Learn how to tell people what city or country you are from and how to ask them the same question
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buon giorno! Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here. Newbie Series, Lesson #3. |
| Cinzia: More enthusiasm! Please! |
| Marco: Ok, Newbie series lesson #3, is that better? |
| Cinzia: Ahah! Marco! |
| Marco: I can't fake it, I mean. |
| Cinzia: You should be happy, you are working with me! |
| Marco: Well, let's just say I should be happy, let's go on with that, don't worry, don't worry... Buongiorno a tutti. Newbie series lesson... |
| Cinzia: Ahaha! Marco! What is this?? |
| Marco: I'm losing my touch. If I've ever had one. |
| Cinzia: Come on! |
| Marco: Newbie series season 1 lesson #3 - Do People Understand Where You're Coming From? |
| Cinzia: Belissimo, Marco! |
| Marco: And she's not referring to me. Don't worry! |
| Marco: Buongiorno a tutti. Hi, my name is Marco and I am joined here by Cinzia. Come stai Cinzia? |
| Cinzia: Sto benissimo, grazie. I am great. |
| Marco: What about me, you are not asking about how I am? |
| Cinzia: Oh yes. Come stai Marco? |
| Marco: Sto bene sto bene, sto bene. I am well, I am well. Hello everyone and welcome to the third lesson of the Newbie Series in Italianpod101.com. |
| Cinzia: So with us, you’ll learn to speak Italian in a fun and interesting way. |
| Marco: So join us for this lesson of Italianpod101.com. If three is really the magic number this should be a perfect lesson. |
| Cinzia: I am sure it will be! |
| Marco: What do you think of this project? |
| Cinzia: Well… If it had been available when I was studying foreign languages it would have made my life a lot easier. |
| Marco: Very true, very true. Today’s technologies really helps student maximize their learning. |
| Cinzia: And we are here to make it even better! |
| Marco: Wohoooo! You said it, Cinzia!!! |
| Cinzia: Ok, Marco, that's you finally, that's the energy I want from you! |
| Marco: Ok, but I'm running out of batteries already. Let’s move on. In this lesson you will learn how to talk about your hometown. |
| Cinzia: These conversations takes place at a train station. |
| Marco: And they are between John Smith and Laura Rossi. |
| Cinzia: In the first conversation they will be speaking informal Italian. In the second one, the Italian is formal. |
| Marco: In the next dialogue, I'll be John Smith, while Cinzia will be Laura Rossi. |
| DIALOGUE 1 |
| Laura: Di dove sei? |
| John: Sono di New York. E tu? |
| Laura: Sono di Milano. |
| Marco: one more time, slowly. |
| Laura: Di dove sei? |
| John: Sono di New York. E tu? |
| Laura: Sono di Milano. |
| Marco: Once again, this time, with the translation. |
| Laura: Di dove sei? |
| Laura: Where are you from? |
| John: Sono di New York. E tu? |
| John: I am from New York; and you? |
| Laura: Sono di Milano. |
| Laura: I am from Milan. |
| DIALOGUE 2 |
| Marco: Next dialog. |
| Laura: Sei di Boston? |
| John: No, non sono di Boston, sono di New York. E tu? |
| Laura: Sono di Milano. |
| Marco: one more time, slowly. |
| Laura: Sei di Boston? |
| John: No, non sono di Boston, sono di New York. E tu? |
| Laura: Sono di Milano. |
| Marco: Once again, this time, with the translation. |
| Laura: Sei di Boston? |
| Laura: Are you from Boston? |
| John: No, non sono di Boston, sono di New York. E tu? |
| John: No, I am not from Boston; I am from New York; and you? |
| Laura: Sono di Milano. |
| Laura: I am from Milan. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: So Cinzia! What about this conversation? Did you like it? |
| Cinzia: Oh this conversation is used so much! Actually it's the second thing you say to someone. |
| Marco: Oh! So, first maybe I introduce myself and then I ask them where they're from? |
| Cinzia: Exactly, Marco. |
| Marco: So let me ask you, di dove sei? |
| Cinzia: Sono di Napoli! |
| Marco: Ok, so you come from Naples right? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Yes, we can feel that spirit. |
| Cinzia: Ahaha! And Marco? Di dove sei? |
| Marco: Io sono di San Remo, do you know where San Remo is? |
| Cinzia: Yes, sure. |
| Marco: Why is that tone in the voice? Is it a strange city? |
| Cinzia: Oh well, apart from some casinos... |
| Marco: No, there's only one casino, but there is the world famous Italian song festival in my city. |
| Cinzia: Oh, yes, but apart from that I don't think you have pizza... mozzarella... and... |
| Marco: Well...We have something else. It's called sardinara, it's similar to pizza, but... I'll make it for you one night, ok? |
| Cinzia: Ok! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Now let's take a look at the vocab for this lesson. |
| Marco: The first word |
| Cinzia: di natural native speed |
| Marco: of, some, by, from, about (and many more meanings) |
| Cinzia: di slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: di natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: dove natural native speed |
| Marco: where |
| Cinzia: dove slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: dove natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: essere natural native speed |
| Marco: to be |
| Cinzia: essere slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: essere natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: no natural native speed |
