Learn the Italian singular indirect 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 |
| 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 singular indirect object pronouns. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place in the office. |
| Marco: It's between Ilaria, Alessio, and Alberto. |
| Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ilaria: Allora ragazzi, sabato è il compleanno di Melissa, cosa facciamo? |
| Alessio: Perchè non le facciamo una festa a sorpresa? |
| Ilaria: Sì, che bell'idea. Lei arriva al ristorante solo con te, ma noi tutti aspettiamo nascosti. |
| Alessio: D'accordo. Cosa le regaliamo? |
| Ilaria: Non lo so, ma io di sicuro le preparo la torta. |
| Alberto: Io mando una e-mail agli altri colleghi e amici. |
| Alessio: Alberto, ti devo chiedere un favore. |
| Alberto: Sì? |
| Alessio: Nella mail scrivi che è una festa a sorpresa, lei non lo deve scoprire. Manteniamo il segreto! |
| Alberto: Certo! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ilaria: Allora ragazzi, sabato è il compleanno di Melissa, cosa facciamo? |
| Alessio: Perchè non le facciamo una festa a sorpresa? |
| Ilaria: Sì, che bell'idea. Lei arriva al ristorante solo con te, ma noi tutti aspettiamo nascosti. |
| Alessio: D'accordo. Cosa le regaliamo? |
| Ilaria: Non lo so, ma io di sicuro le preparo la torta. |
| Alberto: Io mando una e-mail agli altri colleghi e amici. |
| Alessio: Alberto, ti devo chiedere un favore. |
| Alberto: Sì? |
| Alessio: Nella mail scrivi che è una festa a sorpresa, lei non lo deve scoprire. Manteniamo il segreto! |
| Alberto: Certo! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ilaria: Allora ragazzi, sabato è il compleanno di Melissa, cosa facciamo? |
| Marco: So guys, Saturday is Melissa's birthday; what shall we do? |
| Alessio: Perchè non le facciamo una festa a sorpresa? |
| Marco: Why don't we have a surprise party? |
| Ilaria: Sì, che bell'idea. Lei arriva al ristorante solo con te, ma noi tutti aspettiamo nascosti. |
| Marco: Yes, what a nice idea. She gets to the restaurant alone with you, but we're all waiting hidden. |
| Alessio: D'accordo. Cosa le regaliamo? |
| Marco: All right. What shall we get her as a present? |
| Ilaria: Non lo so, ma io di sicuro le preparo la torta. |
| Marco: I don't know, but I'll prepare a cake for her for sure. |
| Alberto: Io mando una e-mail agli altri colleghi e amici. |
| Marco: I'll send an e-mail to the other colleagues and friends. |
| Alessio: Alberto, ti devo chiedere un favore. |
| Marco: Alberto, I have to ask you a favor. |
| Alberto: Sì? |
| Marco: Yes? |
| Alessio: Nella mail scrivi che è una festa a sorpresa, lei non lo deve scoprire. Manteniamo il segreto! |
| Marco: In the e-mail, write that it's a surprise party and she must not know about it. Let's keep the secret! |
| Alberto: Certo! |
| Marco: Sure! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Consuelo, do you like "feste a sorpresa?" |
| Consuelo: Oh yes, I like "surprise parties!" |
| Marco: Where is the most common place for them to take place? |
| Consuelo: Usually, in Italy, it's at home or at a restaurant or pizzeria. |
| Marco: Ah, okay. |
| Consuelo: You know, Marco, we don't have many chain restaurants or fast food in Italy… |
| Marco: That's true! |
| Consuelo: Also, Italians generally like cooking, so it's fun to prepare a feast with your friends. |
| Marco: Why don't you organize one for me here at ItalianPod101.com? |
| Consuelo: Now that you expect it, "Che sorpresa sarebbe?" "What kind of surprise would it be?" |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: ragazzo [natural native speed] |
| Marco: boy, lad, guy |
| Consuelo: ragazzo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: ragazzo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: compleanno [natural native speed] |
| Marco: birthday |
| Consuelo: compleanno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: compleanno [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: festa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: feast, holiday, party |
| Consuelo: festa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: festa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: sorpresa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: surprise |
| Consuelo: sorpresa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: sorpresa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: nascosto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: hidden, covered |
| Consuelo: nascosto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: nascosto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: chiedere [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to ask |
| Consuelo: chiedere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: chiedere [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: mantenere [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to keep, to maintain, to preserve |
| Consuelo: mantenere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: mantenere [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: segreto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: secret |
| Consuelo: segreto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: segreto [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 "mantenere." |
| Marco: "To keep," "to maintain," or "to preserve." |
| Consuelo: As we heard in today's conversation, we use this verb when talking about a secret. "Mantenere un segreto." |
| Marco: "Mantenere" is a common verb in Italian. Can you tell our listeners some other expressions? |
| Consuelo: Sure, how about "Mantenere la calma." |
| Marco: "To keep one's calm," "to cool the temper," "or to stay cool." |
| Consuelo: We also say, "Mantenere le distanze." |
| Marco: "To keep a distance" or "to keep aloof." |
| Consuelo: In the meaning of "to preserve something," we use it in phrases like "Le condizioni climatiche hanno mantenuto gli scavi intatti." |
