Learn how to say the Italian equivalents of "there is" and "there are"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao |
| Marco: Marco here. Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 16 – That’s It, There’s No More Italian Ice Cream for You. Hello and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Season 1 at ItalianPod101.com where we study modern Italian in a fun educational format. |
| Consuelo: So brush up on the Italian that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
| Marco: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Consuelo, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Consuelo: In today’s class, we will focus on the structures "c'e'," meaning "there is," and "ci sono," meaning "there are." |
| Marco: This conversation takes place on the street. |
| Consuelo: It’s between Melissa and Alessio. |
| Marco: The speakers are friends, therefore, they will be speaking informally. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Alessio: Piazza della Signoria è bella, no? |
| Melissa: Eh, sì, una meraviglia, poi oggi con questo sole.... |
| Alessio: Melissa, hai una macchia enorme di cioccolato sulla giacca! |
| Melissa: Oh no. E adesso? |
| Alessio: Aspetta, c'è una fontanella qui vicino. Puliamo la giacca con l'acqua, andiamo. |
| Melissa: Grazie, sei molto gentile. Brrr, ma quest'acqua è molto fredda! |
| Alessio: Ah ah ah, ci sono delle macchie anche sui tuoi jeans! |
| Melissa: Ma no! Che pasticcio. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Alessio: Piazza della Signoria è bella, no? |
| Melissa: Eh, sì, una meraviglia, poi oggi con questo sole.... |
| Alessio: Melissa, hai una macchia enorme di cioccolato sulla giacca! |
| Melissa: Oh no. E adesso? |
| Alessio: Aspetta, c'è una fontanella qui vicino. Puliamo la giacca con l'acqua, andiamo. |
| Melissa: Grazie, sei molto gentile. Brrr, ma quest'acqua è molto fredda! |
| Alessio: Ah ah ah, ci sono delle macchie anche sui tuoi jeans! |
| Melissa: Ma no! Che pasticcio. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Eh, sì, una meraviglia, poi oggi con questo sole.... |
| Marco Oh yes, it's wonderful, especially today with this sun.... |
| Alessio Melissa, hai una macchia enorme di cioccolato sulla giacca! |
| Marco Melissa, you've got a huge chocolate stain on your jacket! |
| Melissa Oh no. E adesso? |
| Marco Oh no. What now? |
| Alessio Aspetta, c'è una fontanella qui vicino. Puliamo la giacca con l'acqua, andiamo. |
| Marco Wait, there's a drinking fountain near here. Let's clean the jacket with water. Let's go. |
| Melissa Grazie, sei molto gentile. Brrr, ma quest'acqua è molto fredda! |
| Marco Thank you, you're very kind. Brrr, this water is very cold! |
| Alessio Ah ah ah, ci sono delle macchie anche sui tuoi jeans! |
| Marco Ah ah ah, there are some stains even on your jeans! |
| Melissa Ma no! Che pasticcio. |
| Marco No! What a mess. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Consuelo, usually there are many drinking fountains in Italian cities, right? |
| Consuelo: Oh yes, you are totally right. Italians drink a lot of water actually. You know, drinking fountains were first built by Romans. |
| Marco: Ah, that's why in Rome there's one at almost every corner. |
| Consuelo: In a small city like Venice, we can count almost 122 drinking fountains. |
| Marco: Wow, that's a lot! Melissa and Alessio are in Florence; what about drinking fountains in Florence? |
| Consuelo: As in all the other cities in Italy, they are considered to be pieces of architecture, but in Florence they're seen as examples of Renaissance drinking fountains. |
| Marco: They're beautiful to see, and they are useful as well. |
| Consuelo: Especially in summer! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is… |
| Consuelo macchia [natural native speed] |
| Marco stain |
| Consuelo macchia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo macchia [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo enorme [natural native speed] |
| Marco huge, enormous |
| Consuelo enorme [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo enorme [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo fontanella [natural native speed] |
| Marco drinking fountain |
| Consuelo fontanella [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo fontanella [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo pulire [natural native speed] |
| Marco to clean |
| Consuelo pulire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo pulire [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo freddo [natural native speed] |
| Marco cold |
| Consuelo freddo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo freddo [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo pasticcio [natural native speed] |
| Marco mess, jam, trouble |
| Consuelo pasticcio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo pasticcio [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: The Italian word "pasticcio." |
| Marco: "A mess." |
