Learn how to form the present perfect tense of first conjugation verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao |
| Marco: Marco here. Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 17 – I Haven’t Exercise Enough to Eat as Much Italian Food. Hello and welcome to ItalianPod101.com where we study modern Italian in a fun and 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 passato prossimo tense of verbs ending in -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 their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Alessio: Fiuuu... Abbiamo mangiato tanto oggi... |
| Melissa: Hai ragione. |
| Alessio: Perché adesso non andiamo... |
| (Il cellulare di Melissa suona.) |
| Melissa: Pronto!? Ah ciao Daniele, sì…che giorno è oggi? ...ah sì scusa, no non sono tornata a casa... Va bene, compro io il pane. A dopo, ciao! |
| Alessio: C'è qualche problema? |
| Melissa: No, no, ma devo andare da lui adesso... |
| Alessio: Ehm... Lui? Che peccato! |
| Melissa: Mi dispiace Alessio, ci vediamo domani in ufficio, ciao!! |
| Alessio: Ah, ciao. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Alessio: Fiuuu... Abbiamo mangiato tanto oggi... |
| Melissa: Hai ragione. |
| Alessio: Perché adesso non andiamo... |
| (Il cellulare di Melissa suona.) |
| Melissa: Pronto!? Ah ciao Daniele, sì…che giorno è oggi? ...ah sì scusa, no non sono tornata a casa... Va bene, compro io il pane. A dopo, ciao! |
| Alessio: C'è qualche problema? |
| Melissa: No, no, ma devo andare da lui adesso... |
| Alessio: Ehm... Lui? Che peccato! |
| Melissa: Mi dispiace Alessio, ci vediamo domani in ufficio, ciao!! |
| Alessio: Ah, ciao. |
| Marco: And now with the translation. |
| Alessio Fiuuu... Abbiamo mangiato tanto oggi... |
| Marco Phew... Today we've eaten a lot... |
| Melissa Hai ragione. |
| Marco You're right. |
| Alessio Perché adesso non andiamo... |
| Marco Now, why don't we go to... |
| (Il cellulare di Melissa suona.) |
| Marco(Melissa's mobile rings.) |
| Melissa Pronto!? Ah ciao Daniele, sì…che giorno è oggi? ...ah sì scusa, no non sono tornata a casa... Va bene, compro io il pane. A dopo, ciao! |
| Marco Hello!? Ah, hi, Daniel, yes… What day is today?... Oh yes, sorry, no, I haven't come back home... Okay, I'll buy the bread. See you later, bye! |
| Alessio C'è qualche problema? |
| Marco Is there any problem? |
| Melissa No, no, ma devo andare da lui adesso... |
| Marco No, no, but now I have to go to him... |
| Alessio Ehm... Lui? Che peccato! |
| Marco Ehm… Him? What a pity! |
| Melissa Mi dispiace Alessio, ci vediamo domani in ufficio, ciao!! |
| Marco I'm sorry, Alessio. See you tomorrow in the office, bye!! |
| Alessio Ah, ciao. |
| Marco Ah, bye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: Hey, Marco, don't you think that Alessio was a little bit worried when Melissa said "lui?" |
| Marco: Mmmm, I think you're right. We'll see what happens then. |
| Consuelo: Yes… He probably likes her… |
| Marco: So, Consuelo, we say "pronto" when we answer the phone in Italy, right? |
| Consuelo: Yes, but "pronto" in Italian literally means "ready." |
| Marco: Really? |
| Consuelo: Sure. The habit to respond "pronto" on the phone has military origins. |
| Marco: Military origins? What do you mean? |
| Consuelo: The first telephone lines were installed by the military to communicate from one end to the other end of a field of battle. So, when the engineers fixed wires to communicate, they first said… |
| Marco: "Pronto?" "Ready?" "Ready to communicate," am I right? |
| Consuelo: Yes, exactly! |
| Marco: "Grazie," Consuelo, that's very interesting! |
| (Consuelo's mobile rings) |
| Consuelo: Ehm, "scusate..." "Pronto…" |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Consuelo: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is… |
| Consuelo adesso [natural native speed] |
| Marco now |
