Learn how to use the second conjugation of Italian verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 9: If It’s Made in Italy, It’s Gotta be Good. 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 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 present indicative of verbs ending in –ere. |
| Marco: This conversation takes place in a shop. |
| Consuelo: This conversation is between Melissa and Alessio. |
| Marco: The speakers are friends, therefore, they will be speaking informally. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Alessio: Cosa leggi? |
| Melissa: Leggo l'etichetta di questa maglia. |
| Alessio: Perché? |
| Melissa: Perché per me è importante sapere se è fatta in Italia. |
| Alessio: Ah, è vero. Hai ragione! |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Consuelo: Ciao |
| Alessio: Cosa leggi? |
| Melissa: Leggo l'etichetta di questa maglia. |
| Alessio: Perché? |
| Melissa: Perché per me è importante sapere se è fatta in Italia. |
| Alessio: Ah, è vero. Hai ragione! |
| Marco: And now, with a translation. |
| Alessio Cosa leggi? |
| Marco What are you reading? |
| Melissa Leggo l'etichetta di questa maglia. |
| Marco I'm reading the label of this shirt. |
| Alessio Perché? |
| Marco Why? |
| Melissa Perché per me è importante sapere se è fatta in Italia. |
| Marco Because for me it's important to know whether it is made in Italy. |
| Alessio Ah, è vero. Hai ragione! |
| Marco Ah, that's true. You're right! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Consuelo, do you usually check labels of a piece of clothing before buying it? |
| Consuelo: I have to confess, I don’t. But I think it’s a good way to recognize goods of a certain quality. |
| Marco: Made in Italy is always a guarantee of excellent products, don’t you think? |
| Consuelo: Of course, but you know Marco even if you read “Made in Italy,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is 100 percent made in Italy. |
| Marco: What do you mean? |
| Consuelo: Some goods, they are developed and assembled by an Italian business company can legally earn the label, “Made in Italy.” |
| Marco: Ah, that’s interesting. Thank you, Consuelo. |
| Consuelo: Yes. If more than a certain percentage of a product’s material and manufactory is done in Italy, it can use “Made in Italy” on its label. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is? |
| Consuelo leggere [natural native speed] |
| Marco to read |
| Consuelo leggere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo leggere [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo etichetta [natural native speed] |
| Marco label |
| Consuelo etichetta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo etichetta [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo maglia [natural native speed] |
| Marco shirt |
| Consuelo maglia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo maglia [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo perché [natural native speed] |
| Marco why |
| Consuelo perché [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo perché [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo importante [natural native speed] |
| Marco important |
| Consuelo importante [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo importante [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Consuelo sapere [natural native speed] |
| Marco to know |
| Consuelo sapere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo sapere [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: That's the Italian word "perché." |
| Marco: Meaning "why" or "because." |
| Consuelo: Yes, Marco, you can use "perché" in asking a question but also when you are answering one. For example: "perché non mangi il gelato?" "Why don't you eat ice cream?" |
| Marco: "Perché non mi piace," meaning "because I don't like it." |
| Consuelo: "Perché" is sometimes substituted by the phrase "come mai," which can be translated as "how come" in English. Therefore "il perché" means "the reason why." |
| Marco: And there is also the Italian equivalent for "why not!"… |
| Consuelo: "Perché no!" |
| Marco: Hey, Consuelo, "mangiamo un gelato?" meaning "Shall we eat an ice cream?" |
| Consuelo: "Perché no!" |
Lesson focus |
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In this lesson, we'll see the present indicative of verbs whose infinitive ends in -ere. |
| Consuelo: To conjugate "-ere" verbs at the "presente indicativo" tense, we should follow the same process as with "-are" verbs. |
