Learn how to ask the cost of items
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao |
| Marco: Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 8: How Much Does that Italian Accessory Cost? 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 all 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 asking the price of goods and the conjugation of the present indicative of verbs ending in –are. |
| Marco: This conversation takes place in a shop. |
| Consuelo: The conversation is between Melissa and the clerk. |
| Marco: The speakers are not friends, therefore, they will be speaking formally. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Melissa: Mi scusi, quanto costa questa cintura? |
| Commesso: Costa venticinque euro. |
| Melissa: E quanto costano questi occhiali da sole? Sono così carini! |
| Commesso: Gli occhiali costano centoventi euro. |
| Melissa: Ah, la ringrazio. Compro solo la cintura. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Melissa: Mi scusi, quanto costa questa cintura? |
| Commesso: Costa venticinque euro. |
| Melissa: E quanto costano questi occhiali da sole? Sono così carini! |
| Commesso: Gli occhiali costano centoventi euro. |
| Melissa: Ah, la ringrazio. Compro solo la cintura. |
| Marco: And now with the translation. |
| Melissa Mi scusi, quanto costa questa cintura? |
| Marco Excuse me, how much does this belt cost? |
| Commesso Costa venticinque euro. |
| Marco It costs twenty-five euros. |
| Melissa E quanto costano questi occhiali da sole? Sono così carini! |
| Marco And how much do these sunglasses cost? They're so cute! |
| Commesso Gli occhiali costano centoventi euro. |
| Marco The sunglasses cost one hundred and twenty euros. |
| Melissa Ah, la ringrazio. Compro solo la cintura. |
| Marco Ah, thank you. I'll buy only the belt. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: Hey, Marco, did you know that in Italy prices of goods must be always displayed? |
| Marco: Oh, really? |
| Consuelo: Yes, there is a law that obliges shops' owners to display the price of every type of good to protect the consumers. But you know, not all of them actually do it. |
| Marco: Ah, I see. That's why Melissa asked the price…? |
| Consuelo: Yes, but sometimes it's better to ask even when prices are displayed… |
| Marco: Why? |
| Consuelo: Because there can be a mistake on the tag or a special offer that is not written. |
| Marco: Ah interesting, this can help our listeners while they're doing shopping in Italy. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is… |
| Consuelo costare [natural native speed] |
| Marco to cost |
| Consuelo costare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo costare [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo questa [natural native speed] |
| Marco this (feminine singular) |
| Consuelo questa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo questa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo cintura [natural native speed] |
| Marco belt |
| Consuelo cintura [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo cintura [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo occhiali da sole [natural native speed] |
| Marco sunglasses |
| Consuelo occhiali da sole [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo occhiali da sole [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo comprare [natural native speed] |
| Marco to buy, to purchase |
| Consuelo comprare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo comprare [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo solo [natural native speed] |
| Marco only |
| Consuelo solo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo solo [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: That's the Italian word "solo." |
| Marco: "Solo" has actually two meanings. First it can be an adverb, meaning "only." |
| Consuelo: In that case, we can also use the word "soltanto," which has the same meaning. For example, "Compro solo una mela" or "compro soltanto una mela." |
| Marco: "I buy only an apple." |
| Consuelo: The other meaning of "solo" is "lonely" or "alone" with the function of an adjective. |
| Marco: So if I want to say "I feel lonely," I can use "solo," right? |
| Consuelo: Yes, you should say "mi sento solo." "Ti senti solo Marco?" meaning "Do you feel lonely, Marco?" |
| Marco: Oh no, no. "Non mi sento solo," meaning "I don't feel lonely!" |
Lesson focus |
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: The focus of this lesson is on asking the price of goods and the present indicative of verbs whose infinitive ends in "–are." |
| Consuelo: The verb "costare," meaning "to cost," works in Italian exactly like its English equivalent. |
| Marco: To conjugate the verb at the "presente indicativo" tense, first take the infinitive. For example, "comprare"… |
| Consuelo: And drop the ending "–are." In this case, we are left with "compr-." |
| Marco: Take "compr" and finally add the appropriate endings. These are different for each person…"-io" takes the "-o," "tu" takes the "-i," "lui/lei" takes "-a,","noi" takes "-iamo," "voi" takes "-ate," and "loro" takes "-ano." |
| Marco: And now let's see the conjugation at the present indicative of the verb "comprare," meaning "to buy." |
| Consuelo: "Io compro" |
| Marco: "I buy" |
| Consuelo: "tu compri" |
| Marco: "you buy" |
| Consuelo: "lui/Lei compra" |
| Marco: "he/she/it buys" |
| Consuelo: "noi compriamo" |
| Marco: "we buy" |
| Consuelo: "voi comprate" |
| Marco: "you buy" |
| Consuelo: "loro comprano" |
| Marco: "they buy" |
| Consuelo: Other "-are" verbs conjugated like "comprare" are "abitare" |
| Marco: "to live," |
| Consuelo: "amare" |
| Marco: "to love," |
| Consuelo: "arrivare" |
| Marco: "to arrive," |
| Consuelo: "ascoltare" |
| Marco: "to listen to," |
| Consuelo: "ballare" |
| Marco: "to dance," |
| Consuelo: "cantare" |
| Marco: "to sing," and so on. |
| Consuelo: An important element of verbs is their stress. |
| Marco: As we've already seen in the singular forms and the third person plural, the stress is on the vowel of the verb's stem. |
| Consuelo: While the stress of the first and second person plural is on the theme vowel (in this case, "-a-"), which is simply the second to last vowel, just as it is in the infinitive. |
| Consuelo: That's why we say "compriàmo" instead of "còmpriamo." |
| Marco: That’s just about does it today. |
| Consuelo: Ready to test what you just learned? |
| Marco: Make this lesson’s vocabulary stick by using lesson specific flash cards in the learning center. |
| Consuelo: There is a reason everyone uses flash cards |
| Marco: They work. |
| Consuelo: They really do help the memorization. |
| Marco: You can get the flash cards for this lesson at… |
| Consuelo: ItalianPod101.com. |
| Marco: Okay. |
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