Learn how to use indirect pronouns with verbs in the infinitive mood
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| INTRODUCTION |
| None (manual write in): |
| Cristina: Ciao! |
| Jason: Jason here! Welcome to ItalianPod101.com. This is Upper Beginner, Lesson 25 - A Romantic Italian Getaway. |
| Cristina: In this lesson you will learn how to use personal indirect pronouns with verb in the infinitive mood. Such as… |
| Jason: “Un’amica lavora per un’agenzia viaggi. Posso chiederle informazioni e un preventivo. |
| Cristina: “A friend of mine works at a travel agency. I can ask her for information and an estimate”. |
| Jason: This conversation takes place at university. |
| Cristina: Giulia e Claudio parlano insieme. Sono due studenti universitari. |
| Jason: The conversation is between Giulia and Claudio. |
| They are friends, so the speakers will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Cristina: Ascoltiamo |
| Jason: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Giulia: Ciao Claudio. Ti vedo pensieroso. |
| Claudio: Ciao Giulia. Capiti a proposito. Volevo chiederti un consiglio |
| Giulia: Certo. Che c'è? |
| Claudio: Vorrei fare un regalo a Sara, la mia ragazza. La conosci no? |
| Giulia: Di vista. Sinceramente non la conosco così bene e se vuoi darle qualcosa di speciale, devi chiedere a lei. |
| Claudio: Volevo farle una sorpresa. E poi tu hai buon gusto. |
| Giulia: Non fare il ruffiano adesso. Ti do una mano lo stesso. |
| Claudio: Grazie. Vediamo - a Sara piace la musica classica, ma casa sua è già piena di CD. Poi adora sciare, ma i suoi hanno una casa a Madonna di Campiglio. E' inutile regalarle una settimana bianca. E le piace mangiare fuori. |
| Giulia: No, una cena è scontata. |
| Claudio: Magari in un ristorante particolare. Lei adora la cucina pugliese. |
| Giulia: E che ne dici di un weekend ad Alberobello? E' un posto così particolare! Se ama la Puglia, le piacerà sicuramente. |
| Claudio: Ottima idea! |
| Giulia: Un'amica lavora per un'agenzia viaggi. Posso chiederle informazioni e un preventivo. |
| Claudio: Perfetto! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Giulia: Ciao Claudio. Ti vedo pensieroso. |
| Claudio: Ciao Giulia. Capiti a proposito. Volevo chiederti un consiglio |
| Giulia: Certo. Che c'è? |
| Claudio: Vorrei fare un regalo a Sara, la mia ragazza. La conosci no? |
| Giulia: Di vista. Sinceramente non la conosco così bene e se vuoi darle qualcosa di speciale, devi chiedere a lei. |
| Claudio: Volevo farle una sorpresa. E poi tu hai buon gusto. |
| Giulia: Non fare il ruffiano adesso. Ti do una mano lo stesso. |
| Claudio: Grazie. Vediamo - a Sara piace la musica classica, ma casa sua è già piena di CD. Poi adora sciare, ma i suoi hanno una casa a Madonna di Campiglio. E' inutile regalarle una settimana bianca. E le piace mangiare fuori. |
| Giulia: No, una cena è scontata. |
| Claudio: Magari in un ristorante particolare. Lei adora la cucina pugliese. |
| Giulia: E che ne dici di un weekend ad Alberobello? E' un posto così particolare! Se ama la Puglia, le piacerà sicuramente. |
| Claudio: Ottima idea! |
| Giulia: Un'amica lavora per un'agenzia viaggi. Posso chiederle informazioni e un preventivo. |
| Claudio: Perfetto! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Giulia: Ciao Claudio. Ti vedo pensieroso. |
| Jason: Hi, Claudio. You look like you're thinking about something. |
| Claudio: Ciao Giulia. Capiti a proposito. Volevo chiederti un consiglio |
| Jason: Hi, Giulia. You arrived at the right time. I wanted to ask you for some advice. |
| Giulia: Certo. Che c'è? |
| Jason: Sure. What's up? |
| Claudio: Vorrei fare un regalo a Sara, la mia ragazza. La conosci no? |
| Jason: I'd like to give a present to Sara, my girlfriend. You know her, right? |
| Giulia: Di vista. Sinceramente non la conosco così bene e se vuoi darle qualcosa di speciale, devi chiedere a lei. |
| Jason: By sight. Honestly, I don't know her very well, and if you want to give her something special, you should ask her. |
| Claudio: Volevo farle una sorpresa. E poi tu hai buon gusto. |
| Jason: I wanted to make it a surprise. You have good taste. |
| Giulia: Non fare il ruffiano adesso. Ti do una mano lo stesso. |
| Jason: Don't be a brown noser! I will help you anyway. |
| Claudio: Grazie. Vediamo - a Sara piace la musica classica, ma casa sua è già piena di CD. Poi adora sciare, ma i suoi hanno una casa a Madonna di Campiglio. E' inutile regalarle una settimana bianca. E le piace mangiare fuori. |
| Jason: Thank you. Well let's see—Sara likes classical music, but her house is already full of CDs. She loves skiing, but her parents have a house at Madonna di Campiglio. It's pointless to buy her a ski trip. And, she likes eating out. |
| Giulia: No, una cena è scontata. |
| Jason: No, a dinner out is a predictable present. |
| Claudio: Magari in un ristorante particolare. Lei adora la cucina pugliese. |
| Jason: How about in a special restaurant? She adores the cuisine from Puglia. |
| Giulia: E che ne dici di un weekend ad Alberobello? E' un posto così particolare! Se ama la Puglia, le piacerà sicuramente. |
