Learn the present progressive and the phrase 'Let me help you’
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buonasera a tutti. |
| Marco: Good evening everyone. Lower intermediate series, season 1, lesson 3. Get Help With Your Italian. Hi, my name is Marco and I am joined here by Cinzia. Buonasera Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Buonasera Marco. What a nice night to spend together me and you and all our listeners. |
| Marco: It’s always nice to spend a summer evening together. |
| Cinzia: Yes but we should be sitting on a terrace drinking a soft drink |
| Marco: Being eaten alive by mosquitoes. |
| Cinzia: Oh this guy is so negative all the time. |
| Marco: Yes I am. But today’s dialogue is even more positive than I am usually. |
| Cinzia: Yes because you are the main character. |
| Marco: It’s us, it’s us. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: For the first time, we are bringing our listeners into our daily reality. |
| Cinzia: Yes so listeners, take a deep breath and come with us. Today we are talking about the fact that I always help you because you are always in trouble. |
| Marco: Well not always but Cinzia has helped me some time. So today’s lesson dialogue is in very informal Italian right? |
| Cinzia: Of course because it’s between me and you. |
| Marco: In the office. |
| Cinzia: And what else? |
| Marco: Let’s jump in. |
| Cinzia: Okay. |
| Marco: I will be Marco |
| Cinzia: And I will be |
| Marco: Cinzia? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Okay. That was difficult. Let’s start. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Cinzia: Marco, cosa stai facendo? |
| Marco: Sto cercando di finire la lezione. |
| Cinzia: Sembri in difficoltà. Lascia che ti aiuti! |
| Marco: Grazie. Sei molto gentile. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Cinzia: Marco, cosa stai facendo? |
| Marco: Sto cercando di finire la lezione. |
| Cinzia: Sembri in difficoltà. Lascia che ti aiuti! |
| Marco: Grazie. Sei molto gentile. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Cinzia: Marco, cosa stai facendo? |
| Cinzia: Marco, what are you doing? |
| Marco: Sto cercando di finire la lezione. |
| Marco: I am trying to finish the lesson. |
| Cinzia: Sembri in difficoltà. Lascia che ti aiuti! |
| Cinzia: You look like you're in trouble. Let me help you! |
| Marco: Grazie. Sei molto gentile. |
| Marco: Thanks. You're very kind. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: Okay so dear listeners, this is what happens every day. |
| Marco: Not every day. I sometime need your expertise. |
| Cinzia: Yes because I am an expert. |
| Marco: An expert in trouble I am sure. |
| Cinzia: You are saying I am a troublemaker. |
| Marco: I am not saying it. You said it. |
| Cinzia: Okay. So let’s move on, it’s better. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we are going to take a look in today’s vocabulary is |
| Cinzia: Fare. |
| Marco: To do, make. |
| Cinzia: Fare. Fare. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Cinzia: Cercare. |
| Marco: To look for, seek, search. |
| Cinzia: Cercare. Cercare. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Finire. |
| Marco: To finish, complete, stop. |
| Cinzia: Finire. Finire. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Lezione. |
| Marco: Lesson. |
| Cinzia: Lezione. Lezione. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Sembrare. |
| Marco: To seem, look, look like. |
| Cinzia: Sembrare. Sembrare. |
| Marco: Next word. |
| Cinzia: Difficoltà. |
| Marco: Difficulty, trouble. |
| Cinzia: Difficoltà. Difficoltà. |
| Marco: And next word |
| Cinzia: Lasciare. |
| Marco: To let go, leave. |
| Cinzia: Lasciare. Lasciare. |
| Marco: And last word |
| Cinzia: Aiutare. |
| Marco: To help, aid, assist. |
| Cinzia: Aiutare. Aiutare. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: E adesso guardiamo l’uso di alcune parole ed espressioni. |
| Marco: That in English would be |
| Cinzia: And now let’s take a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. |
| Marco: Okay the first one is |
| Cinzia: Cercare. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Stai cercando qualcuno? |
| Marco: Are you looking for somebody? |
| Cinzia: The verb cercare in Italian is very often used Marco. Isn’t it? |
| Marco: Yes it is. For example, cerca di essere più precisa, try to be more precise is what I often say. |
