Learn the usage of opinion verbs followed by the subordinate clause in the subjunctive mode
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Ciao. My name is Cinzia. |
| Marco: Ciao a tutti. Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 4. This Italian Bread Shouldn’t Make You Fat? What’s today’s setting Cinzia? |
| Cinzia: Today’s setting is a bakery |
| Marco: Where a friendly customer enquires if work is going well. |
| Cinzia: We will be discussing some Italian eating habits and how they change over different generations. |
| Marco: Before we start today’s dialogue, please remember to check the vocabulary flash cards that now have Cinzia’s voice. She can be also there. She is everywhere. |
| Cinzia: Yes, sono ovunque. |
| Marco: Yes I am everywhere. I will be the customer while Cinzia will be the shopkeeper. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Customer: Come va il lavoro? |
| Shopkeeper: Potrebbe andare meglio. I giovani non mangiano più il pane. |
| Customer: Sì, tutti credono che mangiare pane faccia ingrassare. |
| Shopkeeper: Sul serio? Ma gli italiani normalmente non sono grassi. |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Customer: Come va il lavoro? |
| Shopkeeper: Potrebbe andare meglio. I giovani non mangiano più il pane. |
| Customer: Sì, tutti credono che mangiare pane faccia ingrassare. |
| Shopkeeper: Sul serio? Ma gli italiani normalmente non sono grassi. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Customer: Come va il lavoro? |
| Customer: How’s work? |
| Shopkeeper: Potrebbe andare meglio. I giovani non mangiano più il pane. |
| Shopkeeper: It could be better. Young people don’t eat bread anymore. |
| Customer: Sì, tutti credono che mangiare pane faccia ingrassare. |
| Customer: Yes, everyone thinks eating bread makes you fat. |
| Shopkeeper: Sul serio? Ma gli italiani normalmente non sono grassi. |
| Shopkeeper: Really, but Italians aren’t usually fat. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Yes everyone thinks eating bread makes you gain weight. |
| Cinzia: Oh Marco, I really don’t agree with this. |
| Marco: Me neither. I mean Italian bread is so good. |
| Cinzia: Italian bread made me grow up. It’s so good and tasty and healthy too. |
| Marco: But recently really many young people are starting avoiding bread. Haven’t they? |
| Cinzia: Yes, especially girls actually. |
| Marco: Yes for example if somebody is on a diet, he or she will decide to maybe skip bread and just eat some pasta right? |
| Cinzia: Oh yes, but actually this is not a bad idea. I mean, if you are on diet, you can prefer pasta rather than bread. |
| Marco: Or on next meal have some bread and some salad or something else. |
| Cinzia: Yes and actually many people prefer to eat whole wheat bread. |
| Marco: Pane integrale. But with the prices of bread and also pasta going up, I think more people will start avoiding bread right? |
| Cinzia: It’s a pity Marco. They should taste our bread because it’s amazing. |
| Marco: Yes, che peccato. |
| Cinzia: Yes. But let’s move on and let’s take a look at vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Today’s first word is |
| Cinzia: Lavoro. |
| Marco: Work, job. |
| Cinzia: Lavoro. Lavoro. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Giovani. |
| Marco: Young people, youngsters. |
| Cinzia: Giovani. Giovani. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Più. |
| Marco: More |
| Cinzia: Più. Più. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Pane. |
| Marco: Bread. |
| Cinzia: Pane. Pane. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Tutti. |
| Marco: Everyone. |
| Cinzia: Tutti. Tutti. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Ingrassare. |
| Marco: To gain weight. |
| Cinzia: Ingrassare. Ingrassare. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Sul serio. |
| Marco: Really |
| Cinzia: Sul serio. Sul serio. |
| Marco: And last word |
| Cinzia: Normalmente. |
| Marco: Normally, usually. |
| Cinzia: Normalmente. Normalmente. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: E adesso guardiamo l’uso di alcune parole ed espressioni. |
| Marco: And now let’s take a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is lavoro. |
| Marco: And the first example sentence is actually very, very important. Please listen carefully. |
| Cinzia: L’Italia è una Repubblica democratica fondata sul lavoro. |
| Marco: Italy is a democratic, republic based on work. This is very important because it is a starting point for our constitution right? |
| Cinzia: Yes and I have been studying this so hard when I was preparing my exam at university. |
