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Learn Italian with ItalianPod101.com! While shopping in the Italian market in Rome, someone suddenly taps you on the shoulder and asks in Italian, “Are you Sarah?” You cautiously respond in Italian, “Yes…how do you know me?” The stranger explains in Italian, “I’m your sister’s friend, Emily. I haven’t seen you in ten years! How are you?” You respond in Italian, “I’m doing well, just taking a little vacation in Italy. And how are you? You must be doing well if you’re living in Italy!” Emily replies in Italian, “Yes, things are going well…my husband and I moved here for his job, and we love Rome!” She continues in Italian, “I miss your sister. How is she?” You respond in Italian, “She is very well. I can’t wait to tell her I ran into you. She’ll be happy to hear you’re well!”

Learning Italian with ItalianPod101.com is the most fun and effective way to learn Italian! This Italian Absolute Beginner lesson will teach you how to ask someone how he or she is doing in Italian. We’ll also cover a variety of other greetings informal and informal Italian. Visit us at ItalianPod101.com where you will find many more fantastic Italian lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Absolute Beginner Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

20 Responses to “Absolute Beginner #3 - Of Course You’re Doing Well If You’re in Italy!”

ItalianPod101.com says:


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Snowy says:

Why isn’t essere used here?

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Consuelo says:

Ciao Snowy what do you mean?

This lessons is about the phrase ‘how are you’ Which in Italian is “come stai?” Here it is employed the verb “stare” instead of “essere”.

:grin:

Buona giornata,

Consuelo

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Karima says:

ciao a tutti :smile:

I’m confused now how come on the previous lesson “io sono=I’m, tu sei= you are…etc” but now in this lesson “io sto=I’m, tu stai= you are…etc”

isn’t I’m or you are…etc should be the same all the time ??!!! :roll:

buona serata :mrgreen:

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Consuelo says:

Ciao Karima,
did you read the lesson notes? You’ll find an explanation for you’re question:

The meaning of the verb “stare” depends on the context we use it in. Here are a few of the most common: “to be,” “to stand,” “to stay,” “to lie,” “to be located,” and “to be situated.” Note: the direct equivalent of “to be” is essere.

In order to say “how are you” in Italian we use the verb “stare” instead of “essere”: “come stai?”. When you want to say ‘I’m fine’ in Italian please remember to say “sto bene” because “sono bene” doesn’t make any sense. :wink:

Consuelo

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Karima says:

ciao,

yes I’ve read the lesson notes but I couldn’t get it.

ok here is what I understand that I have to memorzie that if I want to talk about my orgions or where I’m from, I have to use “io sono di…” but if I want to to talk or ask about how I’m or how somebody is like good or bad, happy or sad, in good health or not, I will use “sto…”

am I right ?!!

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Consuelo says:

Perfetto! Perfect! :wink:

Consuelo

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Karima says:

ciao,

grazie consuelo :grin:

but another question in the audio lesson you said we use bouna sera only when we meet someone, then marco start saying we cann’t use it when we meet someone for the first time or entering a shop until the shop keeper start greeting us.
actually I would like you to explain this point more cleary for us, per favore.
Karima.

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Consuelo says:

Ciao Karima,
in the vocabulary usage section we are talking about the difference between “buona sera” and “buona seraTA”, one is used as a greeting, the other is “have a nice evening”. So, when entering a shop you can’t use “buona serata” but “buona sera”.

Buona giornata :grin: ,

Consuelo

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Karima says:

ciao,

aha I got it now. I can’t start with buona serata unless the shopkeeper said buona serata so in this case I can reply with buona serata too as long as he started with it.

mmmm is it possible to answer with grazie for someone wishing me a good evening by buona serata or buona giornata ??!! beside if this is possible would it be a polite replying ??!!

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Consuelo says:

Ciao Karima,

When someone says to you “buona serata” or “buona giornata” you can answer with “grazie”, you-re right. If you want to be more polite you can answer “grazie anche a Lei” (thank you, the same to you). When talking to friends you can use “grazie, anche a te” (informal).

So, let’s practice!

Ciao Karima, buona giornata.

Consuelo :grin:

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Karima says:

ciao consuelo,

grazie, anche a lei :smile: :smile:

the informal form, is it “anche a te”, or “anche a tue” at the end !!! :roll:

beside what’s the difference between the form you mentioned and “grazie, altrettanto”

buona giornata Consuelo :grin:

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Karima says:

ah I forgot, what’s the difference between come stai? come sta? and come va?

ciao. :mrgreen:

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Consuelo says:

Ciao Karima,

as you can read above the right informal form to say is “grazie anche a te” :grin: .

“Grazie altrettanto” has exactly the same meaning (the same to you) and you can use it in both formal and informal cases since the person it is referred to is not mentioned (literally it is ‘thanks, the same’) :wink: .

“Come stai” is ‘how are you’ referred to “tu”.
“Come sta” is ‘how are you’ referred to “Lei”.
“Come va?” means ‘how is it going’.

Ciao, buona giornata.

Consuelo :mrgreen:

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sasaa says:

Ciao a tutti io sono nuovo e sto cercando di imparare l’italiano

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Davide says:

Ciao sasaa!!!

Benvenuto

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Rukh says:

ciao consuello
I m the begginer in learning italian language. the lesson u taught only i can listen audio i mean not written form. i want to see all conversation in written form and with speeling.
Thx

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Ruggero says:

Hi Rukh,
Please download the Lesson Notes that go along with this lesson to see the conversation in written form :grin:

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Bob Easton says:

In the 2nd conversation, “Come sta?” is translated into “How do you do?” That is not an appropriate English translation. In English “How do you do?” is a (rather archaic and pedantically formal) greeting, no longer used as an actual query about one’s condition.

The more accurate translation for “Come sta?” is still. “How are you?”

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Caio says:

I think is little bit difficult to the people who’s speak english, undestand the difference of “essere” and “stare”, because for them is the same thing, and for the latin languages is different, only the french have this, but the other languages (portuguese, spanish, italian) essere and stare (in italian) are different, and in english is the same thing “to be”. To me is easy because I speak Portuguese (Brazilian Portuguese) (Ser and Estar - Essere and Stare) :mrgreen:

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