Learn how to form the gerundio, which is the present progressive tense of first conjugation Italian verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Marco: Hello, and welcome to ItalianPOD101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Italian! |
| Consuelo: I'm Consuelo, and thanks again for being here with us for this Absolute Beginner S2 lesson. |
| Marco: In today's class, we will focus on the present progressive, gerundio, of -are verbs. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place on the hills of Firenze. |
| Marco: It's between Melissa, Ilaria, Alessio, and Alberto. |
| Consuelo: In this conversation, they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Alessio: Avete fatto bene a chiamare, al bar non c'è nessuno oggi, sono tutti allo stadio. |
| Ilaria: Ovvio, ma è anche una giornata fantastica! |
| Alberto: Cosa state mangiando? |
| Melissa: Panini e fragole. |
| Alessio: Bene, noi abbiamo portato del vino, patatine e Carlo dal bar ci ha dato le pizzette. |
| Ilaria: Ben fatto. Siete venuti in motorino, noi siamo più sportive. Abbiamo usato la bici. |
| Alberto: Anche io sono sportivo, infatti sto ascoltando la partita alla radio. |
| Ilaria: O mio Dio! Spegnila subito! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Alessio: Avete fatto bene a chiamare, al bar non c'è nessuno oggi, sono tutti allo stadio. |
| Ilaria: Ovvio, ma è anche una giornata fantastica! |
| Alberto: Cosa state mangiando? |
| Melissa: Panini e fragole. |
| Alessio: Bene, noi abbiamo portato del vino, patatine e Carlo dal bar ci ha dato le pizzette. |
| Ilaria: Ben fatto. Siete venuti in motorino, noi siamo più sportive. Abbiamo usato la bici. |
| Alberto: Anche io sono sportivo, infatti sto ascoltando la partita alla radio. |
| Ilaria: O mio Dio! Spegnila subito! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Alessio: Avete fatto bene a chiamare, al bar non c'è nessuno oggi, sono tutti allo stadio. |
| Marco: You were right to call. There's nobody at the bar today; they're all at the stadium. |
| Ilaria: Ovvio, ma è anche una giornata fantastica! |
| Marco: It's obvious, but it's also a beautiful day! |
| Alberto: Cosa state mangiando? |
| Marco: What are you eating? |
| Melissa: Panini e fragole. |
| Marco: Sandwiches and strawberries. |
| Alessio: Bene, noi abbiamo portato del vino, patatine e Carlo dal bar ci ha dato le pizzette. |
| Marco: Good, we brought some wine and potato chips, and Carlo from the bar gave us some "pizzette." |
| Ilaria: Ben fatto. Siete venuti in motorino, noi siamo più sportive. Abbiamo usato la bici. |
| Marco: Well done. You came by scooter; we are sportier. We used the bicycle. |
| Alberto: Anche io sono sportivo, infatti sto ascoltando la partita alla radio. |
| Marco: I am sporty too; indeed, I'm listening to the match on the radio. |
| Ilaria: O mio Dio! Spegnila subito! |
| Marco: Oh my God! Turn it off, immediately! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: The guys joined the girls for the picnic. How nice! |
| Marco: Yes, and they also brought wine, chips…and "pizzette." They are the "small pizzas" in Italy, right? I love them! |
| Consuelo: A "pizzetta" is a "pizza piccola piccola," usually sold in bars. |
| Marco: Italians often eat it as a snack! |
| Consuelo: Yep. So in this conversation, it sounds like they're having fun, but toward the end Ilaria is a bit angry. |
| Marco: I know why—because Alberto is listening to the match on the radio. |
| Consuelo: And when you say match in Italy, it's always soccer. |
| Marco: They also said that people were all at the stadium. This means it should be an important match. |
| Consuelo: Sure, but it's very annoying to listen to the voice of the reporter while you're talking to your friends. And this often happens in Italy. |
| Marco: Yes, Consuelo, I know what you mean. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: stadio [natural native speed] |
| Marco: stadium |
| Consuelo: stadio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: stadio [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: ovvio [natural native speed] |
| Marco: obvious |
| Consuelo: ovvio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: ovvio [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: giornata [natural native speed] |
| Marco: day |
| Consuelo: giornata [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: giornata [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: vino [natural native speed] |
| Marco: wine |
| Consuelo: vino [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: vino [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: patatine [natural native speed] |
| Marco: potato chips |
| Consuelo: patatine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: patatine [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: pizzetta [natural native speed] |
| Marco: pizzetta |
| Consuelo: pizzetta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: pizzetta [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: sportivo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: sporty |
| Consuelo: sportivo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: sportivo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: Dio [natural native speed] |
