Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Buongiorno tutti! Mi chiamo Cinzia.
Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 12 - Italian Family Introductions - He is Your Brother?
Marco: Buongiorno tutti!
Cinzia: Thank you for joining us at ItalianPod101.com, we are going to teach Italian in a fun and interesting way.
Marco: We will be guiding you to basic grammar and vocabulary.
Cinzia: And don’t forget that we’re going to discuss different aspects of the language, culture, and customs that you’ll find in Italy.
Marco: In this lesson, we shall review all forms of the possessive adjectives previously seen.
Cinzia: This conversation takes place in an Italian house.
Marco: And it is between Peter and Anna.
Cinzia: And they are friends, therefore they will be speaking informal Italian.
Marco: Now, be sure to check out the learning center for lesson-specific tools and general reference material. I will be Peter, while Cinzia will be…
Cinzia: Anna.
DIALOGUE
Peter: Questo è il mio babbo, questa è la mia mamma e questi sono i miei fratelli: la mia sorella minore, Jennifer, e il mio fratello maggiore, Mike.
Anna: Tuo fratello Mike è davvero bello!
Peter: Cosa? Non è vero!
Anna: Sì, i suoi occhi sono molto belli. Anche il tuo babbo è un bell'uomo. E a te cos' è successo?!
Marco: Let's hear it slowly now.
Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente.
Peter: Questo è il mio babbo, questa è la mia mamma e questi sono i miei fratelli: la mia sorella minore, Jennifer, e il mio fratello maggiore, Mike.
Anna: Tuo fratello Mike è davvero bello!
Peter: Cosa? Non è vero!
Anna: Sì, i suoi occhi sono molto belli. Anche il tuo babbo è un bell'uomo. E a te cos' è successo?!
Marco: And now, with the translation.
Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione.
Peter: Questo è il mio babbo, questa è la mia mamma e questi sono i miei fratelli: la mia sorella minore, Jennifer, e il mio fratello maggiore, Mike.
Peter: This is my dad, this is my mom, and these are my brothers, my younger sister Jennifer, and my older brother Mike.
Anna: Tuo fratello Mike è davvero bello!
Anna: Your brother Mike is really handsome!
Peter: Cosa? Non è vero!
Peter: What? It's not true!
Anna: Sì, i suoi occhi sono molto belli. Anche il tuo babbo è un bell'uomo. E a te cos' è successo?!
Anna: Yes, he is. His eyes are very beautiful. Your dad is a handsome man, too. What happened to you?!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Cinzia: So, Marco, do you have any brothers and sisters?
Marco: Yes, yes, I have an older sister.
Cinzia: Really? What’s her name?
Marco: Her name is Barbara.
Cinzia: Do you get on?
Marco: I have to ask her, I think?
Cinzia: Why?
Marco: I don’t know. I’m usually the one making all the ruckus and noise and so…
Cinzia: As an older sister, maybe I can understand her. I have a younger brother.
Marco: So, it’s the same, maybe point of view, right? The younger brothers are always in the dirt, making noise, and the olders sisters cleaning us up and mending us, maybe.
Cinzia: Yeah, I love my brother. He’s actually the good giant of the family.
Marco: A good giant?
Cinzia: Yes, because, actually, he’s massive. He does athletics.
Marco: Okay.
Cinzia: He’s always around Italy doing competitions.
Marco: Whoa, so he’s a sports type.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: He’s a big hulky guy who does sports every day.
Cinzia: Yes, but as I told you, he’s a good giant, so we really get on.
Marco: How do we say in Italian, good giant?
Cinzia: Un gigante buono.
Marco: Okay then. On we go with the vocabulary.
VOCAB LIST
Marco: First
Cinzia: babbo [natural native speed]
Marco: dad, father
Cinzia: babbo [slowly - broken down by syllable] babbo [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: mamma [natural native speed]
Marco: mom
Cinzia: mamma [slowly - broken down by syllable] mamma [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: fratelli [natural native speed]
Marco: brothers
Cinzia: fratelli [slowly - broken down by syllable] fratelli [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: sorella [natural native speed]
Marco: sister
Cinzia: sorella [slowly - broken down by syllable] sorella [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: fratello [natural native speed]
Marco: brother
Cinzia: fratello [slowly - broken down by syllable] fratello [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: maggiore [natural native speed]
Marco: greater, older
Cinzia: maggiore [slowly - broken down by syllable] maggiore [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: minore [natural native speed]
Marco: lesser, younger
Cinzia: minore [slowly - broken down by syllable] minore [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: occhi [natural native speed]
Marco: eyes
Cinzia: occhi [slowly - broken down by syllable] occhi [natural native speed]
Marco: And last word…
Cinzia: uomo [natural native speed]
Marco: man
Cinzia: uomo [slowly - broken down by syllable] uomo [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Cinzia: Let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. The first word we will look at is babbo.
Marco: Can you give us a sample sentence, please?
Cinzia: Il mio babbo.
Marco: “My dad.” Now, talking about babbo, it’s not actually the correct way to say “father.” Yes, it is correct, but it’s not the textbook way, isn’t it?
Cinzia: Yes, it’s true, Marco.
Marco: How many other ways do we have to say “dad” in Italian?
Cinzia: Hmm, good question, Marco. In Italian, it’s a little bit complicated because we use babbo and even papà to call our dads, don’t we?
Marco: Yes, yes. I call my father papà, for example. What about you?
Cinzia: Mm, I call him babbo.
Marco: Babbo? But wait, isn’t babbo supposed to be used in Florence, in the Florence region?
Cinzia: Yes. Babbo is used in Tuscany, but it can depend on the family habits, because, for example, my mom taught me to call my dad babbo and not papà.
Marco: Okay. So, be careful listeners. Although babbo may have originated from Florence, in the Tuscany region, you can hear it all over Italy now.
Cinzia: Yes, but you’re forgetting something, Marco. You can also hear padre.
Marco: Yes. Padre means “father.” It’s the way, hmm… it’s the formal way to say “father.” So babbo and papà, putting aside regional usage, are the English “dad.”
Cinzia: While padre is the English “father.”
Marco: But sometimes, you can hear also another way, a very short way to call your father, actually, your dad and that is pa.
Cinzia: And also ba.
Marco: So, papà can become pa.
Cinzia: And then babbo becomes ba.
Marco: Very easy.
Cinzia: It’s fun, isn’t it?
Marco: It is, it is. So, maybe, the shorter it is, the more friendly it is, right?
Cinzia: Yes, of course. Okay, the next word is mamma.
Marco: Let’s have an example.
Cinzia: La tua mamma.
Marco: “Your mom.” Now Cinzia, also for a mom, I mean mamma, we have many ways to say it, don’t we?
Cinzia: Yes, but be careful because we have to distinguish “mother” and “mom” like in Italian, madre and mamma.
Marco: So, mamma is…
Cinzia: “mom”
Marco: And madre is…
Cinzia: “mother”
Marco: So, how do you call your mom?
Cinzia: Well, I usually call her mamma. In a sweet way, I call her mammina.
Marco: Mammina?
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: Oh, that’s a diminutive, no!
Cinzia: Why?
Marco: I mean, grammatically speaking, we have to explain it. Okay, for now, listeners, just remember that mamma is “mother,” but we also- Cinzia sometimes uses, to call “mother” is mammina. It’s means…
Cinzia: “Mommy.” Next word is fratello.
Marco: One example, please.
Cinzia: Suo fratello.
Marco: “His/her brother.”
Cinzia: The next word we will see is sorella.
Marco: And the example is…
Cinzia: Tua sorella si chiama Barbara.
Marco: “Your sister is called Barbara.” Yes, how did you know? Oh, we talked about it before. Okay!
Cinzia: The next word we will see is occhi.
Marco: And the example is…
Cinzia: Mike ha gli occhi verdi.
Marco: “Mike has green eyes.” And what color are your eyes, Cinzia? And everybody would like to know that, I’m sure.
Cinzia: I have green eyes, Marco.
Marco: Oh! So, you have occhi verdi.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: So I can say, Cinzia ha gli occhi verdi.
Cinzia: Yes, of course. The last word for today is uomo.
Marco: So, one last example.
Cinzia: Un uomo intelligente.
Marco: “A smart man.”
Cinzia: Like you, Marco.
Marco: Yes, like me.
Cinzia: Okay, okay. This wraps it up for the vocabulary usage.
Marco: Onto the grammar point.

