Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

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 today's lesson, we'll cover a phrase you will be able to use in all those moments you are introducing yourself or even your friends and you are talking about your own country and the place you come from.

Lesson focus

First of all, let's review how to introduce ourselves.
In Italian, "My name is Michael" is mi chiamo Michael.
mi chiamo Michael.
Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time: mi chiamo Michael.
mi chiamo Michael.
So here we have mi chiamo "my name is" literally meaning "I call myself" and then the name Michael.
Now let's go and cover how to say where you're from!
In Italian, "I'm American" is sono americano.
sono americano.
Let’s break it down by syllable: sono americano.
Now let's hear it once again: sono americano.
The first word sono means "I am".
Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: sono
Sono
This is followed by americano, which in English is "American".
americano
To recap here, we have just two words: a verb, sono and an adjective, americano.
All together, we have: sono americano "I am American".
In Italian, "I'm Spanish" is sono spagnolo.
sono spagnolo.
Let’s break it down by syllable: sono spagnolo.
Now let's hear it once again: sono spagnolo.
So as you can see, the verb doesn't change, you have always sono "I am," and then the only thing that changes is the nationality. So you have spagnolo in place of americano.
This phrase is the way you answer to the question: di dove sei?
di dove sei? which in English is "where do you come from?".
Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time: di dove sei?
di dove sei?
The first word, di, means "of." Then you have dove which in English is "where", so to recap here we have di dove which literally means "of where."
Now let's take a look at the next word, sei, which means "are."
Sei
All together, we have: di dove sei? which literally means "of where are you?" but it has to be translated as "where do you come from?"
Be careful, because in many cases the adjective for nationality can change according to the gender.
So if the person who speaks is a girl, "I'm American" will be sono americana, sono americana
And sono spagnola.
sono spagnola.
If you are introducing a friend the verb changes. So "He's American" in Italian is è americano.
è americano.
So the adjective doesn't change but the verb does. You have è which means "is" in place of sono "I am."
All together, we have: è americano.
While "she's American" would be è americana.
è americana.

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.
"My name is Michael." - Mi chiamo Michael.
Mi chiamo Michael.
Mi chiamo Michael.
"I'm American. (male)" - Sono americano
Sono americano
Sono americano
"I'm Spanish. (male)" - Sono spagnolo.
Sono spagnolo.
Sono spagnolo.
"Where do you come from?" - Di dove sei?
Di dove sei?
Di dove sei?
"I'm American. (female)" - Sono americana.
Sono americana.
Sono americana.
"I'm Spanish. (female)" - Sono spagnola.
Sono spagnola.
Sono spagnola.
"He's American." - È americano.
È americano.
È americano.
"She's American." - È americana.
È americana.
È americana.
That’s going to do it for today. Remember to stop by ItalianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Ciao ciao!

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