| Consuelo: As we've heard in the dialogue, Melissa says "che pasticcio." |
| Marco: Oh yes, because she stained both her jacket and jeans with the ice cream! |
| Consuelo: When someone makes a "pasticcio," meaning "a mess," he is called "pasticcione" in Italian. |
| Marco: And what if it is a woman? |
| Consuelo: In that case, she would be a "pasticciona." |
| Consuelo: So if "pasticcio" is "a mess," what is the meaning of the colloquial verb "pasticciare?" |
| Marco: That should be "make a mess," right? |
| Consuelo: Yes, it is so. We have other nice expressions using this word; for example, "mettersi nei pasticci," meaning |
| Marco: "get into trouble." |
| Consuelo: "Un bel pasticcio," meaning |
| Marco: "a nice mess." |
| Consuelo: "Essere in un pasticcio." |
| Marco: Oh, that's "to be in a pickle." "Grazie," Consuelo. |
| Consuelo: "Prego!" |
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's lesson, we'll focus on the structures… |
| Consuelo: "C'è," meaning |
| Marco: "there is." And… |
| Consuelo: "Ci sono," meaning |
| Marco: "there are." As in English, "c'è" is used only with singular nouns. For example… |
| Consuelo: "C'è un gatto sul divano," meaning |
| Marco: "There is a cat on the sofa." Or… |
| Consuelo: "C'è qualcuno alla porta," meaning |
| Marco: "There is someone at the door." |
| Consuelo: "Ci sono," like its English equivalent, "there are," is used only with plural nouns. |
| Marco: For example? |
| Consuelo: "Ci sono dei regali sotto l'albero di Natale," meaning |
| Marco: "There are some presents under the Christmas tree." Or… |
| Consuelo: "Ci sono delle belle scarpe in vetrina," meaning |
| Marco: "There are some cute shoes in the shop window." |
| Consuelo: The negative form is conveyed with "non c'è" or "non ci sono." |
| Marco: So you just need to add "non" before "c'è" or "ci sono." For example… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è più pane!" meaning |
| Marco: "There's no more bread!" |
| Consuelo: "Non ci sono problemi," meaning |
| Marco: "There are no problems." |
| Consuelo: You just need to add "non" to make the negation! |
| Marco: Please remember that in Italian, double negations don't nullify or cancel out each other. That's why "there is no one" is translated as… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è nessuno." |
| Marco: And we translate "there is nothing" as… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è niente." |
| Marco: "Non c'è niente" is often used when followed by the preposition "da" plus an infinitive. For instance… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è niente da fare," meaning |
| Marco: "There is nothing to do." We can say also… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è niente da bere," meaning |
| Marco: "There is nothing to drink." Or… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è niente da dire," meaning |
| Marco: "There is nothing to say." |
| Consuelo: And so on… |
Lesson focus |
| Marco: That’s just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Consuelo: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Consuelo: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Consuelo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. |
19 Comments
HideI think there is a typo for the answer for the grammar question : Oggi ci sono sono notizie interessanti sul giornale.
Hi Marie,
"Voi pulite la vostra stanza" is the correct form when you're talking to more than one person (voi = you all)
"Tu pulisci la tua stanza" when you're talking only to one person (tu = you, singular)
Team ItalianPod101.com
Io pulisco la mia stanza .
Voi pulisci or polisciti la vostra stanza.
Which one is correct please?
Ciao Thamazgha,
The Voice Recorder tool can be used by clicking on the microphone icon next to any dialogue line or vocabulary word in our lessons.
Please note that these buttons are currently only accessible on our website and not yet on our mobile app, but our team is working hard on implementing it for our app as well.
A presto,
Levente
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao tutti, dove è " the voice recording toll"?
Grazie.😉
Ciao Julie,
de la Gracia -> dalla Grecia
We also use "pasticcio" to talk about some dishes (pasticcio di carne = meat pie) 😁
Thanks for leaving a comment, I didn't know about the Greek traditional dish!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Buonasera a tutti!
Vengo de la Grecia!
Pasticcio in Greek it's a really nice and traditional dish! 😄 Very yummy!!
It was quite funny learning that in Italian means 'a mess'!
A presto!
Julie ❤️️
Ciao j,
Thank you for posting!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ItalianPod101.com
?
Ciao Ofelia,
grazie per le tue risposte. They help a lot!
Norojika
Hi Norojika,
The dictionary form is "pulire."
"Pulire" has also a reflexive version, "pulir-si", which means something like "to clean for oneself," "to clean one's own [something]," so "Pulisci-ti le scarpe" literally means "Clean/wipe your own shoes."
I hope this helps!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com