Dialogue

Vocabulary

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

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.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

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 imperfect tense, imperfetto.
Consuelo: This conversation takes place in a restaurant.
Marco: It's between Melissa, Ilaria, and Alessio.
Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian.
DIALOGUE
Melissa: Posso aprire i regali?
Ilaria: Certo!
Melissa: Apro prima la lettera. Ah un buono omaggio per l'estetista! Perfetto, sempre ben accetto!
Ilaria: E' quello accanto all'ufficio!
Melissa: Ah bene, comodo. E qui cosa c'è? Ah, un porta banana di plastica! Molto utile! Grazie!
Alessio: Sì, porti le banane nella borsa e le ammacchi sempre, a volte ti vedo mangiare una banana nera!
Melissa: E' vero, sai quando stavo in America non mangiavo quasi mai la frutta!
Alessio: Quando stavi in America non parlavi neanche italiano, adesso sei proprio brava.
Melissa: Grazie, lo ha detto anche la nonna.
English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Melissa: Posso aprire i regali?
Ilaria: Certo!
Melissa: Apro prima la lettera. Ah un buono omaggio per l'estetista! Perfetto, sempre ben accetto!
Ilaria: E' quello accanto all'ufficio!
Melissa: Ah bene, comodo. E qui cosa c'è? Ah, un porta banana di plastica! Molto utile! Grazie!
Alessio: Sì, porti le banane nella borsa e le ammacchi sempre, a volte ti vedo mangiare una banana nera!
Melissa: E' vero, sai quando stavo in America non mangiavo quasi mai la frutta!
Alessio: Quando stavi in America non parlavi neanche italiano, adesso sei proprio brava.
Melissa: Grazie, lo ha detto anche la nonna.
English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Melissa: Posso aprire i regali?
Marco: Can I open the presents?
Ilaria: Certo!
Marco: Certainly!
Melissa: Apro prima la lettera. Ah un buono omaggio per l'estetista! Perfetto, sempre ben accetto!
Marco: First, I'll open the letter. Ah, a gift voucher for the beautician! Perfect, always gladly welcome!
Ilaria: E' quello accanto all'ufficio!
Marco: It's the one near the office!
Melissa: Ah bene, comodo. E qui cosa c'è? Ah, un porta banana di plastica! Molto utile! Grazie!
Marco: Ah nice, convenient. And what do we have here? Ah, a plastic banana holder! Very useful! Thanks!
Alessio: Sì, porti le banane nella borsa e le ammacchi sempre, a volte ti vedo mangiare una banana nera!
Marco: Yes, you carry bananas in the bag and you always bruise them. I sometimes see you eat a black banana!
Melissa: E' vero, sai quando stavo in America non mangiavo quasi mai la frutta!
Marco: It's true; you know, when I was in the United States, I barely ate fruit!
Alessio: Quando stavi in America non parlavi neanche italiano, adesso sei proprio brava.
Marco: When you were in the United States, you also didn't speak Italian, and now you are really good.
Melissa: Grazie, lo ha detto anche la nonna.
Marco: Thank you, grandmother also said so.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Marco: Melissa got very useful gifts!
Consuelo: "Sì," especially the gift voucher for the beautician.
Marco: Girls like these kinds of presents. I should keep that in mind.
Consuelo: A massage in a beauty salon can really be a good idea for a gift!
Marco: And what about the banana guard?
Consuelo: That's useful as well! Especially for those used to eating bananas often. I think I'd need one!
Marco: Good to know; now we know what to give you for your birthday!
Consuelo: Hey, but my birthday is in six months!
Marco: "Lo so, lo so." "I know!" Eh eh!
Consuelo: The "buono omaggio" would be better though.
Marco: I knew it!
VOCAB LIST
Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
The first word we shall see is:
Consuelo: certo [natural native speed]
Marco: certainly, sure
Consuelo: certo [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: certo [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: lettera [natural native speed]
Marco: letter
Consuelo: lettera [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: lettera [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: buono omaggio [natural native speed]
Marco: gift voucher
Consuelo: buono omaggio [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: buono omaggio [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: estetista [natural native speed]
Marco: beautician
Consuelo: estetista [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: estetista [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: plastica [natural native speed]
Marco: plastic
Consuelo: plastica [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: plastica [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: ammaccare [natural native speed]
Marco: to bruise
Consuelo: ammaccare [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: ammaccare [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: frutta [natural native speed]
Marco: fruit
Consuelo: frutta [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: frutta [natural native speed]
: Next:
Consuelo: nonna [natural native speed]
Marco: grandmother
Consuelo: nonna [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Consuelo: nonna [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 expression are we studying today?
Consuelo: Today we're studying the expression "sempre ben accetto."
Marco: "Always welcome."
Consuelo: "Accetto" with a double "-c" and a double "-t" is the past participle of the verb "accettare."
Marco: "To accept." So the literal translation should be "well accepted."
Consuelo: Yes, "welcome" is "benvenuto," but in cases like today's conversation, it is preferred to use "ben accetto."
Marco: For example?
Consuelo: "Un nuovo amico è sempre ben accetto."
Marco: "A new friend is always welcome."
Consuelo: "I complimenti sono sempre ben accetti."
Marco: "Compliments are always welcome."
Consuelo: What if something is "unwelcome," Marco?
Marco: Oh, that should be "male accetto."
Consuelo: True, but we don't use "male accetto" that much.
Marco: No?
Consuelo: We say "non è bene accetto." For example, "Un vicino di casa rumoroso non è mai ben accetto."
Marco: Ah, okay, "A loud neighbor is never welcome." So true!