| Marco: God |
| Consuelo: Dio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: Dio [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 word "Dio." |
| Marco: "God." Are we talking about religion? |
| Consuelo: Ehm, no, but in Italian we have some expressions using this word that are frequently used. |
| Marco: True. For example? |
| Consuelo: "Oh mio Dio!" |
| Marco: "Oh my God." |
| Consuelo: "Per l'amor di Dio!" |
| Marco: "For God's sake!" |
| Consuelo: "Grazie a Dio." |
| Marco: "Thank God." |
| Consuelo: "Dio solo lo sa!" |
| Marco: "Only God knows!" |
| Consuelo: Lastly, when talking about a place, we have "dimenticato da Dio." |
| Marco: Ah, "godforsaken." Thank you, Consuelo, this was very interesting! |
| Consuelo: You'll hear these sentences a lot in Italy! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's lesson, we're focusing on the present progressive. |
| Consuelo: In Italian, it is the "gerundio." |
| Marco: In English, it is the "-ing" form, as in "I am walking" or "the cat is sleeping." It expresses an action that is occurring at that moment. |
| Consuelo: The present progressive in Italian is composed of the verb "stare"… |
| Marco: "To stay" or "to be." |
| Consuelo: Plus the gerund of the main verb. |
| Marco: How can we form the gerund in Italian? |
| Consuelo: In order to make the gerund of "-are" verbs, we drop this stem and add "-ando." |
| Marco: For example? |
| Consuelo: Like for "parlare," it becomes "parlANDO." |
| Marco: "To talk" or "to speak"; it becomes "speaking." |
| Consuelo: When forming "gerundio," basically all "-are" verbs are regular, but "fare," meaning "to do," is irregular. |
| Marco: How is it at "gerundio?" |
| Consuelo: It becomes "facendo." "Io sto facendo." |
| Marco: Let's make some examples of sentences at the "gerundio." |
| Consuelo: Okay, sure. The verb "suonare," meaning "to play," is "suonando." "Marco sta suonando la chitarra." |
| Marco: "Marco is playing guitar." I can't play guitar, but... |
| Consuelo: It doesn't matter, let's go on. |
| Marco: Next we have "fare," which means "to do," which becomes, as we've just said, "facendo." |
| Consuelo: "Sto facendo i compiti." |
| Marco: "I'm doing homework." I'm a good guy. |
| Consuelo: Please remember that the "gerundio" of reflexive verbs requires the reflexive pronoun that always precedes "stare." |
| Marco: For instance? |
| Consuelo: Take the reflexive verb "svegliarsi," meaning "to wake up." "Luisa si sta svegliando." |
| Marco: "Luisa is waking up." |
| Consuelo: In our conversation, we had two phrases at "gerundio." One was "cosa state mangiando?" |
| Marco: "What are you eating?" With the verb "mangiare," meaning "to eat." |
| Consuelo: The other was "Sto ascoltando la partita alla radio." |
| Marco: "I'm listening to the match on the radio." Here we had the verb "to listen." |
| Consuelo: "Ascoltare." |
| Marco: Consuelo, let's listen to the conjugation for this verb at "gerundio." |
| Consuelo: Okay, let's start. "Io sto ascoltando." |
| Marco: "I am listening." |
| Consuelo: "Tu stai ascoltando." |
| Marco: "You are listening." |
| Consuelo: "Lui/Lei sta ascoltando." |
| Marco: "He/She/It is listening." |
| Consuelo: "Noi stiamo ascoltando." |
| Marco: "We are listening." |
| Consuelo: "Voi state ascoltando." |
| Marco: "You are listening." |
| Consuelo: "Loro stanno ascoltando." |
| Marco: "They are listening." |
| Consuelo: "Bene, Marco, cosa stai facendo?" "What are you doing?" |
| Marco: "Sto parlando con te!" "I'm talking to you." |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Marco: Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Consuelo: It's because they work! |
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| Marco: Go to ItalianPod101.com now, and try My Wordbank and Flashcards today! |
10 Comments
HideDo you like pizzette?
Ciao Michael,
anche io! Me too! 😁
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Voglio mangiare una
Ciao Roberto,
thanks for your question!
"Luisa sta svegliandosi" actually exists and is grammatically correct, but I'd say it is fairly uncommon. Maybe you could find it in written texts such as books or articles. "Si sta svegliando" is used most of the time.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
“ Luisa si sta svegliando.”
“ ...the reflexive pronoun that always precedes stare...”
So the expression “Luisa sta svegliandosi” doesn’t exist?
Hi everyone! Thank you for posting.
@Christopher, Com'è la pizza suprema? ...non l'ho mai provata! 😜
@John, please use "cosa state mangiando" when talking with two or more people, and "cosa stai mangiando" when talking to one person.
A presto!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao,
I have a question. In the dialogue it says "cosa state mangiando" as opposed to"cosa stai manglande".
What is the difference?
Grazie :)
Ciao,
Mi piacerebbe la pizza. mia pizza preferito è Pizza MArgarita, o Pizza suprema.
Hi Glenn Asher,
Thank you for posting! La pizza alla diavola è buonissima!😜
Please be careful to the first part of the sentence, you should say: "A me a mia moglie piace la pizza diavola."
Sincerely,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
io e mia moglie piace la pizza diavola