Learn how to tell someone where you're from using Italian
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| INTRODUCTION | |
| Consuelo: Ciao | |
| Marco: Marco, here. Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 2: You're Not from Italy, Are You? Hello and welcome to the Absolute Beginner and ItalianPod101.com where we study modern Italian in a fun educational format. | |
| Consuelo: So, brush up all 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 asking people where they are from and we'll also study the verb “essere”, “to be.” | |
| Marco: This conversation takes place at the bus stop. | |
| Consuelo: The conversation is between Melissa Cox and Alessio Martini. | |
| Marco: In the first conversation, they will be speaking informal Italian. In the second conversation, they'll use formal Italian. Let's listen to the conversation. | |
Lesson conversation |
|
|---|---|
| Marco: Informal. | |
| Alessio: Sono di Milano, e tu? Di dove sei? | |
| Melissa: Io sono di Miami. | |
| Alessio: Ah, non sei di Milano... | |
| Marco: Formal. | |
| Alessio: Sono di Milano. Di dove è Lei? | |
| Melissa: Io sono di Miami. | |
| Alessio: Ah, Lei non è di Milano... | |
| Marco: Let's hear it slowly now. | |
| Consuelo: Ciao | |
| Alessio: Sono di Milano, e tu? Di dove sei? | |
| Melissa: Io sono di Miami. | |
| Alessio: Ah, non sei di Milano... | |
| Marco: And now with the translation. | |
| Alessio Sono di Milano, e tu? Di dove sei? | |
| Marco I am from Milan, and you? Where are you from? | |
| Melissa Io sono di Miami. | |
| Marco I'm from Miami. | |
| Alessio Ah, non sei di Milano... | |
| Marco Ah, you're not from Milan. | |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER | |
| Marco Consuelo, can you give our listeners some advice about Italian pronunciation? | |
| Consuelo Sure! First of all, I have to say that Italian is a phonetic language, which means that each sound always corresponds to the same letter. | |
| Marco …and what about vowels? I always hear them clearly. | |
| Consuelo That's why vowels are always articulated sharply and clearly in Italian. They are never pronounced weakly, as it sometimes happens in English. | |
| Marco I see… And consonants? | |
| Consuelo They don't differ that much from English, but there are some exceptions. | |
| Marco Such as…? | |
| Consuelo The combination of "-c" with the letter "-h" gives the former a hard sound in Italian. For example, "mi Chiamo" is written "-C, -H, -I, -A, -M, -O." | |
| Marco Thank you, Consuelo. This is useful for our listeners! | |
| VOCAB LIST | |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. | |
| Consuelo dove [natural native speed] | |
| Marco where | |
| Consuelo dove [slowly - broken down by syllable] | |
| Consuelo dove [natural native speed] | |
| Next: | |
| Consuelo Milano [natural native speed] | |
| Marco Milan | |
| Consuelo Milano [slowly - broken down by syllable] | |
| Consuelo Milano [natural native speed] | |
| Next: | |
| Consuelo io [natural native speed] | |
| Marco I | |
| Consuelo io [slowly - broken down by syllable] | |
| Consuelo io [natural native speed] | |
| Marco: And today's last word is… | |
| Consuelo: tu | |
| Marco: You. | |
| Consuelo: tu | |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES | |
| Marco Consuelo, what expression are we studying today? | |
| Consuelo That's the Italian expression "Lei, di dove è?" or "Lei, da dove viene?" | |
| Marco If I am right, "Lei, di dove è" is the formal way in Italian to ask "Where are you from?" | |
| Consuelo Yes, Marco, we use "Lei", with an uppercase "l", exclusively in formal situations. | |
| Marco Wait a minute…what does "da dove viene" mean? | |
| Consuelo It is another formal expression used to ask about origins. In English, we can translate it as "Where do you come from?" Consider that "viene" is the present tense of the verb "venire" conjugated at the third singular person, "lei." | |
| Marco "Venire" is…"to come!" | |
Lesson focus |
|
| Consuelo: Let us take a look at today's Grammar Point. | |
| Consuelo Let's take a look at today's grammar point. | |
| Marco The focus of this lesson is on talking about origins and the verb "essere," meaning "to be." | |
| Consuelo As we have seen, "di dove sei" is the exact equivalent of "Where are you from?" | |
| Marco It indicates the precise place where one comes from. | |
| Consuelo So you should answer by naming your home city or the nearest important city in order to let the listener easily understand. | |
| Marco "Di" is a stationary preposition that we use with "essere." Let's now look at the conjugation of the irregular verb "essere," meaning "to be," when talking about a person's birthplace. | |
