Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Ciao!
Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 24 - Will You Go Sight Seeing in Rome or Go Eat Lunch in Florence?
Cinzia: Hello, everyone! I’m Cinzia and welcome to ItalianPod101!
Marco: With us, you’ll learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons.
Cinzia: We also provide you with cultural insights…
Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook In this lesson, you will learn about the verbs "andare," "scendere," "salire," in the presente indicativo conjugation.
Cinzia: This conversation takes place on a bus…
Marco: And it’s between Peter and a bus driver.
Cinzia: They will be speaking formal Italian.
Marco: Now, before we listen to the conversation…
Cinzia: We want to ask…
Marco: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen?
Cinzia: We received an email about the study tip.
Marco: So, we were wondering if you’ve tried it. And if so…
Cinzia: What do you think of it?
Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comment section of this lesson. Okay, let’s listen to the conversation!
DIALOGUE
Peter: Mi scusi.
Driver: Sì?
Peter: Questo autobus va a Santa Maria Novella?
Driver: No, deve scendere alla prossima fermata e prendere il numero ventitre.
Peter: Grazie!
Driver: Prego!
Marco: Let's hear it slowly now.
Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente.
Peter: Mi scusi.
Driver: Sì?
Peter: Questo autobus va a Santa Maria Novella?
Driver: No, deve scendere alla prossima fermata e prendere il numero ventitre.
Peter: Grazie!
Driver: Prego!
Marco: And now, with the translation.
Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione.
Peter: Mi scusi.
Peter: Excuse me.
Driver: Sì?
Driver: Yes?
Peter: Questo autobus va a Santa Maria Novella?
Peter: Does this bus go to Santa Maria Novella?
Driver: No, deve scendere alla prossima fermata e prendere il numero ventitre.
Driver: No, you need to get off at the next stop and then take the number 23.
Peter: Grazie!
Peter: Thank you!
Driver: Prego!
Driver: You're welcome!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Marco: So actually, you shouldn’t be speaking to the driver, should you? I mean, shouldn’t I?
Cinzia: Oh yes! This is so true. In fact, on buses and trams in Italy, you can find the writing: Non parlare con il conducente.
Marco: “Don’t speak to the driver.”
Cinzia: Yes. Because, well…it can be a cause of distraction.
Marco: Exactly, certainly! If you need help, ask them, but if you can, ask them when they are stopped.
Cinzia: Oh yes, of course. When they stop at the bus stop, you can ask.
Marco: Exactly! So maybe slowly move to the front and then when you see that they stop, ask them scusi and then ask the destination.
Cinzia: Yes. Should we take a look at the vocabulary list today.
Marco: Yes, let’s take a look at it.
Cinzia: Okay.
VOCAB LIST
Cinzia: The first word is…
Cinzia: questo [natural native speed]
Marco: this
Cinzia: questo [slowly - broken down by syllable] questo [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: autobus [natural native speed]
Marco: bus
Cinzia: autobus [slowly - broken down by syllable] autobus [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: andare [natural native speed]
Marco: to go
Cinzia: andare [slowly - broken down by syllable] andare [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: scendere [natural native speed]
Marco: to get off, get out, get down, go down
Cinzia: scendere [slowly - broken down by syllable] scendere [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: salire [natural native speed]
Marco: to get on, to get in, to go up
Cinzia: salire [slowly - broken down by syllable] salire [natural native speed]
Marco: Next
Cinzia: fermata [natural native speed]
Marco: bus stop
Cinzia: fermata [slowly - broken down by syllable] fermata [natural native speed]
Marco: And last word…
Cinzia: ventitré [natural native speed]
Marco: twenty three
Cinzia: ventitré [slowly - broken down by syllable] ventitré [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Cinzia: And now, let’s take a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions.
Marco: The first word we will look at is…
Cinzia: questo
Marco: And the example sentence is…
Cinzia: Questo libro è interessante.
Marco: "This book is interesting."
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is autobus.
Marco: And the example sentence is…
Cinzia: Hai preso l'autobus per tornare a casa?
Marco: "Did you take the bus to come back home?"
Cinzia: We could use pullman. Do you remember, Marco, the word pullman.
Marco: Yes, yes, yes. We had an explanation I’m sure our listeners know about it.
Cinzia: Yes, listeners. Do you like pullman or autobus? I like pullman.
Marco: Me too. I don’t know why.
Cinzia: Actually, autobus is polite, isn’t it?
Marco: I don’t know.
Cinzia: You can hear it in polite dialogues.
Marco: Because it’s the actual name. It’s an autobus, like automobile “car.” But we usually call a “car” macchina.
Cinzia: Oh yes.
Marco: So…
Cinzia: Not auto or automobile. But you can often hear pullman.
Marco: Yeah. prendo il pullman or prendo l‘autobus. Maybe pullman is easier for us to pronunciate.
Cinzia: Anyway, let’s take a look at the next word which is andare.
Marco: And the example is…
Cinzia: I miei amici vanno in vacanza in Sardegna.
Marco: “My friends went on holiday to Sardinia.”
Cinzia: Oh, Sardinia again.
Marco: No, don’t say it again.
Cinzia: Holidays in Sardinia, huh! I wish I was there.
Marco: Yes. They have excellent beaches, really. Pristine beaches. Nobody bothering you for miles and miles. Actually, kilometers and kilometers. Sorry, we use the metric system.
Cinzia: Do you wanna talk about Sardinian food?
Marco: No, I wanna talk about the next verb, that is…I mean, the next word, that is…
Cinzia: scendere
Marco: And the example sentence is…
Cinzia: Scendi al secondo piano.
Marco: "Go down to the second floor."
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is salire.
Marco: And the example sentence is…
Cinzia: Salgo al primo piano.
Marco: "I go up to the first floor."
Cinzia: The next word is fermata.
Marco: And the example is…
Cinzia: A quale fermata devo scendere?
Marco: "At which stop do I have to get off?" Okay, so let’s take a look at the last word that is…
Cinzia: ventitré
Marco: And the example sentence is…
Cinzia: Ho ventitre anni.
Marco: “I’m twenty-three.” Is that true?
Cinzia: Yes, of course!
Marco: Really?!
Cinzia: No, I’m 25.
Marco: You said it! You said it.
Cinzia: Oh my god!
Marco: Oh god. Oh well, it had to come out sooner or later.
Cinzia: Anyway, Marco, I don’t see the problem. You are the old one.
Marco: Yes. Walking stick and…
Cinzia: Inside and outside, haha!
Marco: Okay! Let’s take a look at today’s grammar.

