Learn the Italian verb piacere, which means "to like"
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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 verb piacere, meaning "to like." |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Marco: It's between Melissa and Alessio. |
| Consuelo: In this conversation, they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Melissa: Pronto?! |
| Alessio: Ciao Melissa, senti, ti piace la cucina indiana? |
| Melissa: Insomma. |
| Alessio: E la cucina messicana? Ti piace? |
| Melissa: Non molto, è troppo piccante. Non mi piacciono molto le cose piccanti. |
| Alessio: Vorrei andare al ristorante a mangiare qualcosa di diverso, ma non ti piace niente! |
| Melissa: Non è vero, mi piace la cucina cinese e a te? |
| Alessio: A me no. Ah, ah! |
| Melissa: A tutti piace mangiare cinese. Allora, vediamo, …ho trovato! Giapponese! |
| Alessio: Va bene, mi piace! Allora mangiamo giapponese, ovviamente hai scelto il più caro. |
| Melissa: Eheh! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Melissa: Pronto?! |
| Alessio: Ciao Melissa, senti, ti piace la cucina indiana? |
| Melissa: Insomma. |
| Alessio: E la cucina messicana? Ti piace? |
| Melissa: Non molto, è troppo piccante. Non mi piacciono molto le cose piccanti. |
| Alessio: Vorrei andare al ristorante a mangiare qualcosa di diverso, ma non ti piace niente! |
| Melissa: Non è vero, mi piace la cucina cinese e a te? |
| Alessio: A me no. Ah, ah! |
| Melissa: A tutti piace mangiare cinese. Allora, vediamo, …ho trovato! Giapponese! |
| Alessio: Va bene, mi piace! Allora mangiamo giapponese, ovviamente hai scelto il più caro. |
| Melissa: Eheh! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Melissa: Pronto?! |
| Marco: Hello? |
| Alessio: Ciao Melissa, senti, ti piace la cucina indiana? |
| Marco: Hi, Melissa, listen, do you like Indian food? |
| Melissa: Insomma. |
| Marco: So so. |
| Alessio: E la cucina messicana? Ti piace? |
| Marco: And Mexican food? Do you like it? |
| Melissa: Non molto, è troppo piccante. Non mi piacciono molto le cose piccanti. |
| Marco: Not much; it's too spicy. I don't like spicy things that much. |
| Alessio: Vorrei andare al ristorante a mangiare qualcosa di diverso, ma non ti piace niente! |
| Marco: I'd like to go to the restaurant to eat something different, but you don't like anything! |
| Melissa: Non è vero, mi piace la cucina cinese e a te? |
| Marco: It's not true; I like Chinese food, and you? |
| Alessio: A me no. Ah, ah! |
| Marco: No, I don't. Ah, ah! |
| Melissa: A tutti piace mangiare cinese. Allora, vediamo, …ho trovato! Giapponese! |
| Marco: Everybody likes eating Chinese food. So, let me see... I got it! Japanese! |
| Alessio: Va bene, mi piace! Allora mangiamo giapponese, ovviamente hai scelto il più caro. |
| Marco: Okay, I like it! We'll eat Japanese food then; you obviously chose the most expensive. |
| Melissa: Eheh! |
| Marco: Eh eh! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Hey, Consuelo, do you think Italians like eating different food? |
| Consuelo: I'd say that mostly young people do. |
| Marco: Elder people follow the tradition of Italian cuisine more, right? |
| Consuelo: Sure. Compared to other countries in Italy, there are not so many restaurants serving international food. |
| Marco: That's also true. |
| Consuelo: Recently, Japanese food is becoming very popular among young people. |
| Marco: Yes, I noticed that. There are many sushi bars in the major Italian cities, but why? |
| Consuelo: It is a bit expensive, but of course good, healthy, and probably…fashionable! |
| Marco: Fashionable? How can food be fashionable? |
| Consuelo: In Italy, it can. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: cucina [natural native speed] |
| Marco: kitchen, cooking, food, cuisine |
| Consuelo: cucina [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: cucina [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: indiano [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Indian |
| Consuelo: indiano [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: indiano [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: insomma [natural native speed] |
| Marco: so so, well, in short |
| Consuelo: insomma [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: insomma [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: messicano [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Mexican |
| Consuelo: messicano [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: messicano [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: diverso [natural native speed] |
| Marco: different, various, diverse |
| Consuelo: diverso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: diverso [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: niente [natural native speed] |
| Marco: nothing |
| Consuelo: niente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: niente [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: cinese [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Chinese |
| Consuelo: cinese [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: cinese [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: giapponese [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Japanese |
| Consuelo: giapponese [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: giapponese [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 "insomma." |