| Marco: That is, take the infinitive form of the verb, for example "leggere," and drop the ending "-ere." Then you are left with "legg-." |
| Consuelo: Take "legg-" and add the appropriate endings. These are different for each person. "Io" takes "-o," "tu" takes "-i," "lui/lei" takes "-e," "noi" takes "-iamo," "voi" takes "-ete," and "loro" takes "-ono." |
| Marco: Let's now see the conjugation of the regular verb "leggere," meaning "to read." |
| Consuelo: "Io leggo." |
| Marco: "I read." |
| Consuelo: "Tu leggi." |
| Marco: "You read." |
| Consuelo: "Lui/lei legge." |
| Marco: "He/she reads." |
| Consuelo: "Noi leggiamo." |
| Marco: "We read." |
| Consuelo: "Voi leggete." |
| Marco: "You read." |
| Consuelo: "Loro leggono." |
| Marco: "They read." |
| Consuelo: In the conjugation of the verb "leggere," please note the alternation between the soft and hard "g." |
| Marco: This happens because "-g" before the vowels "-a", "-o" and "-u" has a sound like the "-g" in "good"; when "-g" is before "-e" and "-i," it has a sound like the "-g" in "general." |
| Consuelo: Some other "-ere" verbs conjugated like "leggere" are "chiudere" |
| Marco: "to close," |
| Consuelo: "spendere" |
| Marco: "to spend," |
| Consuelo: "scrivere" |
| Marco: "to write," and |
| Consuelo "ricevere" |
| Marco: "to receive" |
| Consuelo: It is important to notice that a considerable number of verbs belonging to the second conjugation are irregular. |
| Marco: This means that they do not follow the standard rules. So we have to learn them by heart! |
| Consuelo: Yes as they can either change the stem or the ending, but rarely both. |
| Marco: So much to study! |
| Consuelo: Don't be a cry-baby. |
| Marco: Okay, okay. Some "-ere" verbs like "lèggere" have the stress on the first "-e" of the infinitive, but others have the stress on the second syllable, such as "vedére." In this case, the stress changes. |
| Consuelo: When in doubt, check in a dictionary to see where the stress should fall. |
| Marco: Or just try to listen and repeat the pronunciation other Italians are using! That’s just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Consuelo: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Consuelo: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Consuelo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. |
28 Comments
HideCiao Mario,
grazie per il tuo commento, è perfetto!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi Cezar Ayres Gasparin,
thanks for your question!
No, you don't need to write the accents out (noi compriamo). In the lesson the accents are included just to help students learn which vowel to stress.
The only instance where the accents are mandatory is when they fall on the final vowel (for example: lui è = he is; lui leggerà = he will read...).
Hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
perché per me è importante sapere se è fatta in Italia
Hi Cezar Ayres Gasparin,
thanks for your question.
No, you don't need to write the accent. That's just shown in this lesson to let you know where to put the stress.
Only when the stress is on the final vowel, you need to actually write the accent. For example, the future tense: io comprerò (I will buy), lui comprerà (he will buy).
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
A doubt: I must write the verb leggere in the first person plural with a severe accent in a (noi compriàmo) like this in the lesson on verbs ending in "are"
Hi Johann Vento,
"sapere" is irregular. The conjugation is:
io so
tu sai
lui/lei sa
noi sappiamo
voi sapete
loro sanno
A presto!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
While I already knew how to conjugate regular -ere verbs, I needed to learn how to conjugate sapere. Very helpful.
Buongiorno Delia,
thanks for your question!
That is certainly common, especially when there are two identical vowels.
For example, if I want to say "light blue T-shirt", I'd say "maglietta azzurra", but you would probably hear "magliettazzurra".
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Buon Giorno,
When I listen to "Perché per me è importante sapere se è fatta in Italia." it sounds like only "se" is spoken, and "è" is excluded. Is it common for è to blend into the previous word?
Ciao Bill,
here are my corrections:
inglesi -> inglese
posso la scrivere -> la posso scrivere [the pronoun goes in front of the verbs]
i fiabe -> le fiabe
la notizia nei giornali -> le notizie
Keep up the great job! 👍👍
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com