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. |
32 Comments
HideHi Johann Vento,
We're glad to hear you're learning a lot with us!
Let us know in the comments if you have any questions.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
It is helpful to review the conjugation of the -are verbs. Also to learn the name of this tense: the presente indicativo.
Ciao Bill,
thanks for posting! Here are my corrections:
Daverro? -> Davvero?
È molta cara. -> È molto cara. [when "molto" is an adverb meaning "very", it doesn't change the ending]
molta buona. -> molto buona
La compro. (o: Comprola??) -> "la compro" is correct. You can attach pronouns when giving orders (comprala! = buy it!) or when using the infinitive (voglio comprarla = I want to buy it)
longa -> lunga
Ti conosco -> La conosco [since you're talking formally]
--
Good job!
"Maglia" indicates a generic top (such as a jersey), while "camicia" refers to a shirt with buttons down the front.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi Valentina!
Is there a difference between "maglia" and "camicia?"
Grazie in anticipo!
Mi Scusi! Vorrei comprare una camicia. Quanto costa quella camicia?
Quale camicia? La camicia verde o la camicia bianca?
La camicia bianca.
Costa cinquanta euro.
Daverro? È molta cara.
Sì. È cara ma molta buona.
Bene. La compro. (o: Comprola??)
Lei vuole una cravatta con la camicia?
Sì, una cravatta rossa e longa, per favore.
Una cravatta rossa e longa? Mama mia! Ti conosco. Lei è il presidente degli Stati Uniti!
Sì. Sono il presidente Trump.
Piacere di conocerla!
Piacere di conocerla!
Grazie tanto!
Ciao Daria,
thanks for your positive feedback, ❤️️
Let us know if you have any questions.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao!
Sono Daria, ho 24 anni e amo italiano!
With your checklist it gets easier to memorise all the info, la ringrazia :)
Hi anas,
thanks for posting!
Of course it may be easier for English native speakers to learn Italian explained in English, but we have students from all over the world that are making good progress here. We have a lot of free material, so you could check it out and see if the English parts are right for your level of English or not.
At least it's worth a try 😉
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
hello my name is anas i am 14 years old, I want to ask a question, I am Moroccan. Can I benefit if I study Italian in English?I do not speak English very well
Hi Emin,
you only need to make "quanto" agree with nouns (which means it works as an adjective).
When there is a verb after it (which means it works as an adverb), it always remains "quanto".
Example:
Quante penne hai comprato? = How many pens did you buy?
Quanta farina abbiamo? = How much flour do we have?
Quanti fratelli hai? = How many brothers do you have?
Quanto burro c'è? = How much butter is there?
VS
Quanto costa? = How much does it cost?
Quanto guadagni? How much do you earn?
Quanto lavori ogni giorno? = How much do you work every day?
I hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com