Learn about the presente indicativo tense of the regular first conjugation verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buon giorno a tutti! Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here. Newbie Series, Season 1, lesson #17 - Can You Find Everything You Need in the Present? Buon giorno a tutti! Hi! My name is Marco and I'm joined here by Cinzia! Come va? |
| Cinzia: Alla grande Marco, grazie. Hello and welcome to the Newbie Series of Italianpod101.com. |
| Marco: Thanks for joining us for our 17th lesson of this Newbie Series. |
| Cinzia: Which focuses on the basics for anyone starting to learn the Italian language. |
| Marco: So please join us for this lesson of Italianpod101.com. |
| Cinzia: Oh my god Marco it's been so hot lately, I wish I could go to the beach these days! |
| Marco: no no no, you have to stay here and work, so quit complaining. |
| Cinzia: oh Marco sei così severo, you are so strict, why? |
| Marco: we have to do things by the book, by my book! |
| Cinzia: Your book? |
| Marco: Well, it's a book I found over here. I don't know... |
| Cinzia: Oh fine! Ok, I think we can go on with our lesson. |
| Marco: Better better, I like this tone. The focus of this lesson is the presente indicativo tense of the regular first conjugation verbs. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place on the streets of Italy |
| Marco: And it is between John and Laura. |
| Cinzia: They are friends, so they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Reinforce your Italian by using the Grammar Bank of the Learning Center at Italianpod101.com. |
| DIALOGUE |
| John: È quasi mezzogiorno, ho un po’ di fame. |
| Laura: Anch’io. Cerchiamo una buona trattoria? |
| John: Ottima idea, così mangiamo bene! |
| Laura: E non paghiamo troppo! |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| John: È quasi mezzogiorno, ho un po’ di fame. |
| Laura: Anch’io. Cerchiamo una buona trattoria? |
| John: Ottima idea, così mangiamo bene! |
| Laura: E non paghiamo troppo! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| John: È quasi mezzogiorno, ho un po’ di fame. |
| Marco: It's almost noon; I'm a bit hungry. |
| Laura: Anch’io. Cerchiamo una buona trattoria? |
| Marco: Me too. Shall we look for a good restaurant? |
| John: Ottima idea, così mangiamo bene! |
| Marco: Great idea; this way we'll eat well! |
| Laura: E non paghiamo troppo! |
| Marco: And we don't spend too much. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Now, that's a nice topic, isn't it? |
| Cinzia: Oh my god! Don't even tell me! You make hungry! I love trattoria! |
| Marco: Really? Do you have a favourite trattoria in Napoli? |
| Cinzia: Well, of course! |
| Marco: Wait wait wait! We can't endorse anyone. Let's just tell them what you can eat in an Italian trattoria! |
| Cinzia: You can eat everything, pasta like gnocchi, lasagna... and you can taste a very good wine! |
| Marco: Really? |
| Cinzia: Yes! |
| Marco: Oh yes, because sometimes not always, but sometimes, because trattoria is, let's say, a traditional in a sort of rustic style atmosphere and restaurant you can also the house wines and are very particular! |
| Cinzia: Yes Marco! You are completely right! |
| Marco: And how do we say house wine? |
| Cinzia: Vino della casa. |
| Marco: Let me repeat that |
| Cinzia: Mmmm... it's so tasty! |
| Marco: You can't find it in a shop! |
| Cinzia: And it's cheap! |
| Marco: Oh somebody likes to drink vino della casa here! |
| Cinzia: Mmm... Well.. Yes! |
| Marco: Ok, on with the vocabulary! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: First |
| Cinzia: quasi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: almost |
| Cinzia: quasi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: quasi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: mezzogiorno [natural native speed] |
| Marco: noon, midday |
| Cinzia: mezzogiorno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: mezzogiorno [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: un po' [natural native speed] |
| Marco: a little, a bit, a little bit, some |
| Cinzia: un po' [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: un po' [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: anch'io [natural native speed] |
| Marco: me too |
| Cinzia: anch'io [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: anch'io [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: trattoria [natural native speed] |
| Marco: trattoria (traditional Italian restaurant) |
| Cinzia: trattoria [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: trattoria [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: ottima [natural native speed] |
| Marco: great (feminine singular, referring to something's quality) |
| Cinzia: ottima [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: ottima [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: così [natural native speed] |
| Marco: so, this way |
| Cinzia: così [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: così [natural native speed] |
| Marco: And last word |
| Cinzia: troppo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: too much |
| Cinzia: troppo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cinzia: troppo [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: Let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. The first word we will look at is quasi. |
| Marco: So Cinzia, can you give us an example sentence please? |
| Cinzia: È quasi pronto! |
| Marco: It's almost ready! And how many times did we hear that in our families, right? |
