Learn how to express what time you want to reserve a table for
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Ciao! Hello and welcome back to Italian survival phrases brought to you by ItalianPod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Italy. You will be surprised at how far a little Italian will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by ItalianPod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to get a table at a restaurant, but my dear listeners, please know that because of the popularity of Italian food, it can be difficult to get a seat, especially in the week-ends. So, the best thing to do is with no doubt to make a reservation for the time you want to go and eat. |
| So in today’s lesson we'll cover making a reservation in a restaurant. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Normally if you make a phone call in order to make a reservation for the evening you would say - Pronto? Posso fare una prenotazione per questa sera? "Hello? Can I make a reservation for this evening?" |
| Literally pronto means “ready” but it’s used as a greeting only on the phone, it can be used both in the formal and informal level of speech and it means “Hello”. |
| Let’s break it down by syllable Pron-to. |
| Pronto. |
| It is followed by Posso, which in English means "Can I?" |
| Let’s break it down by syllable Pos-so. |
| Posso. |
| Fare is the infinitive form of the verb "to do" and means in fact "do." |
| Let’s break it down by syllable Fa-re. |
| Fare. |
| It is followed by una prenotazione, "a reservation." |
| Let’s break down these two words by syllable u-na pre-no-ta-zio-ne. |
| Una prenotazione, "a reservation," which is followed by per questa sera "for this evening". Let’s break down these three words and see them one by one: |
| Per, per - "for". |
| Questa, que-sta - "this" (feminine) |
| And sera, se-ra - “evening.” |
| Normally, you’ll be asked how many people are in your party and the time of the reservation. |
| Quanti siete? "How many people are you?" |
| Let’s break it down by syllable Quan-ti sie-te? |
| Quanti siete? |
| Which in Italian is another way to say Quante persone siete? that we have seen in the last lesson and has the same meaning of the English "How many people are you?" |
| Now let’s imagine you are a party of two and so in Italian you would use - Due persone which in English means "Two people" |
| Du-e per-so-ne. |
| Due persone. |
| And now let’s see how you can be asked the time of your reservation: A che ora volete prenotare? "At what time do you want to make a reservation?" |
| A che ora means "At what time". |
| Let's breakdown these words and hear it one more time. A che o-ra. |
| A che ora. |
| It is followed by volete, which in English correspond to "do you want". |
| Let's break it down by syllable vo-le-te. |
| volete. |
| And finally, you have prenotare, "to make a reservation". |
| Let's break it down by syllable pre-no-ta-re. |
| prenotare |
| So let’s hear the entire sentence once again. A che ora volete prenotare? |
| Now let’s go and answer the question! Let’s imagine you want to reserve a table at 8 o’clock. |
| Alle otto per favore. "At eight o’clock, please." |
| Alle otto means "At eight". |
| Let's break down these words and hear it one more time. Al-le ot-to. |
| Alle otto. |
| And it is followed by per favore "please". Per favore is composed by two words: per which means "for" and favore, which in English means "favour." |
| So let’s break it down by syllable Per fa-vo-re. |
| Per favore. |
| Cultural Insights |
| As I mentioned before, Italian restaurants are very popular, and you will need to book on weekends or public holidays. Italians eat out quite often, I remember that when I was a child in Napoli, with my family we used to love going to our favourite pizzeria in the week-ends and I remember once my dad just forgot to book and when we arrived it was so crowd and busy and we had to wait almost half an hour to get the table and more than one hour to have our pizza! I remember that time I thought I could have died of hunger. So don’t forget the reservation if you decide to go for a special typical Italian dinner in a restaurant. |
Outro |
|---|
| Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so buona fortuna, which means “good luck” in Italian. |
| "Hello?” - Pronto? |
| Pronto? |
| Pronto? |
| “Can I make a reservation for this evening?" - Posso fare una prenotazione per questa sera? |
| Posso fare una prenotazione per questa sera? |
| Posso fare una prenotazione per questa sera? |
| "How many people are you?" - Quanti siete? |
| Quanti siete? |
| Quanti siete? |
| "Two people" - Due persone |
| Due persone |
| Due persone |
| "At what time do you want to reserve?" - A che ora volete prenotare? |
| A che ora volete prenotare? |
| A che ora volete prenotare? |
| "At eight o’clock, please." - Alle otto per favore. |
| Alle otto per favore. |
| Alle otto per favore. |
| That’s going to do it for today. Ciao ciao! |
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