Learn how to make Italian comparisons of equality using cosi
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 2. Italian Comparisons of Equality: As Easy As This! |
| Cinzia: Hello everyone. I’m Cinzia and welcome to italianpod101. |
| Marco: With us, you learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Cinzia: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, we will study the Comparativo di uguaglianza, comparative of equality. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place in a supermarket. |
| Marco: And it is between Manuel and Giulia. |
| Cinzia: Since they are friends, they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Now before we listen to the conversation |
| Cinzia: We want to ask |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Cinzia: We received an email about the study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you’ve tried it and if so |
| Cinzia: What do you think of it? |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Giulia: In Argentina, la carne è buona? |
| Manuel: La carne argentina è tanto buona quanto la carne italiana. |
| Giulia: Davvero? |
| Manuel: Sì. |
| Giulia: E la frutta argentina com’è? |
| Manuel: Le pesche argentine sono così succose come le pesche italiane. |
| Giulia: Allora sono proprio buone. |
| Manuel: Ora cerchiamo la verdura. |
| Giulia: OK. |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Giulia: In Argentina, la carne è buona? |
| Manuel: La carne argentina è tanto buona quanto la carne italiana. |
| Giulia: Davvero? |
| Manuel: Sì. |
| Giulia: E la frutta argentina com’è? |
| Manuel: Le pesche argentine sono così succose come le pesche italiane. |
| Giulia: Allora sono proprio buone. |
| Manuel: Ora cerchiamo la verdura. |
| Giulia: OK. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Giulia: In Argentina, la carne è buona? |
| Giulia: Is meat good in Argentina? |
| Manuel: La carne argentina è tanto buona quanto la carne italiana. |
| Manuel: Argentinean meat is as good as Italian meat. |
| Giulia: Davvero? |
| Giulia: Really? |
| Manuel: Sì. |
| Manuel: Yes. |
| Giulia: E la frutta argentina com’è? |
| Giulia: And how’re Argentinean fruits? |
| Manuel: Le pesche argentine sono così succose come le pesche italiane. |
| Manuel: Argentinean peaches are as juicy as Italian ones. |
| Giulia: Allora sono proprio buone. |
| Giulia: Then they are really good. |
| Manuel: Ora cerchiamo la verdura. |
| Manuel: Now let’s look for vegetables. |
| Giulia: OK. |
| Giulia: OK. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: Marco, you are so cruel. |
| Marco: Me? why? |
| Cinzia: It’s winter and we are talking about peaches. |
| Marco: Oh sorry! I forgot you love Italian peaches. |
| Cinzia: Maybe at this time of the year peaches in Australia are getting ripe. |
| Marco: We should find an excuse to use the company jet and go there. |
| Cinzia: Umm company jet? We have a company jet? |
| Marco: Actually we don’t have a jet. |
| Cinzia: I thought so. |
| Marco: But we do have today’s vocabulary. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: First of all |
| Cinzia: Tanto quanto. |
| Marco: As as. |
| Cinzia: Tanto quanto. Tanto quanto. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Cinzia: Frutta. |
| Marco: Fruit. |
| Cinzia: Frutta. Frutta. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Cinzia: Così come. |
| Marco: As as. |
| Cinzia: Così come. Così come. |
| Marco: Next we have |
| Cinzia: Succoso. |
| Marco: Juicy. |
| Cinzia: Succoso. Succoso. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Ora. |
| Marco: Now. |
| Cinzia: Ora. Ora |
| Marco: And today’s final word is |
| Cinzia: Verdura. |
| Marco: Vegetable, vegetables. |
| Cinzia: Verdura. Verdura |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: First of all, we have tanto quanto. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Sono tanto paziente quanto tranquillo. |
| Marco: I am as patient as calm. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is frutta. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: Al supermercato si può trovare frutta da tutto il mondo. |
| Marco: At the supermarket, you can find fruits from all over the world. |
| Cinzia: Next we have così come. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: La filosofia è così importante come la storia. |
| Marco: Philosophy is as important as history. |
| Cinzia: Next we have an adjective succoso. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Questa arancia è così succosa. |
| Marco: This orange is so juicy. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is ora. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Ora torniamo a casa. |
| Marco: Now let’s go back home. |
| Cinzia: And today’s last word is verdura. |
| Marco: So today’s last sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Non mi piace la verdura. |
| Marco: I don’t like vegetables. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. The Comparativo di uguaglianza, comparative of equality is realized by inserting tanto or così before the adjective or adverb and quanto or come right after it. |
| Cinzia: Please remember that there can be more than one adjective or adverb. |
| Marco: When the objects of comparison not the terms of comparison are adjectives or adverbs, we can employ either tanto quanto or così come. |
