Learn how to say "when"
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| 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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