Learn how to talk about your symptoms 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 19 - Coming Down With Something in Italy. Becky here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use pronominal verbs in the present tense. The conversation takes place at a pharmacy. |
| Ofelia: It's between Maria and the pharmacist. |
| Becky: The speakers don't know each other, so they’ll be using formal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Maria: Ieri sera sono rientrata da un viaggio e ho iniziato a sentirmi male. |
| Farmacista: Cosa si sente? |
| Maria: Se mangio qualcosa, mi viene la nausea. |
| Farmacista: Ha avuto dei conati di vomito? |
| Maria: No. Mi gira la testa e mi lacrimano gli occhi. |
| Farmacista: Deve essere un po' di influenza. Le posso vendere delle aspirine, ma sono solo un palliativo. |
| Maria: Vanno bene. |
| Farmacista: Dovrebbe farsi visitare dal medico. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Maria: Last night I came back from a trip, and I started feeling bad. |
| Pharmacist: What feels bad specifically? |
| Maria: If I eat something, I start feeling sick. |
| Pharmacist: Have you vomited? |
| Maria: No. My head is spinning and my eyes are watery. |
| Pharmacist: It could be a slight flu. I can sell you aspirin, but it will only treat the symptoms. |
| Maria: That’s fine. |
| Pharmacist: You should visit a doctor. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Ofelia, how do pharmacies work in Italy? |
| Ofelia: In Italy, before you go to a pharmacy, you may need a ricetta del medico, a prescription written by doctors required for most of the medicines. |
| Becky: So that means that you can’t buy medicines without a prescription? |
| Ofelia: It depends on the medicine. In Italy, many drugs are controlled by the national health care system and only a few are sold without a prescription. |
| Becky: Aren’t there any drugstores? |
| Ofelia: Yes, in the last few years, drugstores, called parafarmacie, have appeared in Italy. You can find generic drugs for lower prices there, as well as various personal care products. And, now you can also find these stores inside the main supermarkets. |
| Becky: Do you have any other tips? |
| Ofelia: Here’s a sentence that may be useful - Il medico mi ha prescritto un antibiotico. |
| Becky: "The doctor prescribed me an antibiotic." |
| Becky: 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: rientrare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to come back, to return |
| Ofelia: rientrare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: rientrare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: sentirsi male [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to feel sick |
| Ofelia: sentirsi male [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: sentirsi male [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Our next word is... |
| Ofelia: debole [natural native speed] |
| Becky: weak |
| Ofelia: debole [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: debole [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: conato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: retching |
| Ofelia: conato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: conato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: vomito [natural native speed] |
| Becky: vomit |
| Ofelia: vomito [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: vomito [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: lacrimare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to water, to tear up |
| Ofelia: lacrimare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: lacrimare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: palliativo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: palliative |
| Ofelia: palliativo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: palliativo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The last word is... |
| Ofelia: visitare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to visit |
| Ofelia: visitare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: visitare [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: ...lacrimare. |
| Becky: Meaning "to water,” or “to tear up." |
| Ofelia: Lacrimare comes from the noun lacrima... |
| Becky: ...which means “tear” in English. When is this verb used? |
| Ofelia: You use this verb in reference to anyone or anything that weeps. But even though it can be used when referring to people, that usage is uncommon. It’s mostly used with the word occhio meaning “eye.” |
| Becky: When referring to people, do you use a different verb? |