| Cinzia: In this circumstance, they are considered adverbs and never change their form. |
| Marco: We can never use tanto come or così quanto. Here are some examples. |
| Cinzia: Le macchine rosse sono tanto veloci quanto quelle verdi. |
| Marco: Red cars are as fast as the green ones. |
| Cinzia: Io sono tanto alto quanto te. |
| Marco: I am as tall as you. |
| Cinzia: La tua felicità è così importante come la mia. |
| Marco: Your happiness is as important as mine. The couple così come is less frequently used than tanto quanto and, well, it sounds a bit old fashioned. |
| Cinzia: Italians almost always prefer to employ tanto quanto rather than così come |
| Marco: When the objects of comparison are verbs, we can use only tanto quanto. For example, |
| Cinzia: Ho mangiato tanto quanto Paolo. |
| Marco: I ate as much as Paolo. |
| Cinzia: Suonare uno strumento è tanto bello quanto scrivere poesie. |
| Marco: Playing an instrument is as nice as writing poems. |
| Cinzia: Mi piace tanto studiare la storia quanto leggere la letteratura. |
| Marco: I like studying history as much as reading literature. |
| Cinzia: And now one last learning tip. |
| Marco: Note that tanto and così may be normally implied. |
| Cinzia: We need of course to keep tanto or come. For instance, Serena è piacevole quanto intelligente. |
| Marco: Serena is as pleasant as intelligent. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about the way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Cinzia: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Cinzia: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Cinzia: So you record your voice and then listen to it |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Cinzia: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. Ciao. |
| Cinzia: Bye bye. |
Comments
HideHi Sylvia,
thanks for sharing your study method! It is important to listen to a lesson multiple times, just like you do.
When the objects of comparison are verbs, yes, you should always use the infinitive.
Here's another example:
Mi piace tanto nuotare quanto sciare = I like swimming as much as I like skiing.
A presto!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
I normally listen to the lesson twice without looking at the notes, and the third time I read the note and follow the grammar part. For me, this is a good practice to improve my listening and comprehensive skill.
I have one question here. Tanto …. quanto, do we always use infinitive after tanto...quanto.
I noticed the phase: Mi piace tanto (studiare) la storia quanto (leggere) la letteratura.
Hi Hilary,
Thank you for clarifying.
At the moment we have some verb chart in the Grammar Bank, please have a look.
Grazie,
Ofelia,
Team ItalianPod101.com
In the initial advertisements you suggest looking at the verbs in the verb conjugation charts, not particularly related to any particular lesson, but just as an added reference point. I think this would be valuable, but if it is not available, then never mind. They are in every dictionary!!
Hi Hilary,
Grazie per i commenti!
There isn't any verb chart related to this lesson. Are you referring to something else?
Thank you,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Sorry, forgot to leave the translation! Please, where are the verb conjugation charts_ Sorry, but I can't find them. The lessons are all excellent but certainly I have made a lot of mistakes!
Per favore, dove sono i ‘verb conjugation charts’? Scusi, ma non si posso trovare. Grazie, per mi auti. Tutti le lezione sono eccelente ma certamente ho fatto tanti sbagliati!
Per favore, dove sono i 'verb conjugation charts'? Scusi, ma non li posso trovare. Grazie, per mi auti. Tutti le lezione sono eccelente.
Ciao Sadegh!
In italiano sia "history" che "story" si traducono come "storia".
In Italian both "history" and "story" are translated as "storia".
I hope this helps!
Grazie! A presto!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao Marco e Cinzia!
ho una domanda. qua cè una frase che dice "La filosofia è così importante come la
storia". voi avete tradotto "history" come "la storia". Pero history non si può tradurre come "cronologia"? Perchè la parola "Story" anche si può tradurre come "la storia". No? Quindi tutte due parole sopra si traduce "la storia" ?
Grazie
Ciao Elaine
grazie mille per il tuo commento.
Consuelo:mrgreen:
Team ItalianPod101.com
I think it's a good idea to tell us what is most commonly used in italian(for example, in this lesson, tanto...quanto rather than cosi...come). Such tips are not found in textbooks, and they are very useful to speak "real Italian".
Allora, grazie!
Dear Samson,
would you like more lessons on the "comparativo di uguaglianza"?
If so, would you like more practice or more grammar?
Ciao
Marco
Ciao Cinzia e Marco! In this dialogue you use "Ora" instead of "Adesso" for "now". Can you use either interchangeably, or are there certain circumstances to use each? Grazie, Tamatha ...nell'amore con l'Italia!!!
Ciao Tamatha,
è un piacere! Whenever you need further clarification, please let us know it!
Ciao e a presto.
Gianluca
Ciao Gianluca,
Ora capisco!!!
Grazie!
Tamatha
Ciao Tamatha,
"ora" and "adesso" are synonyms and can thus be freely interchanged.
Ciao e a presto.
Gianluca