| Marco: Please remember this phrase. Next word |
| Cinzia: Giovani. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: I giovani amano divertirsi. |
| Marco: Young people love having fun. |
| Cinzia: Next word is pane. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Quanto pane mangi al giorno. |
| Marco: How much bread do you eat in a day and the next word is |
| Cinzia: Tutti. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Sono tutti felici. |
| Marco: Everyone is happy. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is ingrassare. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Non devo ingrassare. |
| Marco: I don’t have to gain weight. Yes, I wrote this example sentence so that she could read it. |
| Cinzia: This guy is so mean. |
| Marco: Are you speechless? |
| Cinzia: Yes because I am not fat. |
| Marco: You are not fat. You just don’t have to get fat. I mean gain weight. |
| Cinzia: I want |
| Marco: To eat? |
| Cinzia: Okay. |
| Marco: Come on… |
| Cinzia: Let’s take a look at the next word which is |
| Marco: The last one actually that is |
| Cinzia: Normalmente. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Normalmente torno a casa presto. |
| Marco: I normally go back home early. |
| Cinzia: And this is you Marco. |
| Marco: Really? |
| Cinzia: Yes you go back home very early. |
| Marco: In the morning, next morning. |
| Cinzia: Oh okay. Really when? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Okay let’s move on to today’s grammar. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: The first topic of today’s grammar are opinion verbs which are usually followed by either the infinitive of a verb, past or present, or a sentence called a subordinate clause. |
| Cinzia: In the case of a subordinate clause, the verb has to be conjugated in the subjunctive mood. |
| Marco: In the dialogue we had tutti credono che mangiare pane renda grassi. Since credono is conjugated in the present tense, the following rendere verb has to be conjugated in the congiuntivo presente tense, renda. |
| Cinzia: So you have the present tense of credere which is followed by che and after che, you have the subjunctive mood renda. |
| Marco: Because the subjunctive in the subordinate clause has to match the tense of the main clause. So present negative, present subjunctive. |
| Cinzia: It seems pretty complicated but…. |
| Marco: Well this is lower intermediate, isn’t it? |
| Cinzia: Yes of course. So hang in there. |
| Marco: And let’s give them one more example. Tutti credono che Cinzia lavori. |
| Cinzia: Everyone thinks that Cinzia works. |
| Marco: But she doesn’t. |
| Cinzia: It’s true Marco. I do work. |
| Marco: Yes but you have too much fun when you work. That’s the problem. |
| Cinzia: But this is the key Marco. You have to work but you need to have fun. So if you have fun while working, it’s the best. |
| Marco: That’s why I am such a boring person. Okay next topic is |
| Cinzia: We have the verb andare, to go, which can also be used in fixed expressions such as how is work or how is life. |
| Marco: Yes and how is work can be translated in Italian as |
| Cinzia: Come va il lavoro? |
| Marco: And how is life |
| Cinzia: Come va la vita? |
| Marco: And how are you doing? |
| Cinzia: Come va? |
| Marco: So in all these cases, the verb andare relates to movement only in a metaphor. That’s actually meaning to be. |
| Cinzia: Yes and be careful because if you want to have the literal translation of how is work, it should be come è il lavoro, but if you ask come è il lavoro it will mean just something different. |
| Marco: Because in Italian, come è il lavoro means actually do you like your job or what’s your job like. |
| Cinzia: Yes so be careful and if you want to ask how is it going in Italian, just ask come va and not come è. |
| Marco: And today’s last topic of the grammar is that when in English, we use the third person singular to refer to people in general, in Italian, we use the third person plural in affirmative sentences. For example |
| Cinzia: Tutti credono che. |
| Marco: Everyone thinks that. Instead, Italian negative statements present the same structure as in English. For example, no one believes that is |
| Cinzia: Nessuno crede che. |
| Marco: So, nessuno crede che la lezione sia finita. |
| Cinzia: Oh, io ci credo. |
| Marco: What does it mean in English? |
| Cinzia: No one believes that the lesson is finished. |
| Marco: But I believe so, right? |
Outro |
| Cinzia: Of course. So my dear listeners, sorry but for today, it’s all and see you next time. |
| Marco: Ciao ciao. |
| Cinzia: Ciao. |
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