| Jason: And how about a weekend in Alberobello? It is such a unique place! If she loves Puglia, she will like it for sure. |
| Claudio: Ottima idea! |
| Jason: Great idea! |
| Giulia: Un'amica lavora per un'agenzia viaggi. Posso chiederle informazioni e un preventivo. |
| Jason: A friend of mine works at a travel agency. I can ask her for information and an estimate for the trip. |
| Claudio: Perfetto! |
| Jason: Perfect! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jason: Today we’ll travel to Puglia, a region in southern Italy. |
| Cristina: And precisely we are going to Alberobello. |
| Jason: This small town is a unique and picturesque destination of many tourists. Cristina |
| Jason: What makes it such a unique place? |
| Cristina: The trulli. |
| Jason: I Trulli? What are they? |
| Cristina: Well un trullo is a white-washed house with a conical roof on top. It is characteristic of this area. |
| Jason: This sounds really interesting. What’s the trullo made of? |
| Cristina: The whole structure is built with local limestone. |
| Jason: The roofs of the larger buildings also terminate in a decorative pinnacle. |
| Cristina: What’s also interesting is that the roofs are constructed to be able to collect rainwater in a region like Puglia because water is quite scarce. |
| Jason: So the roofs are not only decorative but also have a practical function. |
| Cristina: Sure. |
| Jason: What are some of the decorations on the roofs? |
| Cristina: Probably symbols related to primitive magic and religion. |
| Jason: I really want to go to visit this town. I should book a hotel one of these days. |
| Cristina: Actually the best way to experience trulli is to stay in one so you can get an idea of what a trullo is like as a home. |
| Jason: Can I do that? |
| Cristina: Sure. In Alberobello there are a few hotels which do have some trullo accommodation options. |
| Jason: I bet it’s quite expensive… |
| Cristina: there is also a more affordable alternative. You can stay in a self-catering trulloapartment. |
| Jason: I like this option! Alberobello here I come! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jason: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Cristina: pensieroso [natural native speed] |
| Jason: pensive, wistful, thoughtful, pondering |
| Cristina: pensieroso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: pensieroso [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: consiglio [natural native speed] |
| Jason: advice |
| Cristina: consiglio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: consiglio [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: di vista [natural native speed] |
| Jason: by sight |
| Cristina: di vista [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: di vista [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: buon gusto [natural native speed] |
| Jason: good taste |
| Cristina: buon gusto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: buon gusto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: ruffiano [natural native speed] |
| Jason: brown noser |
| Cristina: ruffiano [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: ruffiano [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: settimana bianca [natural native speed] |
| Jason: ski trip, skiing holiday week |
| Cristina: settimana bianca [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: settimana bianca [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: scontato [natural native speed] |
| Jason: predictable |
| Cristina: scontato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: scontato [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: pugliese [natural native speed] |
| Jason: from Puglia |
| Cristina: pugliese [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: pugliese [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: particolare [natural native speed] |
| Jason: unique |
| Cristina: particolare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: particolare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Cristina: preventivo [natural native speed] |
| Jason: estimate |
| Cristina: preventivo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Cristina: preventivo [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Jason: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jason: The first one we'll look at is... |
| Cristina: gusto |
| Jason: taste |
| Cristina: Here's a sample sentence. Hai avuto buon gusto nell’arredare il tuo appartamento. |
| Jason: You had good taste in decorating your apartment. |
| Cristina: Gusto translates as taste and flavor if talking about food and drinks. If you go into an icecream shop in Italy you’ll be asked |
| Jason: Can you give me an example? |
| Cristina: Oggi ho preparato una torta al gusto di caffè. |
| Jason: Today I prepared a coffee-flavored cake. |
| Cristina: Gusto also expresses an aesthetic concept such as in Aver buon gusto or avere cattivo gusto. (to have good or bad taste.). Like in English, it is followed by 'in.' |
| Jason: What's the next one we'll look at? |
| Cristina: settimana bianca |
| Jason: ski trip |
| Cristina: Here's a sample sentence. Sono di ritorno da una settimana bianca a Ortisei. |
