Learn the differences between formal and informal Italian type III "if" clauses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Ciao a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 19. Have You Met the Italian Art Critic? Hi, my name is Marco and I am joined here by Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: In this lesson, you will learn about the differences between formal and informal type 3 if clauses. |
| Marco: This conversation takes place at an art exhibition in a nightclub. |
| Cinzia: It’s between Giulia and Manuel. |
| Marco: And because they are friends, they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Cinzia: Don’t forget. You can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Marco: So if you have a question |
| Cinzia: Or some feedback |
| Marco: Please leave us a comment. |
| Cinzia: It’s very easy to do. Just stop by italianpod101.com |
| Marco: Click on comments, enter your comment and name and that’s it. |
| Cinzia: We are looking forward to hearing from you. Okay. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Manuel: Mi piace il posto, ma non c’è musica jazz stasera. |
| Giulia: Già, ma la mostra di questo giovane artista americano è molto intrigante. |
| Marcella: Se lo sapevo saremmo potuti andare al Rolling Stones. |
| Manuel: Ma non si dovrebbe dire “se l’avessi saputo”? |
| Giulia: Ahah, non essere troppo preciso, va bene anche così. |
| Marcella: Cosa dite, potremmo andarci lo stesso? |
| Manuel: Questa scultura è veramente bella, chissà cosa rappresenta. |
| Giulia: Giochiamo a fare i critici d’arte! |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Manuel: Mi piace il posto, ma non c’è musica jazz stasera. |
| Giulia: Già, ma la mostra di questo giovane artista americano è molto intrigante. |
| Marcella: Se lo sapevo saremmo potuti andare al Rolling Stones. |
| Manuel: Ma non si dovrebbe dire “se l’avessi saputo”? |
| Giulia: Ahah, non essere troppo preciso, va bene anche così. |
| Marcella: Cosa dite, potremmo andarci lo stesso? |
| Manuel: Questa scultura è veramente bella, chissà cosa rappresenta. |
| Giulia: Giochiamo a fare i critici d’arte! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Manuel: Mi piace il posto, ma non c’è musica jazz stasera. |
| Manuel: I like the place, though there is no jazz music tonight. |
| Giulia: Già, ma la mostra di questo giovane artista americano è molto intrigante. |
| Giulia: That's right, but the exhibition of this young American artist is very intriguing. |
| Marcella: Se lo sapevo saremmo potuti andare al Rolling Stones. |
| Marcella: If I knew it, we could have gone to the Rolling Stones. |
| Manuel: Ma non si dovrebbe dire “se l’avessi saputo”? |
| Manuel: But shouldn't it be "If I had known it." |
| Giulia: Ahah, non essere troppo preciso, va bene anche così. |
| Giulia: Ha ha, don't be a square head, it's also fine this way. |
| Marcella: Cosa dite, potremmo andarci lo stesso? |
| Marcella: We could go there anyway; what do you think? |
| Manuel: Questa scultura è veramente bella, chissà cosa rappresenta. |
| Manuel: This sculpture is very nice; I wonder what it represents. |
| Giulia: Giochiamo a fare i critici d’arte! |
| Giulia: Let's act like art critics. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: Ah, se lo sapevo. |
| Marco: Yes exactly. We Italians commonly use the imperfetto indicativo in place of the congiuntivo trapassato. |
| Cinzia: Se lo avessi saputo. It is really very common to hear this usage as the congiuntivo trapassato is quite difficult to use. |
| Marco: But we are sure that our listeners want to speak excellent Italian. |
| Cinzia: Yes so they should try to use the correct form. |
| Marco: But also be careful as in many occasions, they will hear people using the incorrect form. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is |
| Cinzia: Posto. |
| Marco: Place |
| Cinzia: Posto. Posto. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Cinzia: Già. |
| Marco: That’s right. |
| Cinzia: Già. Già. |
| Marco: Then we have |
| Cinzia: Mostra. |
| Marco: Exhibition. |
| Cinzia: Mostra. Mostra. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Cinzia: Intrigante. |
| Marco: Intriguing. |
| Cinzia: Intrigante. Intrigante. |
| Marco: And next we have an expression |
| Cinzia: Essere troppo preciso. |
| Marco: To be square head. |
| Cinzia: Essere troppo preciso. Essere troppo preciso. |
