Learn how to use the relative pronoun che to describe simple facts using an informal conversation between friends as an example
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hi everyone, Brandon here! Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com! This is Lower Intermediate Season 3, Lesson 4, Have You Seen This Italian Film? |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Brandon: So Ofelia, what are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| Ofelia: In this lesson you’ll learn how to describe a movie you like. |
| Brandon: Sounds good, the conversation takes place in a restaurant. |
| Ofelia: And it’s between Maria, Elia, and Lucia. |
| Brandon: The speakers are coworkers and friends, so they’ll be speaking informal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Maria: A proposito di film italiani, avete mai visto "Io ballo da sola" di Bertolucci? |
| Lucia: No! Sai che non l'ho mai visto? Ho visto "L'ultimo imperatore," che ha vinto l'Oscar, ma non "Io ballo da sola." Di cosa parla? |
| Maria: E' la storia di una ragazza americana che trascorre le vacanze estive in Italia, a casa dei suoi parenti in Toscana. Non succede quasi nulla, però, ovviamente ci sono paesaggi bellissimi... |
| Elia: ...interessante. Una ragazza americana in Italia, sembra la tua storia! |
| Maria: Sì, era il mio must quando ero adolescente... |
| Brandon: Now, let’s listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Maria: A proposito di film italiani, avete mai visto "Io ballo da sola" di Bertolucci? |
| Maria: Speaking of Italian movies, have you ever seen Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty? |
| Lucia: No! Sai che non l'ho mai visto? Ho visto "L'ultimo imperatore", che ha vinto l'Oscar, ma non "Io ballo da sola". Di cosa parla? |
| Lucia: No! You know I've never seen that? I saw The Last Emperor, which won the Academy Award, but not Stealing Beauty. What's it about? |
| Maria: E' la storia di una ragazza americana che trascorre le vacanze estive in Italia, a casa dei suoi parenti in Toscana. Non succede quasi nulla, però, ovviamente ci sono paesaggi bellissimi... |
| Maria: It's the story of an American girl, who spends summer vacation in Italy at her relatives' place in Tuscany. Almost nothing happens, but obviously there are very beautiful landscapes... |
| Elia: ...interessante. Una ragazza americana in Italia, sembra la tua storia! |
| Elia: ...interesting. An American girl in Italy. That seems to be your story! |
| Maria: Sì, era il mio must quando ero adolescente... |
| Maria: Yeah, it was a must-see when I was a teenager... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Ofelia Who’s the director that Maria mentioned in the dialogue? I’m not familiar with him. |
| Ofelia: Bernardo Bertolucci is one of the most famous post-war Italian directors. He’s produced several masterpieces. Some of them are really controversial like Last Tango in Paris, and some are widely known, such as The Last Emperor. |
| Brandon: What’s that movie about? |
| Ofelia: It’s about the life of China’s last emperor, named Puyi. I remember that Bertolucci's The Last Emperor was one of the first Western movies to offer a close-up of Asian culture during a time when intercultural exchanges weren't as common as today. It was even filmed in the real Forbidden City in Beijing. I watched it several times and enjoyed it a lot. |
| Brandon: Didn’t it win some awards? |
| Ofelia: Yes, it won nine Oscars including Best Picture for that year. Bertolucci won Best Director. |
| Brandon: Wow! Impressive. I’ll definitely have to check it out! Okay, now on to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: We’re going to review all of the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: ...a proposito. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “speaking of.” |
| Ofelia: A proposito. [slowly - broken down by syllable] A proposito. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: Sai che...? [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “You know that...?” |
| Ofelia: Sai che...? [slowly - broken down by syllable] Sai che...? [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Our next word is... |
| Ofelia: ...storia. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “Story.” |
| Ofelia: Storia. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Storia. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next... |
| Ofelia: ...trascorrere. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “To spend time or to pass time.” |
| Ofelia: Trascorrere. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Trascorrere. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: ...succedere. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “To happen.” |
| Ofelia: Succedere. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Succedere. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Our next word is... |
| Ofelia: ...centinaio. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “About a hundred.” |
| Ofelia: Centinaio. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Centinaio. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next... |
| Ofelia: ...must. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “A must.” As in, a must-see or must-have. |
| Ofelia: Must. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Must. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: And our final word is... |
| Ofelia: ...ovviamente. [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “Obviously.” |
| Ofelia: Ovviamente. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Ovviamente. [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Ofelia: Sai che...? |
| Brandon: Meaning, "You know that...?" |
| Ofelia: This expression is used at the beginning of a sentence, and created by the second person singular of the verb sapere, meaning "to know," and the conjunction che, meaning "that." |
| Brandon: When can we use this phrase? |
| Ofelia: This phrase is a colloquial expression. So, it’s useful when you’re talking to a friend and you want to catch his or her attention. Your friend will definitely prick up his or her ears. You can also use it in the plural form: sapete che... |
| Brandon: Then, when should we not use this expression? |
