Lezione Due
Pagina
1
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flash translation
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flash translation
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IN RED THE
FORMAL ADDRESS
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Rewrite
the Italian dialogue in the spaces provided |
Come ti chiami tu?
Come si chiama
Lei? |
What is your name? |
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Tu sei italiana?
Lei e'
italiana? |
Are you Italian? |
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No, io non sono italiana.
Io sono americana. |
No, I am not Italian.
I am American. |
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Tu sei famosa?
Lei e' famosa? |
Are you famous? |
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Certamente.
Io sono molto famosa. |
Certainly.
I am very famous. |
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Dove abiti tu?
Dove abita Lei? |
Where do you live? |
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| Io abito a New York. |
I live in New York. |
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| Dov'e' New York? |
Where is New York? |
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| New York e' in America. |
New York is in America. |
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E tu, dove abiti?
E Lei, dove
abita?
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And you, where do you live? |
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| Io abito a Firenze. |
I live in Florence. |
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| Firenze e' in Italia. |
Florence is in Italy. |
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| Io lavoro in un museo. |
I work in a museum. |
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Esercizi
1.
Write the Questions
Informal
Click on the image |
2.
Write the Answers
Informal
Click on the image |
 (Remember: click on the
gears for the complete grammar explanation)
CONJUGATING
A VERB
When you conjugate a verb, each
person ("I", "You" etc.) has a
different ending . Regular Verbs
, such as ABITARE,
LAVORARE and CHIAMARE follow a standard pattern.
All verbs ending in the
infinitive with - ARE are conjugated following the same
pattern.
| ABITARE |
"TO
RESIDE, TO DWELL, TO LIVE" |
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| Io abit o |
("I live") |
| Tu abit i |
("You live" [sing]) |
| Lui abit a |
("He lives") |
| Lei abit a |
("She lives" or FORMAL "you live") |
| Abit a |
("It lives") NOTE: The subject
pronoun for "IT" [Esso - Essa] is
usually OMITTED |
| Noi abit iamo |
("We live") |
| Voi abit ate |
("You live" [plur]) |
| Loro abit ano |
("They live") |
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LAVORARE
Old 50 lire coin |
"TO
WORK" |
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| io lavor o |
("I work") |
Tu lavor i
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("You
work" [sing]) |
Lui lavor a
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("He
works") |
Lei lavor a
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("She
works" or FORMAL
"you work") |
| Lavor a |
("it
works") |
| noi lavor iamo |
("we work") |
| voi
lavor ate |
("you work" [plur]) |
| loro
lavor ano |
("they work") |
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| CHIAMARSI |
"TO
CALL ONESELF, TO BE NAMED" |
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| Io mi chiam o |
("My
name is". Literally: "I call
myself") |
Tu ti chiam i
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("Your name is". Lit.:
"You call yourself" [sing])
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Lui si chiam a
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("His name is". Lit.:
"He calls himself") |
Lei si chiam a
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("Her name is".
Lit.: "She calls herself" or FORMAL "your name
is") |
| Si chiam a |
("Its name is". Lit.:
"It calls itself") |
| noi ci
chiam iamo |
("Our
name is". Literally: "we call
ourselves") |
| voi vi
chiam ate |
("your
name is". Literally: "you call
yourselves") |
| loro si
chiam
ano |
("their
name is". Literally: "they call
themselves") |
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 CHIAMARSI
is the "reflexive"
form of CHIAMARE ("to call, to name").
We will talk about this form at lenght in a later
lesson. (Click on the gears now for
the corresponding grammar file.)
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Verbs such as ESSERE
and other irregular
verbs have each a different
conjugation pattern and must be memorized
individually. (See "Appendix" for the
complete tables.)
We will discuss this aspect in detail later.
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ESSERE
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"TO BE" |
| Io sono |
"I am" |
| Tu sei |
"You are" |
| Lui è |
"He is" |
| Lei è |
"She is"or FORMAL "you are" |
| E' |
"It is" |
| Noi siamo |
"We are" |
| Voi
siete |
"You are" |
| Loro sono |
"They are" |
REMEMBER:
IT IS
is simply
e'
IMPORTANT
Since each person has a
different ending, the subject pronoun
("io," "tu," etc.) is
understood and therefore can be left out. Thus,
you will hear and read "abito"
or "abiti" instead of the full
form "io abito", "tu abiti".
In other words, the use of the SUBJECT PRONOUN
is OPTIONAL. As explained above, when we
introduced the verb ESSERE, the subject pronoun
for IT ("esso" and "essa") is
practically always omitted.
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InFormal and Formal
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INFORMAL |
FORMAL |
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| To a man: |
"Tu
sei italiano?" |
"Lei
e' italiano?" |
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| To a woman: |
"Tu
sei italiana?" |
"Lei
e' italiana?" |
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The INFORMAL mode
is
expressed with the pronoun
"TU"
("YOU" singular
in English)
and the corresponding form of the verb
("sei").
The
FORMAL mode
is expressed with the the feminine pronoun
"LEI"
(literally "SHE" in English)
and the corresponding form of the verb
("e' ").
"LEI" thus means both "she" and
"formal you".
To distinguish between the two
the INFORMAL is written with a small "l" (lei,)
while the FORMAL is written with a capital "L"
(Lei).
There is an interesting story behind
this
Click
the button to find out
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Esercizi
3.
to be developed
formal informal
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4. Essere
(To be)
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5. Abitare,
Lavorare
(To live, to work)
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6. Chiamarsi
(To be named)
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7. Che cosa vuol dire?
(What does it mean?)
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THE NEGATIVE |
The
basic form of the negative is obtained by inserting the
word "NON"
in front of the
verb.
| Io sono
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Io non sono (I
am not) |
| Io lavoro |
Io non
lavoro (I don't work)
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Esercizio:
Using the previous dialogues as example, write a
conversation between Venere and Liberty using the
pulldown menus.
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(Remember:
click on the gears for the complete grammar explanation)
ASKING A QUESTION
There are no rigid "grammar
rules" to follow when it comes to asking a question.
The crucial aspect is the intonation (or, if
you are writing, the question mark "?")
You will hear and read:
Dove abiti? Tu dove abiti? Dove abiti tu?
Come ti chiami? Tu come ti chiami? Come ti chiami
tu?
Sei italiana? Tu sei italiana? Sei italiana tu?
All these are perfectly "correct". The
variations often reflect the particular emphasis of the
question, as well as the context.
DOVE
= Where COME
= How
Dov'è
and
Com'è In front of
" è "
("is"
), usually the final "e" is
dropped and an apostrophe
(the ' mark) is inserted. Thus, they become
respectively:
("WHERE IS..." "HOW
IS...")
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Q.
"Come si dice famous?"
A. "Famous si dice famoso."
"Come si dice" means
"How do you say"
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ESPRESSIONI IDIOMATICHE
(Idiomatic expressions cannot be translated literaly)
Di dove sei? (Where are you from?)
This is a very
common expression. It normally elicits two types or
answers:
1) if you want to tell what city you are from, the answer is "Sono
di + Cityname."
SONO DI FIRENZE. if you want to indicate the country you will use the
adjective of nationality SONO ITALIANO
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Click on the link icon |
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to connect to the
nationalities page |
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