Learn the plural versions of Italian direct object pronouns
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Hi, my name is Consuelo, and I am joined here by Marco. |
| Marco: Hello, everyone and welcome back to ItalianPOD101.com |
| Consuelo: What are we learning today? |
| Marco: In today's class, we will focus on the plural direct object pronouns. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place on the hills of Firenze. |
| Marco: It's between Melissa and Ilaria. |
| Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ilaria: Hai avuto un'ottima idea. Mi piace andare in bicicletta. |
| Melissa: Avete delle bellissime colline in Toscana è un peccato non visitarle. Ci fermiamo qui per il picnic? |
| Ilaria: Sì, qui va bene. C'è ombra. Hai portato i panini? |
| Melissa: Certo, li ho presi. Poi ho una sorpresa. |
| Ilaria: Cosa, cosa? Ah, le fragole! |
| Melissa: Le adoro! |
| Ilaria: Anch'io. Ma, non abbiamo fazzoletti. |
| Melissa: No, eccoli. |
| Ilaria: Senti, chiamiamo i ragazzi? Possono raggiungerci forse. |
| Melissa: Perché no? Li puoi chiamare con il mio cellulare. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ilaria: Hai avuto un'ottima idea. Mi piace andare in bicicletta. |
| Melissa: Avete delle bellissime colline in Toscana è un peccato non visitarle. Ci fermiamo qui per il picnic? |
| Ilaria: Sì, qui va bene. C'è ombra. Hai portato i panini? |
| Melissa: Certo, li ho presi. Poi ho una sorpresa. |
| Ilaria: Cosa, cosa? Ah, le fragole! |
| Melissa: Le adoro! |
| Ilaria: Anch'io. Ma, non abbiamo fazzoletti. |
| Melissa: No, eccoli. |
| Ilaria: Senti, chiamiamo i ragazzi? Possono raggiungerci forse. |
| Melissa: Perché no? Li puoi chiamare con il mio cellulare. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ilaria: Hai avuto un'ottima idea. Mi piace andare in bicicletta. |
| Marco: You had a great idea. I like cycling. |
| Melissa: Avete delle bellissime colline in Toscana è un peccato non visitarle. Ci fermiamo qui per il picnic? |
| Marco: You have some beautiful hills in Tuscany; it's a pity not to visit them. Shall we stop here for the picnic? |
| Ilaria: Sì, qui va bene. C'è ombra. Hai portato i panini? |
| Marco: Yes, here it's okay. There is shade. Did you bring the sandwiches? |
| Melissa: Certo, li ho presi. Poi ho una sorpresa. |
| Marco: Sure, I took them. I have a surprise then. |
| Ilaria: Cosa, cosa? Ah, le fragole! |
| Marco: What? Oh, strawberries! |
| Melissa: Le adoro! |
| Marco: I adore them! |
| Ilaria: Anch'io. Ma, non abbiamo fazzoletti. |
| Marco: Me too. But we don't have tissues. |
| Melissa: No, eccoli. |
| Marco: No, here they are. |
| Ilaria: Senti, chiamiamo i ragazzi? Possono raggiungerci forse. |
| Marco: Listen, do we call the guys? Maybe they can join us. |
| Melissa: Perché no? Li puoi chiamare con il mio cellulare. |
| Marco: Why not? You can call them with my cell phone. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: Do you like "andare in bicicletta," Marco? |
| Marco: Yes, I do. I like "riding a bicycle," but I've never been on Firenze's hills with mine. |
| Consuelo: You should go; from the hills surrounding Firenze you can enjoy a beautiful view! |
| Marco: And in this conversation, the girls are going to have a picnic. |
| Consuelo: And they eat "panini." |
| Marco: "Panini e fragole," which are "sandwiches and strawberries." Sounds good. |
| Consuelo: "Facciamo un picnic anche noi!" |
| Marco: "You want to have a picnic!" Okay, let's go. Cook something first and then we go. |
| Consuelo: No, no, "aspetta un minuto," which is "hold on a minute!" |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: ottimo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: great, excellent, very good |
| Consuelo: ottimo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: ottimo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: bicicletta [natural native speed] |
| Marco: bicycle |
| Consuelo: bicicletta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: bicicletta [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: collina [natural native speed] |
| Marco: hill |
| Consuelo: collina [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: collina [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: visitare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to visit |
| Consuelo: visitare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: visitare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: fermarsi [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to stop |
| Consuelo: fermarsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: fermarsi [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: fragola [natural native speed] |
| Marco: strawberry |
| Consuelo: fragola [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: fragola [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: fazzoletto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: tissue, hand cleaner |
| Consuelo: fazzoletto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: fazzoletto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: cellulare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: cellphone, mobile phone |
