Learn how to use the impersonal form, and learn how to describe customs and events
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey: Hi everyone! Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower beginner, Season 1 Lesson 25 - Making Plans for the Holidays in Italy. I'm Betsey. |
| Ofelia: Ciao! I'm Ofelia. |
| Betsey: In this final lesson of the series, you'll learn how to describe customs and events. |
| Ofelia: You'll also learn how to use verbs without a specified subject, as well as impersonal constructions. Such as…A Natale si sta in famiglia. |
| Betsey: At Christmas one should stay with the family. |
| Ofelia: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Betsey: It's between Laura and her sister, Carla. The speakers are family, so they'll be using informal language. |
| Ofelia: Ascoltiamo. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Carla: Domani è festa, per fortuna! Si può dormire di più la mattina. |
| Laura: Beata te. Siccome è festa, io lavoro il doppio in pasticceria. È meglio andare a dormire presto stasera. Però a Natale faccio un bel viaggio. |
| Carla: Ma come!? A Natale si sta in famiglia, si aprono i regali, si mangia il panettone tutti insieme... |
| Laura: Che noia! Sempre le stesse cose! Vorrei rilassarmi… |
| Carla: Perché non parti per Capodanno? Anzi andiamo insieme! |
| Betsey: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Carla: Domani è festa, per fortuna! Si può dormire di più la mattina. |
| Laura: Beata te. Siccome è festa, io lavoro il doppio in pasticceria. È meglio andare a dormire presto stasera. Però a Natale faccio un bel viaggio. |
| Carla: Ma come!? A Natale si sta in famiglia, si aprono i regali, si mangia il panettone tutti insieme... |
| Laura: Che noia! Sempre le stesse cose! Vorrei rilassarmi… |
| Carla: Perché non parti per Capodanno? Anzi andiamo insieme! |
| Betsey: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Carla: Domani è festa, per fortuna! Si può dormire di più la mattina. |
| Carla: Tomorrow is a holiday, thank God! I can sleep longer in the morning. |
| Laura: Beata te. Siccome è festa, io lavoro il doppio in pasticceria. È meglio andare a dormire presto stasera. Però a Natale faccio un bel viaggio. |
| Laura: Lucky you. Because it's a holiday, I work double at the patisserie. It's better to go to bed early tonight. But at Christmas I'll take a long trip! |
| Carla: Ma come!? A Natale si sta in famiglia, si aprono i regali, si mangia il panettone tutti insieme... |
| Carla: What? At Christmas, one should stay with the family, open presents, and all eat panettone together... |
| Laura: Che noia! Sempre le stesse cose! Vorrei rilassarmi… |
| Laura: How boring! It's always the same! I'd like to relax... |
| Carla: Perché non parti per Capodanno? Anzi andiamo insieme! |
| Carla: Why don't you leave around New Year's? Actually let's go together! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ofelia: In this lesson, we'll talk about customs and traditions around the biggest festivities in Italy. |
| Betsey: Which are… |
| Ofelia: Natale |
| Betsey: Christmas |
| Ofelia: Capodanno |
| Betsey: New Year's |
| Ofelia: and Pasqua |
| Betsey: Easter |
| Ofelia: Of course, traditions for these three main festivities change from region to region, and sometimes even from town to town. But it is possible to highlight some traditions that are shared by all Italians. |
| Betsey: Ok, let's start with Christmas. |
| Ofelia: Most Italians celebrate Natale by decorating their houses with a nativity scene, or a Christmas tree. |
| Betsey: I imagine people spending Christmas Eve and Christmas day with their family. |
| Ofelia: Yes. Families usually gather together for Christmas lunch, and eat poultry and sweets like panettone. |
| Betsey: Hmm, what's that? |
| Ofelia: PANETTONE is a type of sweet bread loaf with raisins and candied orange zest from Milan. |
| Betsey: Sounds yummy! So what do people usually eat at New Year's? |
| Ofelia: Zampone - pig's leg, lenticchie - lentils and uva - grapes. |
| Betsey: Grapes?! |
| Ofelia: Yes! Lentils and grapes are supposed to bring money. |
| Betsey: Oh, I see. And where do people celebrate New Year's Eve? |
| Ofelia: Young people spend New Year's Eve with friends rather than with family. They often go to a house party, and then wait for midnight to strike in the town square, where there is a display of fireworks. |
| Betsey: Ok and what can you tell us about Easter? |
| Ofelia: There is the famous saying ‘Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi!' |
| Betsey: It means more or less "Christmas with your family and Easter with whoever you want." |
| Ofelia: That's right. While some people also spend Easter with family, others prefer to go away to a lake or the beach for the Easter weekend, taking advantage of the first days of spring. |
| Betsey: Okay, now that we've covered that, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Betsey: The first word we shall see is... |
| Ofelia: festa [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: feast, holiday, party |
| Ofelia: festa [slowly - broken down by syllable] festa [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: per fortuna [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: fortunately |
| Ofelia: per fortuna [slowly - broken down by syllable] per fortuna [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: dormire [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: fortunately |
| Ofelia: dormire [slowly - broken down by syllable] dormire [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: beato te! [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: lucky you! |