| Cinzia: Oh yes, my mum used to shout this all the time! |
| Marco: My mum used to shout even half an hour before it was actually ready! |
| Cinzia: Ahaha! Yes, it's true... |
| Marco: Also your case? |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course, me and my brother would never go lunch on time. |
| Marco: Us Italians I think we give for granted all the great food we have, so we're out playing and mother's calling... |
| Cinzia: è quasi pronto! |
| Marco: It's nearly ready, but we keep playing! We don't care, 'cause we know we're always gonna have the good food waiting for us! |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course. |
| Cinzia: OK. The next word is mezzogiorno |
| Marco: Let’s have an example |
| Cinzia: È mezzogiorno! |
| Marco: It's noon! |
| Cinzia: Next word is un po' |
| Marco: One example please. |
| Cinzia: Vuoi un po' di fragole? |
| Marco: Would you like some strawberries? Mmm... strawberries... |
| Cinzia: Ahahaha! And champagne Marco... |
| Marco: You mean fragole e champagne? |
| Cinzia: Yes, exactly... |
| Marco: Nooo... I prefer fragole con la panna! |
| Cinzia: Oh! Strawberries with whipped cream? |
| Marco: Yes, so good! |
| Cinzia: Have you ever tasted fragole and champagne? |
| Marco: Actually no! |
| Cinzia: You should Marco. |
| Marco: Ok, after the lesson then. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will see is anch'io |
| Marco: And the example is? |
| Cinzia: Anch'io ho freddo! |
| Marco: I'm cold too! Now let's take a look at this anch'io because they're actually two words, aren't they? |
| Cinzia: yes... |
| Marco: And what words are they? |
| Cinzia: They are anche |
| Marco: That's “too”, also and the next one is? |
| Cinzia: Io. |
| Marco: “Me”, so the next one is actually “me too”, right? |
| Cinzia: Yeah, right! |
| Marco: So why does anche io become anch'io? |
| Cinzia: Marco come on! What is this question? |
| Marco: I know I becomes like that! Answer for the students please! |
| Cinzia: Ok, anche ends with a vowel and io starts with a vowel... |
| Marco: Yes! |
| Cinzia: So the last vowel of anche falls down and it takes the apostrophe... |
| Marco: Becoming anch'io. |
| Cinzia: Yes and it can sound just like one word! |
| Marco: Ok, but be careful, it's not always the case! |
| Cinzia: Yes, you're right Marco, in fact in Italian you can hear and actually you can also say |
| Marco: So they are both correct, anch'io and anche io. And to check the spelling of anch'io please download the pdf, or check the lesson dialog on your ipod. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will see is trattoria. |
| Marco: And the example is? |
| Cinzia: Conosci una buona trattoria? |
| Marco: Do you know a good trattoria? |
| Cinzia: The next word we will see is troppo. |
| Marco: And the example is? |
| Cinzia: Fa troppo caldo! |
| Marco: It's too hot! |
| Cinzia: Ok then, this wraps it up for the vocabulary usage. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: The presente indicativo of the first conjugation is realized by taking the verb’s stem. |
| Marco: that is what we are left with when we take out the ending -are of the infinitive. |
| Cinzia: and adding the endings presented in the following scheme. |
| Marco: Please, note that we have to keep the sound of the stem’s last letter. |
| Cinzia: which means that we have to add an “h” for the second singular and first plural persons when the Present Infinitive stem ends with the sound /k/ or /g/. |
| Marco: Yes, yes, yes. The conjugation of the verb cercare, “to look for, to seek, to search”, for instance, will be |
| Io cerc-o “I look for” |
| Tu cerc-hi “You look for” |
| Lui/lei cerc-a “He/she looks for” |
| Noi cerc-hiamo “We look for” |
| Voi cerc-ate “You look for” |
| Loro cerc-ano “They look for” |
| Marco: and let's also take a look at the verb pagare, “to pay”. |
| Io pag-o “I pay” |
| Tu pag-hi “You pay” |
| Lui/lei pag-a “He/she pays” |
| Noi pag-hiamo “We pay” |
| Voi pag-ate “You pay” |
| Loro pag-ano “They pay” |
| Marco: Let's hear one more time the second person singular and the first person plural where we have to insert the /h/ to protect the sound /K/. |
| Cinzia: Tu cerchi |
| Marco: “You look for” |
| Cinzia: Noi cerchiamo |
| Marco: “We look for”. And let's now hear the second person singular and the first person plural of verbs in which we have to insert the /h/ to protect the sound /G/. |
| Cinzia: Tu paghi |
| Marco: “You pay” |
| Cinzia: Noi paghiamo |
| Marco: “We pay”. Dear listeners, one last tiny bit of boring grammar then you can all go eat to your favourite trattoria. Please note that when the Present Infinitive stem ends with either the so-called "soft" sounds c /tʃ/ (like in sketch [sketʃ]), or g /dʒ/ (like in John [dʒɒn]), the verb follows the standard -are conjugation; setacciare "to sieve", "to search"; mangiare,"to eat". And this rule is valid for all three Italian conjugations but we shall see it again in future lessons. |
| Cinzia: Oh well don! Marco... Ahaha! |
| Marco: Ok ok, now... don't make fun of me! Let's close this lesson! |
| Cinzia: Ok, but I was not making fun of you, you really did a good job, Marco! |
Outro |
| Cinzia: So this wraps up today's lesson. |
| Marco: Don't forget to try out the Italian Review in the Learning Center, where you'll find test questions, answers and comments on the answers. |
| Cinzia: It's a great way to start practicing on your own. |
| Marco: Ok. See you soon! |
| Cinzia: Arrivederci! Ciao! |
| Marco: Ciao! |
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