| Cinzia: Oh yes. So you are using it as the English meaning try to. |
| Marco: Exactly. Cercare di means try to. |
| Cinzia: Yes just as we have seen in the dialogue but cercare in the example we have just seen means look for. So be careful when you hear it in different contexts. |
| Marco: Exactly. It can mean try to or look for because cercare literally means to look for something. |
| Cinzia: La prossima parola che vedremo è finire. |
| Marco: The next word we will look at is finire. Give us an example sentence please. |
| Cinzia: Non finisci mai di sorprendermi. |
| Marco: You never cease to amaze me. |
| Cinzia: Oh… |
| Marco: It’s just written here. Not my fault, not my intention, my… |
| Cinzia: So you mean I don’t amaze you? |
| Marco: Cerchiamo di andare avanti. Let’s try to move forward. |
| Cinzia: Fine. The next word we will look at is sembrare. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Le cose non sono sempre come sembrano. |
| Marco: Things are not always what they seem. |
| Cinzia: And this is Marco’s case. And the next word is difficoltà. |
| Marco: And the example is |
| Cinzia: Mi trovo in difficoltà. |
| Marco: I am in trouble. |
| Cinzia: Difficoltà is a strange word, isn’t it? |
| Marco: Well yes because when it’s in the singular form, it is |
| Cinzia: Difficoltà . |
| Marco: And when it’s in the plural form, it is |
| Cinzia: Difficoltà. |
| Marco: It never changes. |
| Cinzia: Yes, it never changes. Actually many Italian words that end with accented A have the same singular and plural. For example |
| Marco: Proprietà. |
| Cinzia: Property. |
| Marco: That in singular is |
| Cinzia: Proprietà. |
| Marco: And in the plural form, it is |
| Cinzia: Proprietà. |
| Marco: So la difficoltà and |
| Cinzia: Le difficoltà. |
| Marco: Very simple and what is today’s last word? |
| Cinzia: Today’s last word is lasciare. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Lasciami in pace. |
| Marco: Leave me alone. Something I use very often when Cinzia is bugging me. |
| Cinzia: Any way this is a good phrase even for you listeners. So lasciami in pace Marco. |
| Marco: Leave me alone Marco. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: Okay let’s move on to the grammar now. In today’s grammar, we are going to see – oh actually we are going to review the presente progressivo which we have already seen in the previous lesson and we have seen in the dialogue. |
| Marco: We are going to take a look at stai facendo. |
| Cinzia: In my line, I just say cosa stai facendo? what are you doing? |
| Marco: Exactly and as you can see in the first line of the dialogue, the auxiliary verb of fare is stare. Therefore since it is present progressive, the second person is |
| Cinzia: Stai. |
| Marco: The main verb fare is conjugated in the gerund mutants which is realized by adding to the infinitive form of the verb the ending |
| Cinzia: -endo. |
| Marco: Thus we have facendo. |
| Cinzia: Please remember that the gerund never changes. |
| Marco: It is always facendo. One small irregularity we have here is that even if the verb is fare, the gerund is facendo because fare is an irregular verb and the R becomes a C. |
| Cinzia: So it’s very, very easy. What else do we have in today’s grammar? |
| Marco: Well we have let me help you. Lascia che ti aiuti. |
| Cinzia: I think this is quite difficult. |
| Marco: Really? |
| Cinzia: Yes because aiuti is a new tense. |
| Marco: It’s in a subjunctive mode but the usage is actually very easy. The pattern is very simple at least for this phrase. |
| Cinzia: Yes of course. |
| Marco: So for example, you wanted to use the following expression, let me plus verb plus you, you could use |
| Cinzia: Lascia che ti followed by the verb you want to use in the subjunctive mode. |
| Marco: For example |
| Cinzia: Lascia che ti porti fuori. |
| Marco: Let me take you out. |
| Cinzia: Lascia che ti accompagni. |
| Marco: Let me accompany, escort you. |
Outro |
| Marco:We should maybe spend some more time on this expression and the different nuances that there are and also different styles of usage but for today, I think that’s it right? |
| Cinzia: Yes for today that’s all. Per oggi è tutto. |
| Marco: Buona serata a tutti. |
| Cinzia: Ciao. Buona serata, a presto. |
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