| Consuelo: cellulare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: cellulare [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Marco: Consuelo, what word are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: Today we're studying the verb "fermarsi." |
| Marco: "To stop." |
| Consuelo: In Italian this is a "verbo riflessivo," which is "a reflexive verb." |
| Marco: Those verbs that use "mi," "ti," "si," "ci," and so on. |
| Consuelo: Yes, in today's conversation, Melissa says "Ci fermiamo qui per il picnic?" |
| Marco: "Do we stop here for the picnic?" |
| Consuelo: Anyway, this verb is often used at the imperative. For example… |
| Marco: "You, stop!" |
| Consuelo: "Fermati!" |
| Marco: Is there any other particular usage? |
| Consuelo: Yes, we use this verb in the expression "Fermarsi a cena a casa di qualcuno." |
| Marco: "To stay for dinner at a friend's house." |
| Consuelo: If I ask you "Ti fermi a cena da me?" what does it mean? |
| Marco: It means "Are you staying at my place for dinner?" And the answer would be "Certo," which is "Sure!" |
| Consuelo: Oh, "grazie," Marco, that's very kind of you! What are you preparing? Ma te sai cucinare? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's lesson, we're focusing on the plural direct object pronouns. |
| Consuelo: In the last lesson, we covered singular direct object pronouns. |
| Marco: The "pronomi diretti plurali" are... |
| Consuelo: "Ci," meaning "us." |
| Marco: "Vi," meaning "you." |
| Consuelo: "Li" can be both "them" or the formal masculine version of "you." |
| Marco: Also, "le" can be them or be the formal, feminine "you." |
| Consuelo: In our dialogue, Melissa says "È un peccato non visitarle." |
| Marco: "It's a pity not to visit them." |
| Consuelo: Here "le," meaning "them," is the direct object pronoun feminine plural referred to "le colline." |
| Marco: "The hills." |
| Consuelo: Next, Melissa answers Ilaria by saying "li ho presi." |
| Marco: "I took them." In this case, "li" is the plural masculine. |
| Consuelo: "Li" stands for "i panini." |
| Marco: "The sandwiches." |
| Consuelo: Melissa also says "Le adoro." |
| Marco: "I love them" or "I adore them." |
| Consuelo: The pronoun "le" here is "le fragole." |
| Marco: "Strawberries." |
| Consuelo: A common usage of direct object pronouns is with the word "ecco." |
| Marco: Which in English is "Here I am!," "Here you are!," "Here he is!," and so on. |
| Consuelo: Pronouns are attached to the word "ecco." For example, when Melissa says "Eccoli!" in the dialogue. |
| Marco: "Here they are!" referring to tissues. |
| Consuelo: "I fazzoletti." |
| Marco: Sometimes direct object pronouns precede verbs that begin with a vowel… |
| Consuelo: Or those forms of the verb "avere" that begin with an "-h." |
| Marco: In these cases, drop the vowel while adding an apostrophe. |
| Consuelo: This is to symbolize in writing that the sound must be pronounced as one even though they are two words. |
| Marco: Please note that singular pronouns "lo" and "la" normally behave this way, while the plural pronouns "li" and "le" never do. Can we have some examples, Consuelo? |
| Consuelo: "Organizzi tu l'incontro?" "Are you organizing the meeting?" |
| Marco: "Sì l'organizzo io." "Yes, I'm organizing it." |
| Consuelo: Please pay attention, if I say "Marco ordina gli spaghetti?" "Does Marco order spaghetti?" |
| Marco: "Anch'io li ordino." "I order it too." This time, the pronoun did not lose the last vowel. |
| Consuelo: In the lesson notes, you will find some other useful tips about "pronomi diretti." |
| Marco: Yes, don't forget to look at the grammar section for this lesson! |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Marco: Attention perfectionists! You're about to learn how to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Consuelo: Lesson Review Audio Tracks. |
| Marco: Increase fluency and vocabulary fast with these short, effective audio tracks. |
| Consuelo: Super simple to use. Listen to the Italian word or phrase... |
| Marco: then repeat it out loud in a loud clear voice. |
| Consuelo: You'll speak with confidence knowing that you're speaking Italian like the locals. |
| Marco: Go to ItalianPod101.com, and download the Review Audio Tracks right on the lessons page today! |
7 Comments
HideAndiamo a fare un picnic?
Hi patrick kelly,
“li ho presi” is an exception to “ho preso”, because there’s the pronoun “li”, meaning “them”.
When there’s a third person pronoun (li, lo, la, le) you have always to change the past participle, even if the auxiliary verb is “avere”, “to have.”
I hope this helps!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Melissa answers Ilania by saying ', li ho presi' why not li ho preso. I thought it was only with esser that the past participle changed. please explain
Hello Edmar,
You're most welcome. Great to have you here!
Cheers,
Neha
Team ItalianPod101.com
Grazie mille.
Hi Edmar,
in Italian the expression for picnic is 'fare un picnic'
Mi piace fare i picnic.
Chiara
Team ItalianPod101.com
Mi piace avere un picnic. I like having a picnic.