Lesson focus

Cinzia: What do we have in today’s grammar, Marco?
Marco: We have the verb andare (to go).
Cinzia: Oh, we have seen the verb andare so many times, but I never get tired of it.
Marco: No, no, we never get tired of it, do we, as Italians? No, no, no.
Cinzia: No, no, no, no.
Marco: No, no, no, no.
Cinzia: Andare (to go) is one of the most used verbs in Italian.
Marco: Yes, it is. But our listeners have to be careful because its presente indicativo conjugation is rather irregular, isn’t it?
Cinzia: Oh yes, it’s very irregular. In fact, we have two different stems: “va” + ending and “and” + ending.
Marco: So, let’s give them the conjugations, so it’s easier for them.
Cinzia: Yes. io vado
Marco: “I go”
Cinzia: tu vai
Marco: “you go”
Cinzia: lui/lei va
Marco: “he/she goes”
Cinzia: loro vanno
Marco: “they go”
Cinzia: As you can see, the first, the second, the third person singular, and the third person plural require the stem va + the ending.
Marco: Very straightforward.
Cinzia: But we have to notice that the first and the second person plural require the stem “and.” In fact, we have…
Marco: noi andiamo
Cinzia: “we go”
Marco: voi andate
Cinzia: “You go.” So, it’s very straightforward.
Marco: It is, it is, because there’s not so much skipping here and there.
Cinzia: So you have to be careful just in presente indicativo mode. And the remaining indicativo mode tenses follow the regular formation.
Marco: That is “and-” + ending.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: And what about prepositions that follow this verb? I mean the verb andare?
Cinzia: We have so many different prepositions, but the most common is “a” which can be translated in English as “to.”
Marco: So, for example, the sentence “we go to school,” in Italian would be…
Cinzia: Noi andiamo a scuola.
Marco: So a scuola, right?
Cinzia: Oh yes.
Marco: Perfect.
Cinzia: Be careful because sometimes, you can find the preposition “a,” but it’s not used as a simple preposition, but as an articled preposition. For example…
Marco: Vado al mare.
Cinzia: "I'll go to the beach." What other prepositions do we know for the verb andare?
Marco: Oh, well, we have the preposition “in” that is like the English…
Cinzia: “in”
Marco: And the preposition “da.”
Cinzia: Yes, which literally means “from/by,” but in this case, is used as “to.”
Marco: For example…
Cinzia: Vado dal dottore.
Marco: "I'll go to the doctor."
Cinzia: So, be careful and try to recognize the different cases in which we use the different prepositions after the verb andare.
Marco: But I’m sure we shall have a lesson only on andare and its prepositions.
Cinzia: Oh yes, we better do.
Marco: But for now, we don’t want to make these lessons too heavy for you. We have just seen a few examples.
Cinzia: The next topic in today’s grammar will be the different equivalents of salire and scendere, which are…
Marco: In case of salire, they are to get on, to get in, to go up.
Cinzia: As you can see in the vocabulary list, we have, in English, so different meanings to translate the verb salire and scendere.
Marco: Yes, exactly. For example, “to get on a bus” in Italian would be…
Cinzia: salire su un autobus
Marco: And “to get in a car”
Cinzia: salire macchina
Marco: So the same verb.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: And let’s talk now about scendere that in English would be…
Cinzia: “to get off, to get out, to go down, to get down”
Marco: If I wanted to say “ to get off a bus,” how would I say it in Italian?
Cinzia: scendere da un autobus
Marco: And “to get out of a car”?
Cinzia: scendere dalla macchina
Marco: Also in this case, we only use scendere.
Cinzia: Yes. So, dear listeners, it’s gonna be so easy to translate your English verbs just in two Italian verbs, salire and scendere.
Marco: Because these verbs are used to express every vertical movement that goes respectively upwards…
Cinzia: salire
Marco: Or downwards…
Cinzia: scendere

Outro

Cinzia: Thank you very much. It’s all for today’s lesson and see you next time!
Marco: And don’t forget to press the center button on your iPod to see the lesson transcript.
Cinzia: Bravo, Marco. Thank you! Bye-bye!
Marco: Ciao!

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