ItalianPod101 Basic Bootcamp Curriculum 

This 5-lesson series gives you a brief introduction to the Italian language. You’ll learn the very basics of grammar and vocabulary all in 5 compact lessons.

  Title Topic Function Grammar Point Dialogue/Target Phrases Vocabulary List Cultural Insight
#1 Self Introductions and Basic Greetings in Formal Italian Self-introduction Learning how to introduce yourself The Preterit Perfect Portiere: Buon giorno , signora. Mi chiamo Giovanni.
Signora Lenti: Piacere, signore. Mi chiamo Lenti Barbara.
Portiere: Piacere, signora.
buon giorno | good morning, good day, good afternoon
signora | madam, lady, misses
Mi chiamo… | My name is… (Literally, I call myself)
Piacere | Nice to meet you.
Italian Given First Names
#2 Basic Italian Simple Phrases with the Verb Essere ("to be") Nationality Learning how to say where you are from Talking about Your Ethnicity Carla: Ciao, sono Carla. Sono francese.
Paul: Ciao, sono Paul. Sono americano.
io | I
sono | I am, conjugated form of essere
francese | French
americano | American
#3 Useful Phrases for Learning Italian Useful phrases Learning how to function in Italian in a classroom How to replace indirect objects with indirect object pronouns Studente: Professoressa, come si dice 'a fork' in italiano
Professoressa: Una forchetta.
Studente: Può ripetere? Lentamente, per favore?
Professoressa: “U-na for-chet-ta."
Studente: Può scriverlo per favore?
come | how
forchetta | fork
per favore | please
può | formal, you can, conjugated form of potere
scrivere | to write
lo | it, him
How to Address Your Italian Teacher
#4 Counting from One to Twenty Counting Counting from 1-100 in Italian How to replace direct objects with direct object pronouns Laura: Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci.
Laura: Undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove e venti!
zero | zero, nought, nil
nove | nine
otto | eight
sette | seven
sei | six
cinque | five
quattro | four
tre | three

due | two
uno | one
dieci | ten

#5 Counting from Twenty to One Million in Italian Counting Counting from 100-10,000 in Italian Two sets of prepositions when expressing distance or time from one place or moment to another: "de and a", and "desde and hasta" Laura: Venti, trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, settanta, ottanta, novanta, cento! venti | twenty
trenta | thirty
quaranta | forty
cinquanta | fifty
sessanta | sixty

settanta | seventy
ottanta | eighty
novanta | ninety
cento | a hundred

The Italian Lotto and the Neapolitan Smorfia