| Ofelia: beato te! [slowly - broken down by syllable] beato te! [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: doppio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: double |
| Ofelia: doppio [slowly - broken down by syllable] doppio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: meglio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: better |
| Ofelia: meglio [slowly - broken down by syllable] meglio [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: bello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: nice, good |
| Ofelia: bello [slowly - broken down by syllable] bello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: bello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: to be, to stand, to lie, to be located, to be situated |
| Ofelia: bello [slowly - broken down by syllable] bello [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: si [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: one |
| Ofelia: si [slowly - broken down by syllable] si [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: aprire [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: to open |
| Ofelia: aprire [slowly - broken down by syllable] aprire [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: And last... |
| Ofelia: partire [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: to leave, to start, to take off |
| Ofelia: partire [slowly - broken down by syllable] partire [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Betsey: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Ofelia: The first word is. FESTA |
| Betsey: "HOLIDAY"-"NATIONAL HOLIDAY" |
| Ofelia: Festa is used as a translation of "holiday" or "national holiday." For example Il primo di novembre è festa. |
| Betsey: The first of November is a national holiday. |
| Betsey: Does it have any other meanings? |
| Ofelia: It also means ‘party'. |
| Betsey: For example? |
| Ofelia: Facciamo una festa per il compleanno di Samuele |
| Betsey: Let's have a party for Samuele's birthday. |
| Betsey: What's the next word we'll look at? |
| Ofelia: DORMIRE |
| Betsey: TO SLEEP |
| Ofelia: There is no exact translation for the English ‘to sleep in'. The closest is dormire di più or dormire fino a tardi |
| Betsey: which would mean "to sleep more," What's an example? |
| Ofelia: Alla domenica, mio cugino dorme di più, sino a mezzogiorno. |
| Betsey: On Sundays, my cousin sleeps in until noon. |
| Betsey: The last one we'll look at is... |
| Ofelia: PARTIRE |
| Betsey: TO LEAVE |
| Ofelia: The verb partire means "to leave" "to depart," The noun is partenza, and you can find it in its plural form on the timetable boards at the train station or at the airport. The plural form is partenze. The opposite is arrivare |
| Betsey: to arrive |
| Ofelia: and the noun is ‘arrivo', which means "arrival," |
| Betsey: What are some examples? |
| Ofelia: Dobbiamo aspettare Claudio qui agli arrivi. |
| Betsey: We have to wait for Claudio here at arrivals. |
| Ofelia: Sei in partenza? |
| Betsey: "Are you leaving?" Okay everyone, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Betsey: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the impersonal form in Italian. |
| Ofelia: The impersonal form is constructed by combining the pronoun si, and a verb in the third person singular or plural. |
| Betsey: Let's start with a sample sentence. |
| Ofelia: A Natale si aprono i regali. |
| Betsey: A literal translation would be "At Christmas one opens presents." |
| Ofelia: Let's give a more detailed explanation of the impersonal form. |
| Betsey: Ok, how do you know whether to use the singular or plural form of the verb? |
| Ofelia: If the noun that follows the verb is singular, the verb is declined in the third person singular. |
| Betsey: For example… |
| Ofelia: In Inghilterra si beve molto te'. |
| Betsey: In England people drink a lot of tea. |
| Ofelia: If the noun is plural, the verb declines in the third person plural. |
| Betsey: For example... |
| Ofelia: In Italia si mangiano gli spaghetti quasi ogni giorno. |
| Betsey: In Italy people eat spaghetti almost every day. |
| Ofelia: The impersonal form corresponds to the English "one, ," But it is much more frequent in Italian than it is in English, where "you," "we," "people," and other expressions are also used to translate the same idea. |
| Betsey: For example… |
| Ofelia: Come si dice "buongiorno" in giapponese? |
| Betsey: This can be translated as both "How does one say ‘good morning' in Japanese? " and "How do you say ‘good morning' in Japanese?" |
| Ofelia: Now let's learn when the impersonal form is more likely to be used. |
| Betsey: One, when the subject is generic. For example... |
| Ofelia: Da questa finestra si vede un bel panorama |
| Betsey: From this window, one sees a beautiful landscape. |
| Ofelia: Right! But in Italian, it doesn't sound as formal as in English - it is nearer to "From this window you can see a beautiful landscape" |
| Betsey: I see. The impersonal form is also used to make generalizations. For example… |
| Ofelia: In agosto si va al mare. |
| Betsey: In August people go to the seaside. |
| Ofelia: Finally, it is also frequently used to describe customs and traditions. |
| Betsey: For example... |
| Ofelia: A Pasqua si mangia l'agnello. |
| Betsey: At Easter people eat lamb. Listeners, remember to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you've learned in this lesson. |
Outro |
|---|
| Betsey: OK. That's all for this lesson, and for this series. We hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. |
| Ofelia: Thank you all for listening, everyone! A presto! |
| Betsey: We'll see you in another series! |
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