| Marco: Next word is |
| Cinzia: Scultura. |
| Marco: Sculpture. |
| Cinzia: Scultura. Scultura. |
| Marco: And today’s final word is |
| Cinzia: Critico. |
| Marco: Critic. |
| Cinzia: Critico. Critico. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is posto. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Hai un posto in cui stare a Milano? |
| Marco: Do you have a place to stay in Milan. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is già. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: Hai perso il treno, vero? Già. |
| Marco: You missed the train, didn’t you? That’s right. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is mostra. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Noi di solito non andiamo alle mostre. |
| Marco: We don’t usually go to exhibitions. |
| Cinzia: Next we have intrigante. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: Il libro che ho letto è molto intrigante. |
| Marco: The book I read is very intriguing. |
| Cinzia: Next we have an expression: essere troppo preciso. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: I miei colleghi sono troppo precisi. |
| Marco: My colleagues are square head. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is scultura. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Il museo ospitava molte sculture in marmo. |
| Marco: The museum hosted many marble sculptures. |
| Cinzia: And the last word is critico. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Mike è un critico musicale. |
| Marco: Mike is a music critic. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Let us take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Cinzia: As it is the case for every language, there are sensible differences between spoken and written language. |
| Marco: As well as between formal and informal communication. |
| Cinzia: And regarding the Italian type 3 if clauses, the tense agreement structure states that we have to employ the congiuntivo trapassato |
| Marco: The past perfect subjunctive |
| Cinzia: In the subordinate clause, and the condizionale passato |
| Marco: Past conditional |
| Cinzia: In the main clause. |
| Marco: However when speaking informal Italian, well we Italians sometimes use the imperfetto indicativo tense in the subordinate clause instead of the congiuntivo trapassato. |
| Cinzia: Here are a few examples. |
| Marco: Formal communication, appropriate in both written and spoken Italian. |
| Cinzia: Se avessi saputo che non ti piaceva, non avrei preparato la torta di mele. |
| Marco: Had I known you didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have made the apple pie. Let’s now see informal communication possible only in spoken Italian. |
| Cinzia: Se sapevo che non ti piaceva, non preparavo la torta di mele. Or, Se sapevo che non ti piaceva, non avrei preparato la torta di mele. |
| Marco: If I knew you didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have made the apple pie. |
| Cinzia: The indicativo imperfetto may be used in either the subordinate or main clause, sometimes in both. |
| Marco: It has to be clear that Italians shouldn’t use this variant not even at the colloquial level, but the majority actually does. |
| Cinzia: So much so that there is an ongoing debate whether to consider the indicativo imperfetto inappropriate at any level or not. |
| Marco: As far as everyday spoken Italian is concerned, we should use the indicativo imperfetto only in informal situations, when we don’t recall the appropriate congiuntivo trapassato form. |
| Cinzia: And please remember that the indicativo imperfetto is much easier to conjugate than the congiuntivo trapassato, and people will always understand us. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Cinzia, I’d like to share a study tip a listener shared with us. |
| Cinzia: Ah, you are talking about the student who uses just the conversation tracks to review the lessons. |
| Marco: Cinzia, you read my mind. Yes, a listener of ours listens to each lessons several times |
| Cinzia: Then afterward get the conversation only track from our site |
| Marco: She then listens to them on shuffle again and again. She created her own immersion program using italianpod101.com |
| Cinzia: This is a great idea. Please, give it a try and let us know what you think. |
| Marco: Ok, thank you. |
| Cinzia: Grazie a tutti, ciao. |
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