Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Ciao a tutti! Sono Cinzia.
Marco: Marco here! I am always here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 17 - When Does Your Vacation in Italy Begin?
Cinzia: Yes, he is always here with me.
Marco: And it’s hot also today, isn’t it?
Cinzia: Yes, it’s… yes, it’s hot, Anto fa caldo.
Marco: Now, dear listeners, sorry for laughing at this Anto fa caldo, but it’s a very famous Italian commercial. Well, we’ll try to find the link and put it on YouTube, okay?
Cinzia: Yet, but what was the commercial about, Marco, do you remember?
Marco: I think it was about iced tea though.
Cinzia: Yes, bravo!
Marco: In this lesson, we will learn how to use "quando" and how to ask for dates and months.
Cinzia: This conversation takes place at a bowling alley.
Marco: And it is between Peter and Elena.
Cinzia: They are friends, therefore, they will be speaking informal Italian.
Marco: Don’t forget to click the center button of your iPod to see the lesson transcript.
Cinzia: So let’s move on.
Marco: I will be Peter while…
Cinzia: e io, Cinzia, will be Elena.
Marco: Okay.
DIALOGUE
Peter: Quando iniziano le tue vacanze estive?
Elena: Iniziano il cinque luglio.
Peter: E quando finiscono?
Elena: Il cinque agosto.
Peter: Sul serio?
Marco: Let's hear it slowly now.
Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente.
Peter: Quando iniziano le tue vacanze estive?
Elena: Iniziano il cinque luglio.
Peter: E quando finiscono?
Elena: Il cinque agosto.
Peter: Sul serio?
Marco: And now, with the translation.
Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione.
Peter: Quando iniziano le tue vacanze estive?
Peter: When do your summer vacations start?
Elena: Iniziano il cinque luglio.
Elena: They start on the fifth of July.
Peter: E quando finiscono?
Peter: And when do they finish?
Elena: Il cinque agosto.
Elena: On the fifth of August.
Peter: Sul serio?
Peter: Really?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Marco: Italian summer vacations are really long, aren’t they?
Cinzia: Yes, but I wouldn’t consider a month long.
Marco: Okay. So, for Cinzia, one month of vacation, usually paid vacation, isn’t long.
Cinzia: I wanna be on vacation forever.
Marco: Now, wouldn’t we all. Usually, high schools, junior high schools, elementary schools, well, any school except for university, has rather long summer vacations, right?
Cinzia: Yes, you’re right. And now, let’s take a look at today’s vocabulary.
Marco: Okay.
VOCAB LIST
Marco: And the first word is…
Cinzia: quando [natural native speed]
Marco: when
Cinzia: quando [slowly - broken down by syllable] quando [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: iniziare [natural native speed]
Marco: to begin
Cinzia: iniziare [slowly - broken down by syllable] iniziare [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: vacanze [natural native speed]
Marco: holidays, vacations
Cinzia: vacanze [slowly - broken down by syllable] vacanze [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: estive [natural native speed]
Marco: summer
Cinzia: estive [slowly - broken down by syllable] estive [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: luglio [natural native speed]
Marco: July
Cinzia: luglio [slowly - broken down by syllable] luglio [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: finire [natural native speed]
Marco: finish
Cinzia: finire [slowly - broken down by syllable] finire [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: agosto [natural native speed]
Marco: August
Cinzia: agosto [slowly - broken down by syllable] agosto [natural native speed]
Marco: And last expression…
Cinzia: sul serio [natural native speed]
Marco: really, seriously
Cinzia: sul serio [slowly - broken down by syllable] sul serio [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Marco: Now, dear listeners, please take a moment to notice one thing. We’ve said it in the past already, but it might be a good thing to say it one more time. In English, the names of the months have the first letter in uppercase. Instead in Italian, we have to keep the…
Cinzia: Lowercase letters.
Marco: So always lowercase letters for the names of months. Please remember that.
Cinzia: Let’s take a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions.
Marco: Benissimo.
Cinzia: The first word we will look at is quando.
Marco: Give us an example sentence please.
Cinzia: Quando mangiamo il gelato?
Marco: “When are we eating the ice cream?” Yes, we should actually eat an ice cream in this hot weather.
Cinzia: Yes, let’s go and buy an ice cream.
Marco: Let’s move on.
Cinzia: Okay. The next word we will see is vacanze.
Marco: And the example is?
Cinzia: vacanze invernali
Marco: “winter vacations”
Cinzia: Next word is estive.
Marco: One example sentence, please.
Cinzia: piogge estive
Marco: “summer rains”
Cinzia: Do you like summer rains?
Marco: Yes.
Cinzia: I love them.
Marco: In my hometown of San Remo, summer rains really cool down the temperature. We are lucky that San Remo is a seaside resort, but sometimes, the heat gets unbearable and the piogge estive really cool everything down.
Cinzia: And yes. And actually, I love swimming in the sea while it’s raining.
Marco: Yes, so please, dear listeners, come to Italy during summer and hope for a little bit of piogge estive.
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is finire.
Marco: And the example sentence is…
Cinzia: Finisco subito.
Marco: “I will finish right away.”
Cinzia: The next word is agosto.
Marco: And the sample sentence is…
Cinzia: Il diciannove agosto.
Marco: "The nineteenth of August."
Cinzia: And the last expression is sul serio.
Marco: One last example sentence then.
Cinzia: Usciamo sul serio?
Marco: "Are you really going out?" Now, this can be used, for example, when inquiring to a friend if you’re really going to go out that evening at a certain time, to a certain place, right?
Cinzia: Sì, bravo, Marco.
Marco: And now, let’s take a look at the grammar for this lesson.

