Learn how to use the subjunctive mood to draw comparisons, make requests, name restrictions, or assert hypotheses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 18. This Italian Job is Not Open to Just Anyone. Hello and welcome back to the italianpod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Italian. I am joined in the studio by |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone. Consuelo here. |
| Marco: In today’s class, we will continue studying the Italian subjunctive mood and the present subjunctive conjugation of the irregular verb Fare, to do. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at the coffee shop. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Mario and Jack. |
| Consuelo: The speakers are not friends. Therefore they will be speaking formally. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jack: B-buongiorno! |
| Mario: Uè, buongiorno! Posso aiutarti? |
| Jack: Veramente sarei qui per il lavoro come barista. |
| Mario: Ah, il lavoro part-time eh? È aperto a tutti coloro che parlino italiano. |
| Jack: Penso di cavarmela abbastanza bene. |
| Mario: Ok. Sei sicuro di potercela fare? A me serve uno che sappia usare bene la macchina per il caffè e che sappia fare il cappuccino. |
| Jack: Penso di saperlo fare, mi metta alla prova! |
| Mario: Va bene, allora ti metto subito al lavoro, vediamo cosa sai fare! |
| (dopo 5 minuti) |
| Mario: (bevendo il cappuccino) Ummm, una meraviglia, bravo Jack, sei più sveglio di quanto sembri. Assunto! |
| Jack: Gra-grazie Mario! |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Jack: B-buongiorno! |
| Mario: Uè, buongiorno! Posso aiutarti? |
| Jack: Veramente sarei qui per il lavoro come barista. |
| Mario: Ah, il lavoro part-time eh? È aperto a tutti coloro che parlino italiano. |
| Jack: Penso di cavarmela abbastanza bene. |
| Mario: Ok. Sei sicuro di potercela fare? A me serve uno che sappia usare bene la macchina per il caffè e che sappia fare il cappuccino. |
| Jack: Penso di saperlo fare, mi metta alla prova! |
| Mario: Va bene, allora ti metto subito al lavoro, vediamo cosa sai fare! |
| (dopo 5 minuti) |
| Mario: (bevendo il cappuccino) Ummm, una meraviglia, bravo Jack, sei più sveglio di quanto sembri. Assunto! |
| Jack: Gra-grazie Mario! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Jack: B-buongiorno! |
| Jack: G-good morning! |
| Mario: Uè, buongiorno! Posso aiutarti? |
| Mario: Hey, good morning! Can I help you? |
| Jack: Veramente sarei qui per il lavoro come barista. |
| Jack: Actually, I'm here for the barman job. |
| Mario: Ah, il lavoro part-time eh? È aperto a tutti coloro che parlino italiano. |
| Mario: Ah, the part-time job huh? It's open to anyone who can speak Italian. |
| Jack: Penso di cavarmela abbastanza bene. |
| Jack: I think I can get away with that. |
| Mario: Ok. Sei sicuro di potercela fare? A me serve uno che sappia usare bene la macchina per il caffè e che sappia fare il cappuccino. |
| Mario: Okay. Are you sure you can do it? I need somebody who's capable of using the coffee machine and who can do cappuccino. |
| Jack: Penso di saperlo fare, mi metta alla prova! |
| Jack: I think I can do it. Please try me out! |
| Mario: Va bene, allora ti metto subito al lavoro, vediamo cosa sai fare! |
| Mario: All right, let's get to work then. Let's see what you can do! |
| (dopo 5 minuti) |
| (after five minutes) |
| Mario: (bevendo il cappuccino) Ummm, una meraviglia, bravo Jack, sei più sveglio di quanto sembri. Assunto! |
| Mario: (drinking the cappuccino) Ummm, wonderful, well-done Jack, you're smarter than you look. You're hired! |
| Jack: Gra-grazie Mario! |
| Jack: T-thanks, Mario! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Consuelo, what’s the best way to do a good Cappuccino? |
| Consuelo: Let’s see. They say the secret is the way in which you put the milk inside. |
| Marco: What do you mean? |
| Consuelo: Well after preparing a good Espresso, you are almost half the way through it. Then it becomes difficult. You have to add the milk cream while moving your hand back and forward forming small waves with it. |
| Marco: Oh! |
| Consuelo: Yes. Did you know of it? Lately, there is like an artistic cappuccino served in the most famous bars? |
| Marco: What’s that? |
| Consuelo: They use chocolate or the cream to draw shapes and all sorts of things of it. |
| Marco: Interesting. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Aiutare. |
| Marco: To help, aid, assist. |
| Consuelo: Aiutare. Aiutare. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Veramente. |
| Marco: Really. |
| Consuelo: Veramente. Veramente. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Barista. |
| Marco: Barman |
| Consuelo: Barista. Barista. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Cavarsela. |
| Marco: To get away with something, go free. |