| Consuelo adesso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo adesso [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo pane [natural native speed] |
| Marco bread |
| Consuelo pane [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo pane [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo problema [natural native speed] |
| Marco problem |
| Consuelo problema [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo problema [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo tornare [natural native speed] |
| Marco to go back, to come back, to get back |
| Consuelo tornare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo tornare [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo in [natural native speed] |
| Marco in |
| Consuelo in [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo in [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo ufficio [natural native speed] |
| Marco office |
| Consuelo ufficio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo ufficio [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: The Italian word "problema." |
| Marco: "Problem." |
| Consuelo: "Problema" and "problem" don't differ that much, don't they? |
| Marco: Mmm no…"problem," "problema." |
| Consuelo: The funny thing is that even if this noun ends with "-a," it's masculine. |
| Marco: Really? …Okay, but, what's funny? |
| Consuelo: I think I know why "problema" is masculine… |
| Marco: Hey, what do you mean? |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco, men are a problem in the end, or they make problems! |
| Marco: Ah ah ah, that's your crazy point of view, Consuelo, not so professional… But seriously, this is normal with words taken from Greek… |
| Consuelo: I know, I know… Let me teach you now some useful sentences with "problema." |
| Marco: Okay, say something REAL, that's better… |
| Consuelo: "Non c'è problema." |
| Marco: "There is no problem." |
| Consuelo: "Ho un grande problema." |
| Marco: "I have a big problem." |
| Consuelo: Let's finish with "qual'è il problema?" |
| Marco: "What is the problem?" |
Lesson focus |
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's lesson, we focus on the "passato prossimo" of "-are" verbs. |
| Consuelo: The "passato prossimo" is used to report actions or events that took place in the past. |
| Marco: It is a compound tense of two words. |
| Consuelo: But it's not difficult to make! |
| Marco: Just take the present indicative of the auxiliary verbs "avere" or "essere" and add the past participle of the verb. |
| Consuelo: "Past participle" is "participio passato." |
| Marco: The past participles for first conjugation verbs whose infinitives end in "-are" mainly end in "-ato." |
| Consuelo: In every dictionary of the Italian language, you can find a long list of the past participle for the most common verbs. |
| Marco: So please get a good dictionary. |
| Consuelo: Now the point is whether we should use "essere" or "avere"… |
| Marco: Yes, Consuelo, in choosing the auxiliary verb "essere" or "avere," we should consider the main verbs they are attached to. |
| Consuelo: Generally, transitive verbs take "avere" and intransitive verbs take "essere." |
| Marco: However, we're going to tell you the most important guidelines to keep in mind when you're deciding which is the appropriate auxiliary verb to employ. |
| Consuelo: Please use the present indicative of "essere," "io sono," "tu sei," "lui è…" and so on… |
| Marco: With verbs of motion and immobility, such as… |
| Consuelo: "andare" |
| Marco: "to go" |
| Consuelo: "venire" |
| Marco: "to come" |
| Consuelo: "entrare" |
| Marco: "to enter" |
| Consuelo: "uscire" |
| Marco: "to go out" |
| Consuelo: "rimanere" |
| Marco: "to remain" |
| Consuelo: "stare" |
| Marco: "to stay" |
| Consuelo: "tornare" |
| Marco: "to come back" |
| Consuelo: Then also use "essere" with… |
| Marco: Verbs indicating changes in state of being. For example… |