| Marco: "The weather conditions have kept the excavations intact." |
| Consuelo: Or "Questo tessuto mantiene una buona qualità." |
| Marco: "This textile maintains a good quality." Thank you, Consuelo, I think our listeners know how to better use "mantenere" now. |
| Consuelo: "Lo spero!" "I hope so!" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
| Marco: In today's class, we focus on "indirect object pronouns." |
| Consuelo: "I pronomi indiretti." |
| Marco: First of all, what is an indirect object noun? |
| Consuelo: An indirect object noun is the person or the thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb. |
| Marco: It answers the question "to whom?" or "for whom?" |
| Consuelo: So, in English, if we have a noun preceded by "to" or "for," in Italian the preposition used is "a." |
| Marco: For example? |
| Consuelo: "Compriamo un libro a Francesca." |
| Marco: "We buy a book for Francesca." |
| Consuelo: Or "Penso sempre a te." |
| Marco: "I always think about you." |
| Consuelo: Now, indirect object pronouns replace indirect object nouns. |
| Marco: "I give a present to Frank" would become "I give 'him' a present." |
| Consuelo: The form of the pronoun depends on the gender and the number of the noun it replaces. |
| Marco: Today we are covering the singular forms, which are… |
| Consuelo: "Mi." |
| Marco: In English, "to me" or "for me." |
| Consuelo: "Ti." |
| Marco: "To you" or "for you." |
| Consuelo: "Le." |
| Marco: This can be "to her" or "for her" or "to you" or "for you" when used at the courtesy form. |
| Consuelo: Then we have "gli." |
| Marco: "To him" or "for him." |
| Consuelo: Just like direct object pronouns, the "pronomi indiretti" always precede the verb, and in a negative statement they are placed between "non" and the verb. |
| Marco: For instance? |
| Consuelo: "Mi offri la cena?" |
| Marco: "Are you offering me dinner?" |
| Consuelo: In the dialogue, they use the pronoun "le," which replaces "to Melissa" or "to her," as in "Le preparo la torta." |
| Marco: "I'll prepare a cake for her." |
| Consuelo: Furthermore, indirect object pronouns are identical to direct object pronouns when combined with the modal verbs. |
| Marco: Such as "dovere," which means "must" or "to have to"; "potere," which means "can"; or "volere," which means "to want." In this case, they may either be attached to the infinitive, which drops the final "-e," or precede the conjugated verb. |
| Consuelo: In the conversation, we heard Alessio saying, "Ti devo chiedere un favore." |
| Marco: "I have to ask you a favor." |
| Consuelo: Take the phrase "Posso farLe una domanda?" |
| Marco: "Can I ask you a question?" |
| Consuelo: Here "Le" replaces the courtesy form "a lei." |
| Marco: Please remember that "le" and "gli" never drop the vowel before a verb beginning with a vowel or an "-h." |
| Consuelo: "Le insegno matematica." |
| Marco: "I teach her mathematics." |
| Consuelo: Or "Gli offro la cena." |
| Marco: "I offer him dinner." We'll continue analyzing "pronomi indiretti" in the next lesson. |
| Consuelo: And we'll give you also a list with the main verbs that require the preposition "a." |
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. |
8 Comments
HideSorpresa!
Surprise!
Hi Norman Blackett,
Nice comment. 👍
We use "lo" in this case to refer to the whole situation.
You could also say "la," but that would sound a bit childish.
Grazie,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
In the line: 'lei non lo deve scoprire', does the lo refer to it, as in 'she must not discover it' If so why is it lo and not la, given that 'it' refers to la feste or la sopresa. Perhaps 'it' refers to' il segreto' but this term comes after the reference to 'it'.
Thank you for the excellent dialogues.
Ciao Edmar,
Bravo! Sentences are well written. Just notice that the verb in the third sentence is SORPRENDERSI therefore:
Mi sono sorpreso quando una persona mi ha salutato perche' ho/avevo dimenticato che oggi e' il mio compleanno.
The reflexive verbs always take the auxiliary verb essere in the passato prossimo.
A presto
Chiara
Team Italianpod101.com
Non ho fatto una festa al mio compleanno scorso. I didn't had a party at my last birtday.
Di solito non festeggiamo i compleanni nella mia famiglia. We don't usually celebrate birthdays in my family.
Ho sorpreso quando una persona mi ha salutato perche' ho dimenticato che e' il mio compleanno. I was surprised when somebody greeted me because I forgot that it was my birthday.
Sta cercando gli indizi nascosti. He is looking for hidden clues.
Chiara,
Thanks! "...climatiche...." Wow! I would never have guessed that one. I should be able to remember both, but prefer "lo spero."
Ken
Hi Ken,
the sentence that Consuelo says is ' Le condizioni climatiche hanno mantenuto gli scavi intatti.' In English : 'The weather conditions have kept the excavations intact.'
Also, there is no difference between Lo spero and Spero di si'. You can use the one you find easier to remember ;)
Hope this helps
chiara
In this lesson Consuelo gives an example of 'mantenere' used to mean 'to preserve.' The sentence: "Le condizione che.... hanno mantenuto gli scavi in tatti." For the life of me I cannot hear(determine) the word(s) after 'che' and before 'hanno.' Per favore, dirmi la parola(le parole).Marco explains the sentence and mentions 'weather', but I cannot figure what Consuelo says that could possibly mean 'weather.'
Also, Consuelo dice: "Lo spero" to Marco. Is this a more common way than "spero di si"? Thanks for including it in the dialogue, it seems easier to say and less formal.
Thanks,for the word 'confidare' in the vocab. sample sentences. Nice addition to my vocab. even if it was not part of the original lesson.
In the grammar section "Le" should read "to you", "for you" (formal) NOT "to her" "for her" formal.
Otherwise, nice job of explaining, especially not to drop the vowel of 'le'or 'gli' before a word beginning with a vowel. That clears things up.