| Consuelo "Io sono" | |
| Marco "I am" | |
| Consuelo "tu sei" | |
| Marco "you are" | |
| Consuelo "lui/lei è" | |
| Marco "he/she/it is" | |
| Consuelo "noi siamo" | |
| Marco "we are" | |
| Consuelo "voi siete" | |
| Marco "you are" | |
| Consuelo "loro sono" | |
| Marco "they are" | |
| Consuelo Since the verb "essere" is irregular, there are no learning tips to make the drilling of this verb easier. | |
| Consuelo The easiest method to memorize it is to do some written verb drills. | |
| Marco Please notice that in the dialogue, "di dove sei" is translated as "Where are you from?" but there is no "tu" (Italian for "you"). | |
| Consuelo This is because there is no need to specify it, as "sei" can only indicate "you" in the second singular person. | |
| Marco This is always the way it is in Italian unless we want to stress the person clearly. | |
| Consuelo Exactly. | |
| Marco Let us look again at a very important aspect of the Italian language regarding formal speech. The informal way to ask "Where are you from?" uses the second person singular, "tu." | |
| Consuelo However, when we want to use formal speech, we just have to switch to the third person, "lei," thus creating a distance between the speakers. | |
| Marco So "di dove è" actually means "Where are you from?" in formal speech. | |
| Consuelo What about negating a statement? | |
| Marco Well, when negating a statement you should use the negative particle, "no," and "non" + verb. You can also skip the initial "no" and just answer with "non" + verb. For example… | |
| Consuelo "Non sono di Milano." | |
| Marco "I'm not from Milan." That’s just about does it for today. Okay, some of our listeners already know about the most powerful tool on ItalianPod101.com. | |
| Consuelo: That’s the Line-by-Line audio. | |
| Marco: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension. | |
| Consuelo: By listening to lines of the conversation again and again. | |
| Marco: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically, we break down the dialogue into comprehensible byte size sentences. | |
| Consuelo: You can try the Line-by-Line Audio in the Premium Learning Center at ItalianPod101.com. |
214 Comments
HideLet us know if you have any questions.
Hi Diantha,
it's exactly as you said!
The context is the key, but if it's ambiguous, the other person could just ask to specify.
Example 1
A: Mi chiamo Giovanni.
B: Di dov'è?
A: Sono di Milano.
Example 2
A: Lui è mio cugino.
B: Di dov'è?
A: È di Roma.
Example 3
A: Io mi chiamo Giovanni, e lui è mio cugino Alberto.
B: Di dov'è?
A: Chi? Io o mio cugino? (Who? Me or my cousin?)
Hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
So di dove è actually means "Where are you from?" in formal speech and "Where is he/she from?" in informal speech."
&
di dove sei as "Where are you from?" but there is no tu (Italian for "you"). This is because there is no need to state the subject, as the form sei implies "you" in the second singular person pronoun.
And Io sono = I am / Loro sono = They are" With this rule "di dove sono" has double meaning.
"How will people can understand which of the two you mean?"
"So di dove è actually means "Where are you from?" in formal speech and "Where is he/she from?" in informal speech."
How will people know which of the two you mean? Just by context?
Thank you for this platform!
Hi Brett Baker,
thanks for pointing that out, we'll fix the transcription ASAP!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi Andra,
we're so glad to hear that! Thanks for your positive comment❤️️
Let us know in the comments if you have any questions.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
The web page transcript generally matches what is said by the instructors. But the PDF download files for the lesson transcripts don't seem to match the web page transcript. Can you help?
I recently just joined and I'm loving the way the website is set up this is so amazing!!!
Ciao sofi,
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A presto,
Levente
Team ItalianPod101.com
omg im in love with these classes!! its super easy and understable and the youtube videos of your channel are a good help.
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Ciao Bjarne,
Thank you for your comment.
Our development team is well aware of this and are working hard to come up with a new solution. You will definitely be informed the moment the new feature gets announced. Thank you for your patience and for studying with us. 😇
A presto,
Levente
Team ItalianPod101.com