| Consuelo: "nascere" |
| Marco: "to be born" |
| Consuelo: "diventare" |
| Marco: "to become" |
| Consuelo: "morire" |
| Marco: "to die." Finally, continue to use "essere" with Italian reflexive verbs, such as… |
| Consuelo: "alzarsi" |
| Marco: "to stand up" |
| Consuelo: "lavarsi" |
| Marco: "to wash" |
| Consuelo: "truccarsi" |
| Marco: "to put one's makeup on" |
| Consuelo: These were verbs that need "essere." Let's now see verbs requiring "avere." |
| Marco: As we've already said, use "avere" with all the transitive verbs like… |
| Consuelo: "mangiare" |
| Marco: "to eat" |
| Consuelo: "scrivere" |
| Marco: "to write" |
| Consuelo: "comprare" |
| Marco: "to buy." However, sometimes intransitive verbs can use also "avere" as an auxiliary. Let's see some of these exceptions… |
| Consuelo: "passeggiare" |
| Marco: "to stroll" |
| Consuelo: "camminare" |
| Marco: "to walk" |
| Consuelo: "viaggiare" |
| Marco: "to travel" |
| Consuelo: As we said, the best way to know whether to use "essere" or "avere" to form the "passato prossimo" is to look the verb up in the dictionary to find out which auxiliary should be employed. |
| Marco: That's true. Italians automatically know it, but at the beginning a good dictionary helps a lot. |
| Consuelo: And now let's see…. |
| Marco: Eh? It's not over? |
| Consuelo: No, my dear. We just talked about how to choose the right auxiliary verb. Let's now see how to conjugate the "passato prossimo" tense. |
| Marco: Oh yes, which verb do we have? |
| Consuelo: An "-are" verb, "mangiare." |
| Marco: Ah, Alessio used it in the dialogue. That's "to eat." Consuelo, please start the conjugation… |
| Consuelo: "Io ho mangiato." |
| Marco: "I have eaten" or "I ate." |
| Consuelo: "Tu hai mangiato." |
| Marco: "You have eaten" or "you ate." |
| Consuelo: "Lui/lei ha mangiato." |
| Marco: "He/she has eaten" or "he/she ate." |
| Consuelo: "Noi abbiamo mangiato." |
| Marco: "We have eaten" or "we ate." |
| Consuelo: "Voi avete mangiato." |
| Marco: "You have eaten" or "you ate." |
| Consuelo: "Loro hanno mangiato." |
| Marco: "They have eaten" or "they ate." |
| Consuelo: Okay, with "mangiare" we used the auxiliary "avere." Now let's see the conjugation of the verb "tornare"… |
| Marco: "To come back"… |
| Consuelo: which requires the verb "essere"… |
| Marco: One last effort and then we've finished! |
| Consuelo: "Io sono tornato/a." |
| Marco: "I have come" or "I came back." |
| Consuelo: "Tu sei tornato/a." |
| Marco: "You have come" or "you came back." |
| Consuelo: "Lui è tornato." |
| Marco: "He has come" or "he came back." |
| Consuelo: "Lei è tornata." |
| Marco: "She has come" or "she came back." |
| Consuelo: "Noi siamo tornati/e." |
| Marco: "We have come" or "we came back." |
| Consuelo: "Voi siete tornati/e." |
| Marco: "You have come" or "you came back." |
| Consuelo: "Loro sono tornati/e." |
| Marco: "They have come" or "they came back." |
| Consuelo: Please notice that past participle verbs conjugated with "essere" have four possible endings depending on the gender and number of its subject. Basically, they are conjugated as adjectives. |
| Marco: But…wait a minute, in the dialogue Melissa says "non sono tornata"… |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco; that's the negative form. It is conveyed by adding "non" before the auxiliary verb. |
| Marco: Okay, that's easy! |
| Consuelo: Ah, ah. |
| Marco: That’s just about does it for today. Premium members, use the review track to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: Available in the premium section of the website. |
| Marco: The learning center… |
| Consuelo: And through iTunes via the premium feed. |
| Marco: The review track gives you vocabulary and phrases followed by a short pause so you can repeat the words allowed. |
| Consuelo: The best way to get good fast. |
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