Lesson focus

Marco: The first topic of today’s grammar is quando (when). So, Cinzia, let’s hear the first phrase that Peter said in the dialogue to start this topic.
Cinzia: Quando iniziano le tue vacanze estive?
Marco: “When do your summer vacation start?” Now, as you can see, Peter asked without specifying any particular day, just “when.”
Cinzia: So please remember that quando can be used for past, present, and future actions.
Marco: Yes, and the form of the question stays the same. Only the verb tense changes informing us about the time the question is referred to.
Cinzia: The next topic for today’s grammar is…
Marco: Taking about dates and months. In English, we usually use ordinal numbers (first, second, third, and so on). Instead in Italian, we use…
Cinzia: Cardinal numbers
Marco: Which are followed by the month, with or without the preposition…
Cinzia: di
Marco: Meaning "of." Since cardinal numbers are masculine, we shall use the definite masculine article il, always and only il. So, how do we say “the second of July”?
Cinzia: il due (di) luglio
Marco: And what about “the third of July”?
Cinzia: il tre (di) luglio
Marco: Now, there is an exception, right?
Cinzia: Yes, you are right, Marco, and this exception is the first day of the month that in Italian is il primo. So, “the first of July” would be…
Marco: Il primo (di) luglio. So, let’s start from one and go up to five, okay?
Cinzia: Okay. Il primo (di) luglio.
Marco: “the first of July”
Cinzia: il due (di) luglio
Marco: “the second of July”
Cinzia: il tre (di) luglio
Marco: “the third of July”
Cinzia: il quattro (di) luglio
Marco: “the fourth of July”
Cinzia: Il cinque (di) luglio
Marco: “The fifth of July.” So very simple.
Cinzia: And the final topic of today’s grammar is sul serio.
Marco: “Really?”
Cinzia: Sul serio?
Marco: “Really?” Yeah, we’re never gonna end this, so come on. Yeah, the topic is sul serio.
Cinzia: This Italian expression, sul serio, is similar to davvero and veramente.
Marco: Yes. They all mean “really.”
Cinzia: Yes, and they are used to express surprise, um…
Marco: Well, astonishment?
Cinzia: Yes, and they’re usually equivalent.
Marco: Sul serio?
Cinzia: Sì certo.
Marco: “Yes, certainly.”

Outro

Cinzia: So, thank you very much dear listeners. It’s all for today’s lesson. Grazie a tutti, arrivederci.
Marco: Ciao!

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