| Jason: I’m back from a ski trip at Ortisei. |
| Cristina: In the winter months many Italians go to the mountains to ski and snowboard. The name settimana bianca (literally White Week) comes of course from the color of the snow. The verb that goes with settimana bianca is fare. |
| Jason: For instance? |
| Cristina: Da domani vado a fare la settimana bianca a Cortina. |
| Jason: From tomorrow I’ll go on a ski trip to Cortina. |
| Cristina: Esatto! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cristina: The focus of this lesson is the usage of indirect pronouns with modal verbs. |
| Jason: Let’s start with a quick review of indirect object pronouns. |
| Cristina: I pronomi indiretti. |
| Jason: Indirect nouns and pronouns answer the question 'to whom?' or 'for whom?' |
| Cristina: In English, the word "to" is sometimes omitted while in Italian the preposition a is always used before an indirect object noun. |
| Jason: For example... |
| Cristina: Maria ha dato un regalo a Davide. |
| Jason: Maria gave a present to David. |
| Cristina: Maria ha dato a Davide un regalo. |
| Jason: Maria gave David a present. |
| Cristina: So while in English to is omitted in the second sentence, in Italian a is always placed before David. |
| Jason: A Davide answers the question to whom? And therefore a Davide is the indirect object. |
| Cristina: In Italian if the preposition a is placed before an article, it combines to form a preposizione articolata (articulated preposition). |
| Jason: Maria ha dato un regalo allo zio Davide. |
| Cristina: Maria gave a present to uncle David. |
| Jason: Indirect object nouns can be replaced by indirect object pronouns. |
| Cristina: Ho scritto a Claudio e Sara tre volte oggi, ma non hanno mai risposto. |
| Jason: Gli ho scritto tre volte oggi, ma non hanno mai risposto. |
| Cristina: I wrote them (to Claudio and Sara) three times today, but they never replied. |
| Jason: The pronoun gli replaces a Claudio e Sara. |
| Cristina: Now let’s briefly look at the forms of the indirect object pronouns in Italian. |
| Jason: Mi for the first person singular |
| Cristina: Ti for the second person singular |
| Jason: Gli for the third person singular. It translates to him |
| Cristina: Le for the third person singular. It translates to her. |
| Jason: Before continuing on the plural forms, let’s look at gli and le more closely. |
| Cristina: In spoken language gli also tends to be used instead of the singular feminine form le. |
| Jason: Quando la incontri non dargli niente. |
| Cristina: in place of Quando la incontri non darle niente. |
| Jason: When you meet her, don’t give her anything. |
| Cristina: Let’s now see the plural forms of the indirect object pronouns. |
| Jason: Ci for the first person plural. |
| Cristina: Vi for the second person plural |
| Jason: Loro or gli. Loro or gli replace both masculine and feminine plural nouns. |
| Cristina: The use of gli is much more common than the usage of loro. |
| Jason: Next you’ll learn about the position of the direct pronouns. |
| Cristina: An indirect object pronoun is usually placed immediately before a conjugated verb. |
| Jason: Here is a sample sentence. |
| Cristina: Ci offrono sempre il caffè. |
| Jason: They always offer us coffee. |
| Cristina: However, like it happens with the direct object pronouns, when a sentence contains an infinitive, the pronoun is attached to the end of it. |
| Jason: And the final -e of the infinitive (namely –are, -ere,-ire) is dropped. |
| Cristina: For example E’ inutile regalarle una settimana bianca. |
| Jason: It’s pointless to buy her a ski trip. |
| Cristina: The pronoun le is attached to the verb regalare. |
| Jason: and the final –e of regalare is dropped. |
| Cristina: Last you’ll learn more about the position of pronouns with modal verbs. |
| Jason: As you remember, modal verbs like potere, dovere, volere always require an infinitive. |
| Cristina: For example Vorrei andare al cinema. |
| Jason: I’d like to go to the cinema. |
| Cristina: With the modal verb and the infinitive, the indirect pronouns can be either placed before the modal… |
| Jason: …or be attached to the following infinitive. |
| Cristina: Let’s see some sample sentences. |
| Jason: Ti volevo chiedere un consiglio. |
| Cristina: Here the pronoun ti is placed before the modal. |
| Jason: In English the above sentence translates as I wanted to ask you for some advice. |
| Cristina: It’s also correct to attach the pronoun to the infinitive. |
| Jason: Volevo chiederti un consiglio |
| Cristina: In English the sentence doesn’t change. |
| Jason: Do you want to try? |
| Cristina: Here is a sentence in English. |
| Jason: I wanted to talk to him. |
| Cristina: What is it in Italian? |
| Jason: .... Gli voglio parlare. |
| Cristina: Now try to attach the pronoun to the infinitive. |
| Jason: Yes! Voglio parlargli. |
Outro |
| Jason: OK. That's all for this lesson. In the lesson notes, you can find more examples on this grammar point. You can aslo find a list of verbs that require indirect objects. So be sure to read them. |
| Cristina: A presto! |
| Jason: Bye-bye! |
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