| Consuelo: Cavarsela. Cavarsela. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Meraviglia. |
| Marco: Wonder. |
| Consuelo: Meraviglia. Meraviglia. |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Consuelo: Assumere. |
| Marco: To hire. |
| Consuelo: Assumere. Assumere. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Consuelo, what’s the word we will study today? |
| Consuelo: Today we will learn how to use the verb cavarsela, used pretty often by Italians in daily life. |
| Marco: It basically comes from cavare, to take out. |
| Consuelo: It means to take out oneself from something. Metaphorically speaking, to get away with something, to go free. |
| Marco: I see. |
| Consuelo: But also it’s being used in a lot of other situations. |
| Marco: For example? |
| Consuelo: In Italian, when somebody is good at doing something, we could say: se la cava bene. |
| Marco: He or she is doing all right. |
| Consuelo: Or cavare qualcuno dai guai. |
| Marco: To bail somebody out of trouble. |
| Consuelo: Let’s learn how to use these expressions trying to put them in our conversations. |
| Marco: Thanks Consuelo. |
| Consuelo: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Today we are going to continue focusing on the study of the |
| Consuelo: Modo congiuntivo, |
| Marco: Subjunctive mood. |
| Consuelo: We will analyze other uses of it and in addition, we will see the present subjunctive conjugation of the irregular verb fare, |
| Marco: To do. The subjunctive mood is utilized when using certain clauses. The first ones are the comparative clauses. |
| Consuelo: But only majority and minority. |
| Marco: Thank you Consuelo. As I was saying, in comparative clauses, when the subordinate phrase that expresses the second term of comparison includes a verb. For example |
| Consuelo: Tu sei più sveglio di quanto Maria non creda. |
| Marco: You are smarter than what Maria thinks. |
| Consuelo: Noi abbiamo speso più di quanto avessimo voluto. |
| Marco: We spent more than we wanted to. |
| Consuelo: Loro sono meno intelligenti di quel che tu voglia accettare. |
| Marco: They are less intelligent than you are willing to accept. Please note that in this case, we could also employ the |
| Consuelo: Present indicative, presente indicativo, |
| Marco: Simple present in spoken Italian. Though it will be better to use the subjunctive mood both in the spoken and written Italian. |
| Consuelo: Here is a learning tip. |
| Marco: In the comparative clauses that require a subjunctive mood, the secondary phrase is almost always introduced by |
| Consuelo: Di quanto, di quel |
| Marco: Then. We can also use the subjunctive mood in relative clauses and in this case, the subjunctive mood suggest a condition, request or restriction. For example |
| Consuelo: Questo corso è aperto a tutti coloro che parlino italiano. |
| Marco: Condition. This course is open to anybody who speaks Italian. |
| Consuelo: Cerchiamo una persona che possa tradurre dall’inglese all’italiano. |
| Marco: Request. We are looking for somebody that is able to translate from English into Italian. |
| Consuelo: Mi serve qualcuno che sappia usare il computer. |
| Marco: Restriction. I need somebody who is able to use a computer. Please note that we have to employ the |
| Consuelo: Presente indicativo |
| Marco: Simple present whenever we refer to real facts or people. Taking the last example |
| Consuelo: Parlando di Gianni, mi serve qualcuno che sa usare il computer. |
| Marco: Speaking of Gianni, I need somebody who is able to use a computer. Employing the simple present, the speaker refers to a real person implying he knows that Gianni is able to use a computer. Finally, using the congiuntivo imperfetto in the relative clause implies a hypothesis. For instance |
| Consuelo: Ho comprato una torta, per chi ne volesse un po’. |
| Marco: I bought a cake in case somebody wants some. And now, let’s see the verb |
| Consuelo: Fare. |
| Marco: To do, make and it follows an irregular conjugation at |
| Consuelo: Congiuntivo presente. |
| Marco: Present subjunctive as you will notice in the following conjugation. |
| Consuelo: Fare. |
| Marco: To do, make. |
| Consuelo: Che io faccia |
| Marco: I do. |
| Consuelo: Che tu faccia |
| Marco: You do. |
| Consuelo: Che lui/lei faccia |
| Marco: He/she/it does. |
| Consuelo: Che noi facciamo |
| Marco: We do. |
| Consuelo: Che voi facciate |
| Marco: You do. |
| Consuelo: Che loro facciano |
| Marco: They do. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes. The voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Consuelo: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Consuelo: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Consuelo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. |
| Consuelo: Ciao. |
| Marco: Arrivederci. |
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