema |
| Betsey: the problem, issue |
| Ofelia: Il panorama |
| Betsey: the landscape |
| Ofelia: There are also -o ending nouns which are feminine |
| Betsey: For example? |
| Ofelia: La metro |
| Betsey: the underground |
| Ofelia: L'auto. |
| Betsey: the car. |
| Ofelia: La mano |
| Betsey: The hand |
| Ofelia: La radio |
| Betsey: The radio // . Ok listeners, make sure check the lesson notes where you can find more examples about this grammar point. |
Outro |
|---|
| Betsey: OK. That's all for this lesson. |
| Ofelia: Thank you all for listening! |
| Betsey: See you next time! |
| Ofelia: A presto! |
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