Lesson focus

Consuelo: Let's take a look at today's grammar point.
Marco: The "imperfetto" tense is a past tense used to describe habitual actions and states of being in the past.
Consuelo: In English, it corresponds to "used to," "would," or "was + -ing."
Marco: "Imperfetto" is a highly regular tense, and it is pretty easy to form.
Consuelo: You just have to drop the "-re" of the infinitive and add the same set of endings to verbs of all the three conjugations. The endings are "-vo," "-vi," "-va," "-vamo," "-vate," and "-vano."
Marco: I repeat, you add the same endings for "-are," "-ere," and "-ire" verbs. So in the dialogue, we had the verb "to speak."
Consuelo: "Parlare." "Io parla-vo."
Marco: "I spoke."
Consuelo: "Tu parlavi."
Marco: "You spoke."
Consuelo: "Lui, lei parlava."
Marco: "He, she, it spoke."
Consuelo: "Noi parlavamo."
Marco: "We spoke."
Consuelo: "Voi parlavate."
Marco: "You spoke."
Consuelo: "Loro parlavano."
Marco: "They spoke." In the next lesson, we'll explain in detail the different usages for "imperfetto." For the moment, though, let's just hear some examples using this tense.
Consuelo: In today's conversation, Melissa said, "Quando stavo in America non mangiavo quasi mai la frutta."
Marco: "When I was in the United States, I barely ate fruit."
Consuelo: "Mentre la mamma preparava la cena io facevo i compiti."
Marco: "While Mom was preparing dinner, I was doing my homework."
Consuelo: "I miei amici non leggevano fumetti."
Marco: "My friends didn't read comics."
Consuelo: "Quando ero bambina guardavo sempre i cartoni animati."
Marco: "When I was a child, I always used to watch cartoons."
Consuelo: "Ero" is the "imperfetto" of the verb "essere."
Marco: Please look up at the grammar section of the lesson notes to find out the entire conjugation for this verb.
Consuelo: Only "essere" and a few more verbs are irregular at the "imperfetto."
Marco: What are the other irregular verbs?
Consuelo: The verbs "bere," "dire," and "fare" have irregular stems in the "imperfetto."
Marco: For example?
Consuelo: For "bere," meaning "to drink," the "imperfetto" is "io bev-evo."
Marco: "I drank."
Consuelo: For the verb "dire," meaning "to say," it is "io dic-evo."
Marco: "I said."
Consuelo: The same is true for the verb "fare," which means "to do." It is "io fac-evo."
Marco: "I did."
Consuelo: Please remember to look at the lesson notes.
Marco: And keep practicing conjugating verbs at the "imperfetto" tense.
Consuelo: As we already mentioned, we'll cover all the different uses for this tense in the next lesson.

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.

Comments

Hide