| Ofelia: We shouldn’t use this when speaking formal Italian. In that case, you should use the third person, sa che…? |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example using this key phrase? |
| Ofelia: Sure! Sapete che Laura parteciperà alle Olimpiadi? |
| Brandon: Meaning, "You know that Laura will participate in the Olympics?" Okay, next we have... |
| Ofelia: ...centinaio. |
| Brandon: Meaning "about a hundred." |
| Ofelia: This masculine noun comes from the word cento, meaning "one hundred," but it doesn’t mean exactly one hundred. |
| Brandon: So, when can we use this word? |
| Ofelia: We can use it when we want to communicate an approximate value. We can not use it for a precise number of things. |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
| Ofelia: Sure! Ho guadagnato solo un centinaio di euro. |
| Brandon: "I earned only about one hundred euros." |
| Ofelia: It can also be combined with the numbers two to nine to refer to approximately two hundred, up to nine hundred. The plural form of the word ends in -a and becomes feminine. So, for example, due centinaia. |
| Brandon: Meaning "about two hundred." |
| Brandon: Okay, next we have... |
| Ofelia: ...must. |
| Brandon: Meaning "a must.” We’re using this as a noun. |
| Ofelia: Right, you can use this word whenever you want to refer to something that, even if not necessary, can't be missed because it is very cool or comfortable. |
| Brandon: In English, we’ll generally use “must” this way in conjunction with another word, such as “must-see,” “must-have,” or “must-do.” In Italian, the second word isn’t necessary. So, Ofelia, when can we not use this word? |
| Ofelia: Well, you can’t use it when you’re referring to something that is really necessary. |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example of its use in the correct way? |
| Ofelia: Sure! Quelle scarpe sono un must di stile. |
| Brandon: "Those shoes are a must-have style." Okay, now on to the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn about using the relative pronoun che to describe simple facts. |
| Ofelia: In the dialogue, Lucia said, No! Sai che non l'ho mai visto? Ho visto "L'ultimo imperatore," che ha vinto l'Oscar, ma non "Io ballo da sola." Di cosa parla? |
| Brandon: Meaning, “No! You know I've never seen that? I saw The Last Emperor, which won the Academy Award, but not Stealing Beauty. What's it about?” Ofelia, how is the relative pronoun used here? |
| Ofelia: Well, che, the relative pronoun, introduces a relative clause, meaning that it connects two sentences and also substitutes for a noun. The clause introduced by the pronoun is subordinate and is dependent on the main clause. Additionally, che is invariable, and we can only use it when it substitutes the subject or object of the relative clause. |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
| Ofelia: Here’s one: le lasagne, che ha fatto la nonna, sono buonissime. |
| Brandon: Meaning, "The lasagna, that Grandma prepared, is delicious." |
| Ofelia: And here’s another one: il signore, che aspetta davanti alla porta, è Paolo. |
| Brandon: "The man, who waits in front of the door, is Paolo." So, it seems that this word can be used in more than way. |
| Ofelia: Well, it translates into different English words. We use che for "who," "whom," "which," and "that" when we’re using it with a relative clause. |
| Brandon: In English, we often omit the “that” from sentences. For example, we’ll say, “This is the dress I bought yesterday,” instead of saying “This is the dress that I bought yesterday.” |
| Ofelia: While in English it’s okay to omit the relative pronoun "that," you can’t omit che in Italian. It’s necessary to pay attention to this, because in many cases in English the relative pronoun isn’t used, but in Italian it’s necessary. |
| Brandon: Okay, can you give us another example? |
| Ofelia: L'ho vista che correva per la strada. |
| Brandon: "I saw her running down the road." In English, "running" is an adjective modifying "her." |
| Ofelia: Yes, and in Italian, the only way to translate it is with a relative clause: che correva. Also, if the relative clause refers to the entire previous sentence and not only to a single word, the relative pronoun che needs to be preceded by the definite article il. For example, non si impegna, il che è un peccato! |
| Brandon: Meaning, "He doesn't make any effort, which is a pity!" |
| Ofelia: Listeners, remember that the word che in Italian has many different functions. |
| Brandon: Let’s review these quickly so that you’ll have them in mind. You can follow along with the lesson notes. |
| Ofelia: Che can be used as a relative pronoun, as we’ve just discussed. |
| Brandon: It can also be used an interrogative pronoun. |
| Ofelia: Such as, che ore sono? Meaning "What time is it?" |
| Brandon: It can be an exclamative pronoun. |
| Ofelia: Such as, che bella giornata! "What a beautiful day!" |
| Brandon: And it can be a conjunction. |
| Ofelia: For example, ecco che arriva la torta, meaning "There, the cake is coming!" |
| Brandon: Well, I think that about explains it. Ofelia, can you give us a couple more sentences using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure! Listeners, you can find these in the lesson notes. Vuoi provare il liquore, che ho fatto io? |
| Brandon: “Do you want to try the liqueur that I made?” |
| Ofelia: And here’s another one: il ragazzo, che ha vinto, si chiama Andrea. |
| Brandon: Meaning, “The boy, who won, is called Andrew.” Well, it’s time to wrap up our lesson. |
| Ofelia: Listeners, be sure to check out the lesson notes for more details and examples. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Brandon: Listeners, have you ever dreamed of starring in one of our lessons? |
| Ofelia: If your answer is yes, use the voice-recording-tool on the lessons page! |
| Brandon: Record your voice with a click of a button, |
| Ofelia: ...and then play it back just as easily. |
| Brandon: Then, compare it to the native speakers in the lesson... |
| Ofelia: ...and adjust your pronunciation! After a few tries, you’ll be speaking better Italian than Brandon here! |
| Brandon: Hey! |
| Ofelia: Go to ItalianPod101.com, and rapidly improve your Italian pronunciation! |
Outro |
| Brandon: Thank you for listening, everyone. And we will see you next time! |
| Ofelia: A presto. |
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