| Marco: The word "insomma" is an adverb and it means "so, so," but also "in a word" or "in short." |
| Consuelo: Yes, it is a very common word, and its meaning depends on the situation. |
| Marco: For example? |
| Consuelo: "Stasera non voglio andare al ristorante, non voglio andare a bere e non voglio andare al bowling, insomma, non voglio uscire!" |
| Marco: Eh eh, okay. "This evening I don't want to go to the restaurant, I don't want to go drinking, I don't want to go to the bowling, in short, I don't want to go out!" Interesting, it doesn't sound like you! |
| Consuelo: True. Let's go on with other phrases. When you are asked "Ti piace questo posto?" you can simply answer "insomma." |
| Marco: "Do you like this place?" "So, so." |
| Consuelo: Sometimes it also may be used as "Come on!" |
| Marco: For example? |
| Consuelo: "Insomma, c'è qualcuno che conosce la risposta?" |
| Marco: "Come on, is there anyone who knows the answer?" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's class, we focus on the verb "to like." |
| Consuelo: "Piacere." |
| Marco: In Italian, the verb "to like" is translated as "piacere," but the closest structure in English is "to be pleasing to." |
| Consuelo: This is the main difference between Italian and English. In Italian, the thing or the person liked is the subject of the sentence, and the person who likes it is the indirect object. |
| Marco: Take, for example, the phrase "A Claudia piace nuotare." |
| Consuelo: "Nuotare," meaning "to swim," is the subject, while "a Claudia," literally "to Claudia," is the indirect object. |
| Marco: "Claudia likes swimming." Or "Swimming is pleasing to Claudia." |
| Consuelo: The indirect object is expressed in many ways in Italian. |
| Marco: For instance? |
| Consuelo: You can say, "A Claudia piace nuotare." |
| Marco: "Claudia likes swimming." |
| Consuelo: Or "A lei piace nuotare." Or "Le piace nuotare." The pronoun "Le" corresponds to "a lei." |
| Marco: "She likes swimming." |
| Consuelo: As "piacere" must agree with the thing or the person liked, it is often conjugated at the third singular person "piace"… |
| Marco: Or at the third plural person "piacciono." |
| Consuelo: Let's make some examples now. "Mi piacciono i gatti." |
| Marco: "I like cats." "Mi" stands for "a me," which is "to me." "Cats are pleasing to me." |
| Consuelo: "Non ci piace la musica classica." |
| Marco: "We don't like classical music." The indirect pronoun "ci" stands for "a noi." |
| Consuelo: "Ti piacciono i videogiochi?" |
| Marco: "Do you like video games?" Here "ti" is "a te." |
| Consuelo: "A Francesco non piace questo film." |
| Marco: "Francesco doesn't like this movie." |
| Consuelo: In today's conversation, they're talking about food and cuisine. |
| Marco: Consuelo, "Ti piace la cucina messicana?" "Do you like Mexican food?" |
| Consuelo: "Sì." |
| Marco: "Ti piace la cucina tailandese?" "Do you like Thai food?" |
| Consuelo: "Sì." |
| Marco: "Ti piace la cucina francese?" "Do you like French food?" |
| Consuelo: "Sì, sinceramente, mi piace tutto!" "Honestly, I like everything!" |
| Marco: We strongly recommend to check up on the grammar section of the lesson notes. |
| Consuelo: Yes, read it and listen to this lesson again! |
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. |
23 Comments
HideTi piace la cucina indiana?
Sí, mi piace la cucina indiana molto!
Hi David,
glad to hear you figured the problem out!
A presto,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Now sorted, thank you.
I had the problem when using Chrome on my iPad. I tried to create a Flashcard in the same way on my laptop and got the message "no words selected" (a message I did not get on the iPad). I had assumed all words were pre-selected - now I know better!
Hi David Hart,
I just tested it and it works fine for me. The site works best on Chrome browser, maybe you could try to see if it works there. If you're still having issues, contact us at this email address: contactus@italianpod101.com
Sincerely,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
The lesson page freezes up when I press "Add to Flashcard Deck" and select "New Deck" below Vocabulary. And the words are not added to Flashcards!
Ciao Anthony,
All the "a" used in this lesson can be translated as "at" or "to."
Keep in mind that, sometimes, it is not immediately apparent, because the English construction is different. Especially with the verb "piacere." A more literal translation would help, but it would sound awkward.
For example, "A Francesco non piace questo film" is translated as "Francesco doesn't like this movie." It seems like the "a" is useless, right?
But if you translate it as "To Francesco, this movie isn't pleasing", it's clearer that "a Francesco" = "to Francesco."
Although it's not a sentence a native speaker would use.
I hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao, what is the purpose of adding an "a" before words when it is not used specifically for "at" or "to"?
Grazie,
Anthony
Buongiorno Heni,
Grazie per il commento!
Thank you for posting!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Mi piace la cucina italiana.
Hi Ann,
Grazie mille per il commento!
Looking forward to seeing you often here.
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com