| Ofelia: Yes, it's more common to use piangere meaning “to cry.” |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using the first verb? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Quando passeggio nei parchi in primavera mi lacrimano gli occhi. |
| Becky: This means, "When I take a walk in a park in the spring, my eyes water.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Ofelia: Palliativo. |
| Becky: Meaning "palliative” or “treatment." |
| Ofelia: The word palliativo derives from the Latin word pallium, meaning “cover” or “veil” in English. |
| Becky: So it refers to something used to cover or temporarily relieve a problem? |
| Ofelia: Right, it can also be used as an adjective when referring to the noun trattamento, “treatment.” |
| Becky: Are there other situations in which it can be used? |
| Ofelia: Yes, not only when referring to medicine, but also different situations with a figurative meaning. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Il farmacista mi ha consigliato un palliativo per il raffreddore. |
| Becky: Meaning, "The pharmacist suggested a palliative to me for the cold." Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use pronominal verbs in the present tense. In Italian, some verbs are called "pronominal verbs.” These are verbs that include a pronoun at the end of the verb. |
| Ofelia: Usually, in the infinitive form, the pronoun is si, as in lavarsi. |
| Becky: Meaning, “to wash oneself.” |
| Ofelia: Here’s another example - svegliarsi. |
| Becky: Which means “to wake up.” The special quality of pronominal verbs is that they need a reflexive pronoun, in addition to a subject pronoun. This feature allows you to use verbs, that have only the transitive form, as intransitive verbs. Ofelia, can you give us an example? |
| Ofelia: Sure. Here’s one - Io mi faccio una doccia. |
| Becky: "I take a shower." |
| Ofelia: Let’s examine the pronouns. Io is the subject pronoun meaning "I" and mi is the reflexive pronoun that literally means "me." |
| Becky: So if we literally translated this sentence, it would be, "I me take a shower." |
| Ofelia: Or “I make myself a shower”. In other words, the subject performing the action, io, is the same as the object, mi. Please remember that in Italian you can avoid saying the subject pronoun, because it’s easily understood from the verb and, in this case, from the reflexive pronoun too. |
| Becky: Let’s hear another example. |
| Ofelia: Ci laviamo i denti. |
| Becky: "We’re brushing our teeth." Or literally, “We brush the teeth ourselves.” |
| Ofelia: In this case, the subject pronoun was noi, meaning "we," though it wasn’t expressed and the reflexive pronoun was ci. |
| Becky: Meaning “us,” or “ourselves.” Okay, now let’s review the present tense conjugation of pronominal verbs. |
| Ofelia: Sure, let’s see the verb addormentarsi. |
| Becky: This means “to fall asleep” or literally “to send oneself to sleep.” Ofelia will give the conjugation in Italian, and I’ll give the translation. To be thorough, Ofelia will also say the subject pronouns, even if they’re not always necessary in everyday speech. Let’s begin. |
| Ofelia: Io mi addormento. |
| Becky: “I fall asleep.” Literally, “I send myself to sleep.” |
| Ofelia: Tu ti addormenti. |
| Becky: “You fall asleep.” |
| Ofelia: Lui si addormenta or Lei si addormenta. |
| Becky: “He falls asleep. or She falls asleep.” |
| Ofelia: Noi ci addormentiamo. |
| Becky: “We fall asleep.” |
| Ofelia: Voi vi addormentate. |
| Becky: “You fall asleep.” The “you” is plural. |
| Ofelia: Loro si addormentano. |
| Becky: “They fall asleep.” In all of the sentences we heard a different reflexive pronoun. Let’s review them separately. |
| Ofelia: Here are the singular pronouns. If the personal pronoun is Io, or “I,” then the reflexive is mi. If it’s tu, meaning “you,” then the reflexive is ti. If it’s lui or lei, “he” or “she,” then the reflexive is si. |
| Becky: And what about the plural pronouns? |
| Ofelia: If the personal pronoun is noi, or “we,” the reflexive is ci. If it’s voi, “you,” then the reflexive is vi. And if it’s loro, “they,” then the reflexive is si, as in the singular third person. |
| Becky: Okay. To wrap up, can you give us some sample sentences? |
| Ofelia: Mi faccio una doccia e arrivo in 5 minuti. |
| Becky: Which means "I'm taking a shower and coming in five minutes." |
| Ofelia: And here’s another one. Mi provo subito questa maglietta. |
| Becky: Meaning, "I'll try this t-shirt on now." Listeners, to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson, be sure to check the lesson notes. |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, 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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