| Marco: no |
| Cinzia: no slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: no natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: non natural native speed |
| Marco: not |
| Cinzia: non slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: non natural native speed |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Okay, so the last two words looked very similar, didn’t they? |
| Cinzia: Yes, yes, they’re pretty similar, but they’re not the same thing. |
| Marco: So, different usage, right? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: So a simple “no” would be? |
| Cinzia: A simple answer, like “no”. |
| Marco: For example, maybe I invite you to dinner, vieni a cena con me? Would you come to dinner with me? |
| Cinzia: And of course I would say “no”. |
| Marco: Perfect, just a simple “no”. You don't have to rub it in so much, you know? Okay then, after this brief laughing… |
| Cinzia: Let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words. The first word we will look at is di. |
| Marco: So one example sentence, please? |
| Cinzia: If I say La penna di Luca. |
| Marco: Luca’s pen. literally The pen of Luca. |
| Cinzia: You use this preposition in just about any case covered by the English “of”. |
| Marco: For now we won’t proceed any further in the meanings of this preposition. |
| Cinzia: The next word we're going to look at today is Dove. |
| Marco: And let’s have an example with "Dove" please. |
| Cinzia: Dove sei? |
| Marco: Where are you? |
| Cinzia: Just as in English it is usually at the beginning of a sentence. |
| Cinzia: OK. The next vocabulary word is No. |
| Marco: What do you mean NO? Oh sorry, ok Cinzia, would you give us an example with "No", please. |
| Cinzia: No, grazie. |
| Marco: No, thanks. |
| Cinzia: It works just as the English “No”, very useful for you English girls! |
| Marco: Instead Yes is Si I repeat, Yes is si |
| Cinzia: Uhm... next word? |
| Marco: Ok, one example please. |
| Cinzia: Sono di Napoli |
| Marco: I am from Napoli More on this in a minute |
| Cinzia: OK. The next vocabulary word is Non. |
| Marco: Let’s have an example |
| Cinzia: Non sei di Napoli. |
| Marco: You are not from Napoli. |
| Cinzia: When negating a statement no, non + verb must be used. |
| Marco: You can also skip the initial no and just answer with non + verb. i.e. Non sono di Napoli. I am not from Napoli. So she wants to show everybody out there that I am not from Naples and she is. Ok, ok, I think they got it. |
| Cinzia: But Marco, you can come and visit if you want. |
| Marco: You mean I can come and eat pizza in Napoli? |
| Cinzia: Of course. |
| Marco: That's great, that's great. You can also skip the initial NO, and just answer with non + verb, for example Non sono di Boston "I'm not from Boston". |
| Marco: Perfetto. Perfect, this wraps it up for the vocabulary usage of this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Now, as we have seen di dove sei? is the perfect correspondent to “where are you from?” |
| Cinzia: Yes, It indicates the precise place where one comes from |
| Marco: One should answer with his home city or nearest important city in order to let the speaker easily understand. |
| Marco: Also da dove vieni?, informal, or da dove viene?, formal, translated as “where do you come from?” can be used while di dove sei? requires a more specific location, we can answer this latter expression with our country of origin. |
| Cinzia: Da dove vieni? Vengo dall’Italia. (Where do you come from? I come from Italy). More on this expression and the verb venire “to come” in later lessons. |
| Marco: Regarding di, it is a stationary preposition that can be used with essere. |
| Cinzia: Exactly, while da is a preposition of movement and as such is used with verbs like venire that indicate movement from a location. |
| Marco: Let us now look at the conjugation of the irregular verb essere, “to be”. |
| Cinzia: Io sono “I am” |
| Tu sei “You are” |
| Lui / lei è “He / she is” |
| Noi siamo “We are” |
| Voi siete “You are” |
| Essi sono “They are” |
| Cinzia: As it is irregular there are no shortcuts to learning this verb except to memorize it, sorry. |
| Marco: Yes, sorry about that but you have to learn something by heart. |
| Cinzia: But this one's easy! Isn't it Marco? |
| Marco: Yes, there are some more difficult topics in the future but... yes, this is fairly easy. |
| Marco: Notice how in the dialog di dove sei? is translated as “where are you from? but there is no tu, Italian for “you”, because there is no need to specify as sei can only indicate “you” second person singular. |
| Cinzia: Yes, and this happens always in Italian, unless we want clearly to highlight the person. |
| Marco: Exactly, so if you wanna emphasize someone you would ask Tu, di dove sei? |
| Cinzia: Sono di Napoli! |
| Marco: Perfect. |
Outro |
| Marco: This will conclude today’s lesson. |
| Cinzia: Be sure to pick up the PDF at Italianpod101.com. |
| Marco: Also, if you have any questions, feel free to use our forum or comment on today’s lesson. |
| Cinzia: See you again tomorrow. Ciao, a domani! |
| Marco: Oh before I forget please stop by to get the bonus track on the formal dialog. |
| Cinzia: Good, Marco. |
| Marco: See you tomorrow! |
| Cinzia: Ciao ciao, a domani! |
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