Learn how to use the formal imperative to ask someone to arrange a taxi for you using a formal conversation as an example
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 3, Lesson 18 - Are Italian Highways Busy? Becky here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the formal imperative. The conversation takes place at a hotel reception desk. |
| Ofelia: It's between Maria and the receptionist. |
| Becky: The speakers don't know each other, so they’ll be using formal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the . |
| DIALOGUE |
| Maria: Stasera abbiamo il volo di ritorno alle sei. Per favore faccia arrivare il taxi per l'aeroporto alle quattro e mezza. |
| Receptionist: Certo. |
| Maria: Potete anche prendere i bagagli dalle camere? |
| Receptionist: Sì. |
| Maria: Di solito c'è molto traffico sull'autostrada per l'aeroporto? |
| Receptionist: Dipende. Per stare tranquilli, vi consiglio di partire almeno due ore prima. |
| Maria: Ha ragione. Allora per piacere organizzi il pick-up per le quattro. |
| Receptionist: Bene. Trascorra una buona giornata! |
| Becky: Now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Maria: Tonight we have a flight at six o’clock. Please have the taxi to the airport arrive at four-thirty. |
| Receptionist: Of course. |
| Maria: Can you pick up the luggage from the rooms? |
| Receptionist: Yes. |
| Maria: Is there usually much traffic on the highway going toward the airport? |
| Receptionist: It depends. To be safe, I suggest you leave at least two hours before the flight. |
| Maria: You’re right. Then, please organize the pick-up at four o’clock. |
| Receptionist: Good. Have a good day! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: In the dialogue, Maria was concerned about traffic on the highway. Does Italy have a lot of highways? |
| Ofelia: Yes, the current system of Italian highways is about 7,000 kilometers, or 4,347 miles. The first highway in Italy was the autostrada dei laghi, meaning the “lakes highway.” It connects Milan to Como and Varese, and was inaugurated in 1924. |
| Becky: That was a long time ago! What are the highways like today? |
| Ofelia: Today, the highways all have tolls, except the stretch of urban roads called the raccordo. And the roads have three or four lanes in each direction. |
| Becky: How fast can you go on the highway? |
| Ofelia: The speed limit is usually 130 kilometers per hour, but where the road is straight, it can be 150 kilometers per hour. |
| Becky: That’s pretty fast! Is there a useful expression we should know about highways? |
| Ofelia: Il casello dell'autostrada d'ingresso a Roma ha sempre una lunga fila |
| Becky: "The toll booth to Rome always has a long line to enter." Okay, now on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: ritorno [natural native speed] |
| Becky: return trip, way back |
| Ofelia: ritorno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: ritorno [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: bagaglio [natural native speed] |
| Becky: luggage |
| Ofelia: bagaglio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: bagaglio [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: traffico [natural native speed] |
| Becky: traffic |
| Ofelia: traffico [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: traffico [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: autostrada [natural native speed] |
| Becky: highway |
| Ofelia: autostrada [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: autostrada [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: Dipende. [natural native speed] |
| Becky: It depends. |
| Ofelia: Dipende. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: Dipende. [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: almeno [natural native speed] |
| Becky: at least |
| Ofelia: almeno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: almeno [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: pick-up [natural native speed] |
| Becky: pick-up |
| Ofelia: pick-up [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: pick-up [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And the last word is... |
| Ofelia: trascorrere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to spend, to pass (time) |
| Ofelia: trascorrere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: trascorrere [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: ...autostrada. |
| Becky: Which means "highway." |
| Ofelia: Autostrada is a compound word - the term auto here is the abbreviation of “automobile,” while strada means “road.” |
| Becky:Traffic news broadcasters on television and radio use this term. |
| Ofelia: That’s right. You should also know that the autostrada in Italy is a toll road, while the superstrada is free, similar to the American interstate. |
| Becky: What are other some other differences between these two? |
| Ofelia: Well, the autostrada goes through the entire country with separated and emergency lanes, while the superstrada is shorter, usually with only two lanes, and it sometimes goes through cities. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, L'autostrada del Sole, detta anche A1, collega Milano a Napoli. |
| Becky: This means, "The Sun highway, also called A1, connects Milan to Naples." Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn about the formal imperative and how to use it. First, let’s review the formation of the formal imperative. |
| Ofelia: Okay. In the third-person singular, verbs ending in -are use -i. For example, Lavorare becomes Lavori! |
| Becky: Meaning “(Please) work!” |
| Ofelia: While verbs ending in -ere and -ire use -a. For example, Prendere becomes Prenda! |
| Becky: Meaning “(Please) take!” |
| Ofelia: We create the negative form of the imperative in the third-person singular by adding the adverb non to the imperative. |
| Becky: How about an example of the negative form? |
| Ofelia: Non scriva qui la Sua data di nascita. |
| Becky: Which means "Don’t write your date of birth here, please." Now let’s focus on the position of the pronouns. |
| Ofelia: The pronouns always come before the imperative. For example, Lo compili e lo consegni al primo sportello. |
| Becky: "Please fill it in and then hand it in at the first window." |
| Ofelia: If the sentence is negative, the pronoun goes between the adverb non and the verb in the imperative form. For example, Oggi c'è freddol - la giacca è troppo leggera. Non la metta. |
| Becky: "Today it's cold - the jacket is too light. Don’t wear it." |
| Ofelia: Here are some more examples. Per favore, chiami il taxi prima di pranzo. |
| Becky: "Please, call the taxi before lunch." |
| Ofelia: Dottore, mi chiami non appena i risultati delle analisi arriveranno. |
| Becky: "Doctor, call me as soon as the exam results arrive, please." |
| Ofelia: And the last one - Faccia silenzio per favore! |
| Becky: "Be quiet! please!" Listeners, be sure to check out the lesson notes for more examples! |
Outro |
| Becky: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Ofelia: A presto. |
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