Learn how to form the gerundio, the present progressive tense for second and third conjugation Italian verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Marco: Hello, and welcome to 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? |
| Marco: In today's class, we will focus on the present progressive, gerundio, of -ere and -ire verbs. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at Melissa's place. |
| Marco: It's between Melissa and Alessio. |
| Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Alessio: Melissa, che stai facendo? |
| Melissa: Sto aprendo il vino. Bene, buon appetito. Ti piacciono i crostini? |
| Alessio: Sì, un pò freddi, ma buoni. Allora sai anche cucinare. |
| Melissa: Non credo. Sinceramente sto solo leggendo un libro di cucina, però non faccio mai pratica. |
| Alessio: Melissa, che cos'è questo fumo?? |
| Melissa: Oh no! E' la nostra cena! Le melanzane alla parmigiana! |
| Alessio: Apri la finestra, non posso respirare. |
| Melissa: Perfetto! Adesso dobbiamo trovare un'alternativa. |
| Alessio: Ah, ah! Ordiniamo una pizza? |
| Melissa: Sì, una soluzione veloce. Non possiamo mangiare questa roba nera! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Alessio: Melissa, che stai facendo? |
| Melissa: Sto aprendo il vino. Bene, buon appetito. Ti piacciono i crostini? |
| Alessio: Sì, un pò freddi, ma buoni. Allora sai anche cucinare. |
| Melissa: Non credo. Sinceramente sto solo leggendo un libro di cucina, però non faccio mai pratica. |
| Alessio: Melissa, che cos'è questo fumo?? |
| Melissa: Oh no! E' la nostra cena! Le melanzane alla parmigiana! |
| Alessio: Apri la finestra, non posso respirare. |
| Melissa: Perfetto! Adesso dobbiamo trovare un'alternativa. |
| Alessio: Ah, ah! Ordiniamo una pizza? |
| Melissa: Sì, una soluzione veloce. Non possiamo mangiare questa roba nera! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Alessio: Melissa, che stai facendo? |
| Marco: Melissa, what are you doing? |
| Melissa: Sto aprendo il vino. Bene, buon appetito. Ti piacciono i crostini? |
| Marco: I'm opening the wine. Well, have a nice meal. Do you like "crostini?" |
| Alessio: Sì, un pò freddi, ma buoni. Allora sai anche cucinare. |
| Marco: Yes, a bit cold, but good. So you can also cook. |
| Melissa: Non credo. Sinceramente sto solo leggendo un libro di cucina, però non faccio mai pratica. |
| Marco: I don't think so. Honestly, I'm only reading a cookbook, but I never practice. |
| Alessio: Melissa, che cos'è questo fumo?? |
| Marco: Melissa, what is this smoke? |
| Melissa: Oh no! E' la nostra cena! Le melanzane alla parmigiana! |
| Marco: Oh no! It's our dinner! "Melanzane alla parmigiana!" |
| Alessio: Apri la finestra, non posso respirare. |
| Marco: Open the window; I can't breathe. |
| Melissa: Perfetto! Adesso dobbiamo trovare un'alternativa. |
| Marco: Perfect! Now we have to find an alternative. |
| Alessio: Ah, ah! Ordiniamo una pizza? |
| Marco: Ah, ah! Shall we order a pizza? |
| Melissa: Sì, una soluzione veloce. Non possiamo mangiare questa roba nera! |
| Marco: Yes, a quick solution. We can't eat this black thing! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Consuelo: I think these guys can't eat "melanzane alla parmigiana" tonight... |
| Marco: Melissa burned everything. It's a crime! "Melanzane alla parmigiana" is one of my favorite dishes. |
| Consuelo: Oh, you like "eggplant parmesan"… |
| Marco: I love it! |
| Consuelo: I like it too, but it takes time to prepare, you know. |
| Marco: Yes, I can't prepare it. |
| Consuelo: You should do like Melissa and read a "libro di cucina," which is "a cookbook." |
| Marco: Yes, we saw the result with Melissa. |
| Consuelo: Come on, it happens that we sometimes forget food in the oven. Poor Melissa, this dinner was a kind of date for her, I guess. |
| Marco: Consuelo, did you ever burn a romantic dinner you were preparing for a guy? |
| Consuelo: I'll tell you another time! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: sapere [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to know |
| Consuelo: sapere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: sapere [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: pratica [natural native speed] |
| Marco: practice |
| Consuelo: pratica [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: pratica [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: fumo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: smoke |
| Consuelo: fumo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: fumo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: finestra [natural native speed] |
| Marco: window |
| Consuelo: finestra [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: finestra [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: respirare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to breathe |