Lesson focus

Cinzia: In today's lesson, we shall review all forms of the possessive adjectives previously seen.
Marco: Yes! And like all Italian adjectives, they need to be matched in gender and number with the noun they refer to.
Cinzia: The only exception is the possessive “their” (loro) that never changes.
Marco: Yes, so be careful, loro never changes. The following explanation should help to clarify this point.
Cinzia: So now, let’s take a look at the masculine singular possessive adjectives: mio, tuo, suo, nostro, vostro, loro.
Marco: And now, let’s see the masculine plural: miei, tuoi, suoi, nostri, vostri, loro.
Cinzia: And now, let’s take a look at the feminine singular possessive adjectives: mia, tua, sua, nostra, vostra, loro.
Marco: And finally, the feminine plural: mie, tue, sue, nostre, vostre, and loro. And as you have noticed, loro never changes. Furthermore, remember that the singular possessive adjectives are usually preceded by a definite article il or la, except for a few cases like family members.
Cinzia: So, “my brother” in Italian, is mio fratello. Whereas, "my bag" is la mia borsa.
Marco: Instead, the plural possessive objectives, I repeat, the plural possessive objectives are always preceded by a definite article. Also in the case of family members.
Cinzia: Therefore, “my brothers” in Italian is i miei fratelli, just like "my bags" is le mie borse.
Marco: What about “my sisters,” how would you say that in Italian?
Cinzia: Le mie sorelle.
Marco: What about “my shoes”?
Cinzia: Le mie scarpe.
Marco: So, always the definite articles.

Outro

Marco: So this is the end for today’s lesson.
Cinzia: Oh! This is such a shame! Be sure to check out the vocabulary list with audio in the Learning center at ItalianPod101.com. Also, ask us a question in the forum or leave us a comment.
Marco: So see you soon!
Cinzia: Ciao! Ci vediamo presto!

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