Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Consuelo: Ciao
Marco: Marco here. Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 4: By Chance, You Weren’t Italian, Are You? Hello and welcome back to the ItalianPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Italian. I’m joined in the studio by…
Consuelo: Hello, everyone. Consuelo here.
Marco: In today’s class, we will focus on asking about someone’s nationality.
Consuelo: This conversation takes place at the bar.
Marco: The conversation is between Melissa, Alessio, and other friends.
Consuelo: In the first conversation, they will be speaking informal Italian. In the second conversation, they’ll use formal Italian.
Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Marco: Informal.
Alessio: Io sono italiano e tu?
Melissa: Io non sono italiana, sono americana.
Alessio: (rivolto all'amica di Melissa) E tu? Anche tu sei americana?
Amica: No, io sono spagnola.
Marco: Formal
Alessio: Io sono italiano, e Lei? Di che nazionalità è?
Melissa: Sono americana.
Alessio: (rivolto al signore accanto a Melissa) E Lei? E' americano?
Amico: No, non sono americano. Sono francese.
Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now.
Marco: Informal.
Alessio: Io sono italiano e tu?
Melissa: Io non sono italiana, sono americana.
Alessio: (rivolto all'amica di Melissa) E tu? Anche tu sei americana?
Amica: No, io sono spagnola.
Alessio: Io sono italiano, e Lei? Di che nazionalità è?
Melissa: Sono americana.
Alessio: (rivolto al signore accanto a Melissa) E Lei? E' americano?
Amico: No, non sono americano. Sono francese.
Marco: And now with the translation.
Alessio Io sono italiano e tu?
Marco I am Italian, and you?
Melissa Io non sono italiana, sono americana.
Marco I'm not Italian, I'm American.
Alessio (rivolto all'amica di Melissa) E tu? Anche tu sei americana?
Marco (talking to Melissa's friend) And you? Are you also American?
Amica No, io sono spagnola.
Marco No, I'm Spanish.
Alessio Io sono italiano, e Lei? Di che nazionalità è?
Marco I am Italian, and you? What nationality are you, madame?
Melissa Sono americana.
Marco I'm American.
Alessio (rivolto al signore accanto a Melissa) E Lei? E' americano?
Marco (talking to the man next to Melissa) And you? Are you American, sir?
Amico No, non sono americano. Sono francese.
Marco No, I'm not American. I am French.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Consuelo: Hey, Marco, do you know the origin of the word "ciao?"
Marco: Mmm. I think not, but it sounds interesting…
Consuelo: At one time, the word "schiavo"…
Marco: Ah, "servant."
Consuelo: Yes, "servant." Can I go on with the explanation? As I was saying, "schiavo" was used as a greeting to show great respect to the person you were talking to.
Marco: Meaning "I am your servant."
Consuelo: Right. Then in north-eastern regions of Italy, "schiavo" was abbreviated first to "s-ciao" and finally to "ciao."
Marco: Wow! "Ciao" has a completely different meaning today, and it is also used throughout the world.
Consuelo: So "ciao a tutti!"
Marco: "Bye everyone!" Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is…
VOCAB LIST
Consuelo italiano [natural native speed]
Marco Italian
Consuelo italiano [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo italiano [natural native speed]
Next:
Consuelo americano [natural native speed]
Marco American
Consuelo americano [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo americano [natural native speed]
Next:
Consuelo nazionalità [natural native speed]
Marco nationality
Consuelo nazionalità [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo nazionalità [natural native speed]
Next:
Consuelo francese [natural native speed]
Marco French
Consuelo francese [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo francese [natural native speed]
Next:
Consuelo spagnolo [natural native speed]
Marco Spanish
Consuelo spagnolo [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo spagnolo [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today?
Consuelo: Today I'll teach you some adjectives of nationality.
Marco: Ah, okay. In the dialogue, we heard "italiano," meaning "Italian," "americano," meaning "American," "spagnolo," meaning "Spanish," and "francese," meaning "French." Can you give us some other examples?
Consuelo: Sure. As we'll see in the grammar point, we have adjectives that only follow the number – those adjectives ending with "-e," such as "canadese."
Marco: "Canadian."
Consuelo: "cinese."
Marco: "Chinese."
Consuelo: Or "giapponese."
Marco: "Japanese."
Consuelo: But we also have adjectives that follow gender and number. For example, "tedesco."
Marco: "German."
Consuelo: "greco."
Marco: "Greek."
Consuelo: "coreano."
Marco: "Korean." Thank you, Consuelo!

Lesson focus

Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point.
Marco: The focus of this lesson is on asking about someone's nationality.
Consuelo: In the dialogue, we saw how to ask about someone's nationality. The construction of "è americano?" is the same as "Are you American?" with two exceptions.
Marco: First, as we have seen in the previous lesson, there is no "lei."
Consuelo: The Italian for "you" in formal situations.
Marco: And the reason is that there is no need to state the subject since "è" can only indicate "lei" or "lui," but not in this context.
Consuelo: Second, when expressing nationalities, Italians do not use capital letters.
Marco: Italian does not use capitals as often as English does. Please remember the following rules…
Consuelo: Begin proper names, such as "Luca" or "Laura," town names, such as "Milano" or "Roma," and then countries, lakes, rivers, and so forth always with a capital letter.
Consuelo: Days of the week, seasons, and months always begin in a lowercase letter.
Marco: You should always begin words such as "English," "Italian," and "Japanese" that are always in uppercase in English with a lowercase letter in Italian: "inglese," "italiano," "giapponese."
Consuelo: In future lessons, we shall see Italian adjectives in more detail. For now, please remember two points.
Marco: First point. Italian adjectives can have feminine, masculine, singular, or plural meanings. You will realize the difference by changing the ending.
Consuelo: Second point. In the case of adjectives of nationality, there are only two types, one that follows both gender and number, and one that only follows number.
Marco: Now we will give you some examples with the adjective "italiano," meaning "Italian," and "francese," meaning "French."
Marco: "Italian," masculine singular
Consuelo: "italiano."
Marco: "Italian," feminine singular
Consuelo: "italiana."
Marco: "Italians," masculine plural
Consuelo: "italiani."
Marco: And finally, "Italians," feminine plural
Consuelo: "italiane."
Marco: This adjective follows both gender and number. But let's see what happens with "francese," "French."
Marco: "French," masculine singular and feminine singular
Consuelo: "francese."
Marco: "French," masculine plural and feminine plural
Consuelo: "francesi." This adjective only follows number. It does not change if the gender changes.
Marco: That’s just about does it for today.
Consuelo: Ready to test what you just learned?
Marco: Make this lesson’s vocabulary stick by using lesson-specific flashcards in the learning center.
Consuelo: There is a reason everyone uses flashcards.
Marco: They work.
Consuelo: They really do help the memorization.
Marco: You can get the flashcards for this lesson at…
Consuelo: ItalianPod101.com.
Marco: Okay.

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