| Consuelo: respirare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: respirare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: alternativa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: alternative, option |
| Consuelo: alternativa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: alternativa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: soluzione [natural native speed] |
| Marco: solution, result, answer |
| Consuelo: soluzione [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: soluzione [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: roba [natural native speed] |
| Marco: stuff, things |
| Consuelo: roba [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: roba [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 "roba." |
| Marco: "Stuff" or "things" |
| Consuelo: This is one of those words that you can hear very frequently in Italian. |
| Marco: Because it indicates something unidentified. |
| Consuelo: For example, if I say "Quanta roba da mangiare!" |
| Marco: This means "How many things to eat!" |
| Consuelo: Yes, because "roba" is a feminine noun always used at the singular. |
| Marco: So, in this case, "roba" was food. |
| Consuelo: But what if I say "Questo negozio ha della bella roba?" |
| Marco: "This shop sells good stuff." In this case, "roba" could be clothes. |
| Consuelo: Exactly! And what if I say "Ho un pò di roba da fare." |
| Marco: That stands for "I have a few things to do." |
| Consuelo: "Sì!" Another word for "roba" could be "cosa." |
| Marco: "Thing." Thank you Consuelo, this can be very useful! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's class, we continue focusing on the present progressive. |
| Consuelo: The "gerundio," as we already covered in the last lesson, expresses an action that is currently in progress… |
| Marco: Or an action that is continuing in a short period of time. |
| Consuelo: It is important to note that the "gerundio" is never used to describe an event that may happen in the future, as happens in English. The translation with the "-ing" form may confuse. |
| Marco: The present progressive in Italian is composed of the verb "stare" ("to stay" or "to be") plus the gerund. |
| Consuelo: In the last lesson, we covered the gerundio form for "-are" verbs, "-ando." In this lesson, we have "-ere" and "-ire" verbs. |
| Marco: In order to form the "gerundio" of "-ere" and "-ire" verbs, drop these stems and in both cases add "-endo." |
| Consuelo: As in "correre," meaning "to run," which becomes "correndo," "running." |
| Marco: Or "dormire," meaning "to sleep," which becomes "dormendo," "sleeping." |
| Consuelo: Only a few verbs of the second and third conjugations are irregular. The most common are "bere," meaning "to drink," which becomes "bevendo," "drinking." |
| Marco: And "dire," meaning "to say," which is "dicendo," "saying," at the gerund. Let's hear some sentences now. |
| Consuelo: Okay, the first is with "scrivere," meaning "to write." "Sto scrivendo un articolo per un giornale famoso." |
| Marco: "I am writing an article for a famous newspaper." |
| Consuelo: The next is with the verb "partire," meaning "to leave." "Giovanni sta partendo per la Sicilia." |
| Marco: "Giovanni is leaving for Sicily." |
| Consuelo: In our dialogue, we also heard "leggendo," which is from "leggere," meaning "to read." |
| Marco: As in when Melissa says "I'm only reading a cookbook." |
| Consuelo: "Sto solo leggendo un libro di cucina." |
| Marco: In the conversation, we also had the verb "aprire," meaning "to open," at the "gerundio." Can we see the entire conjugation for this verb? |
| Consuelo: Sure. Let's start! "Io sto aprendo." |
| Marco: "I am opening." |
| Consuelo: "Tu stai aprendo." |
| Marco: "You are opening." |
| Consuelo: "Lui/Lei sta aprendo." |
| Marco: "He/she/it is opening." |
| Consuelo: "Noi stiamo aprendo." |
| Marco: "We are opening." |
| Consuelo: "Voi state aprendo." |
| Marco: "You are opening." |
| Consuelo: "Loro stanno aprendo." |
| Marco: "They are opening." Please remember to look at the lesson notes! |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Consuelo: Listeners, can you understand Italian TV shows, movies or songs? |
| Marco: How about friends and loved ones? conversations in Italian? |
| Consuelo: If you want to know what's going on, we have a tool to help. |
| Marco: Line-by-line audio. |
| Consuelo: Listen to the lesson conversations Line-By-Line, and learn to understand natural Italian fast! |
| Marco: It's simple really. |
| Consuelo: With a click of a button, listen to each line of the conversation. |
| Marco: Listen again and again, and tune your ear to natural Italian. |
| Consuelo: Rapidly understand natural Italian with this powerful tool. |
| Marco: Find this feature on the lesson page under Premium Member resources at ItalianPod101.com. |
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