Learn about idiomatic expressions and the usage of the preposition di
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 32 - Find the Right Balance Between Italian Pizza and Italian Nightlife! |
| 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. |
| Cinzia: In this lesson, you will learn about idiomatic expressions and the usage of the preposition "di." |
| Marco: This conversation takes place at university. |
| Cinzia: And it is between Peter and Anna. |
| Marco: The speakers are friends, therefore, they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Cinzia: Listeners, I have a question. |
| Marco: A question? |
| Cinzia: Yep. I want to know when was the last time you commented. |
| Marco: Oh yes, great question! |
| Cinzia: So stop by ItalianPod101.com, leave us a comment or just say hi. |
| Marco: Okay, you heard Cinzia. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Peter: Eri in giro ieri sera? |
| Anna: No, ieri sono rimasta a casa. |
| Peter: A casa? Come mai? |
| Anna: Si, non avevo voglia di uscire. |
| Peter: E cosa hai fatto? |
| Anna: Niente di speciale, ho ordinato una pizza e guardato un film. |
| Peter: Io invece ho incontrato Luca, ma sono tornato presto. |
| Marco: One more time, slowly.. |
| Peter: Eri in giro ieri sera? |
| Anna: No, ieri sono rimasta a casa. |
| Peter: A casa? Come mai? |
| Anna: Si, non avevo voglia di uscire. |
| Peter: E cosa hai fatto? |
| Anna: Niente di speciale, ho ordinato una pizza e guardato un film. |
| Peter: Io invece ho incontrato Luca, ma sono tornato presto. |
| Marco: Once again, this time, with a translation. |
| Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione. |
| Peter: Eri in giro ieri sera? |
| Peter: Were you hanging around last night? |
| Anna: No, ieri sono rimasta a casa. |
| Anna: No, yesterday I stayed in. |
| Peter: A casa? Come mai? |
| Peter: At home? How come? |
| Anna: Si, non avevo voglia di uscire. |
| Anna: Yeah, I was not in the mood for going out. |
| Peter: E cosa hai fatto? |
| Peter: What did you do then? |
| Anna: Niente di speciale, ho ordinato una pizza e guardato un film. |
| Anna: Nothing special, I ordered a pizza and watched a movie. |
| Peter: Io invece ho incontrato Luca, ma sono tornato presto. |
| Peter: Instead I met Luca, but I went back home early. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: So, niente di speciale is an expression you can hear very often. |
| Marco: Yes, indeed, especially if the people talking are youngsters. |
| Cinzia: Oh, right! So, I guess you don’t use it. |
| Marco: Actually, I do. You were hinting at my age. |
| Cinzia: Who, me? No! |
| Marco: Well, I’m not that much older than you, am I? |
| Cinzia: Okay, okay, okay. On with the vocabulary now. |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Today’s first word is… |
| Cinzia: giro [natural native speed] |
| Marco: circle, round |
| Cinzia: giro [slowly - broken down by syllable] giro [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word is… |
| Cinzia: essere in giro [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to hang around |
| Cinzia: essere in giro [slowly - broken down by syllable] essere in giro [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: rimanere a casa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to stay in |
| Cinzia: rimanere a casa [slowly - broken down by syllable] rimanere a casa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: avere voglia [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to be in the mood for |
| Cinzia: avere voglia [slowly - broken down by syllable] avere voglia [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word… |
| Cinzia: ordinare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to order |
| Cinzia: ordinare [slowly - broken down by syllable] ordinare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next word is… |
| Cinzia: invece [natural native speed] |
| Marco: instead |
| Cinzia: invece [slowly - broken down by syllable] invece [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Today’s last word is… |
| Cinzia: tornare a casa [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to go back home |
| Cinzia: tornare a casa [slowly - broken down by syllable] tornare a casa [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is giro. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Facciamo un giro? |
| Marco: "Shall we take a walk?" |
| Cinzia: Next, we have an expression, essere in giro. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Siamo stati in giro tutta la notte. |
| Marco: "We've been hanging around all night long." |
| Cinzia: Next, we have another expression, rimanere a casa. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Rimango a casa tutto il giorno oggi. |
| Marco: "Today I will stay in all day." |
| Cinzia: Next, we have one more expression, avere voglia. |
| Marco: Sample sentence, Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Non ho voglia di lavorare! |
| Marco: I'm not in the mood for working! |
| Cinzia: Next, we have a verb, ordinare. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Ordiniamo un antipasto? |
| Marco: "Shall we order an appetizer?" |
| Cinzia: Yeah, why not. |
| Marco: Now? |
| Cinzia: Yeah. |
| Marco: It’s mid-afternoon. |
| Cinzia: Which is in Italian? |
| Marco: metà pomeriggio |
| Cinzia: Ah! Okay, maybe you’re right. Well, okay, let’s take a look at the next word, which is invece. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Invece di perdere tempo, lavora! |
| Marco: "Work instead of wasting time!" |
| Cinzia: Next, we have an expression. |
| Marco: Very nice expression, actually. |
| Cinzia: tornare a casa |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is… |
| Cinzia: Torno a casa tardi stasera. |
| Marco: "Tonight I'll be back (home) late." |
| Cinzia: And now, let’s take a look at today’s grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: In today’s dialogue, we found in Anna's line the structure niente di speciale to translate the English "nothing/anything special." |
| Marco: As you can see, in Italian, we use the preposition di "of" to convey many different cases. |
| Cinzia: Yes, for example… |
| Marco: To indicate possession. |
| Cinzia: Il libro di Maria. |
| Marco: Maria's book. |
| Cinzia: To indicate what an object is made of. |
| Marco: Il tavolo di legno. |
| Cinzia: The wooden table. |
| Marco: To indicate origin using the verb essere + di, followed by the name of the city. |
| Cinzia: Cristiano è di Napoli. |
| Marco: Cristiano is from Napoli. Then, with certain verbs that express feelings. |
| Cinzia: Innamorarsi di qualcuno. |
| Marco: To fall in love with someone. |
| Cinzia: Vergognarsi di qualcosa. |
| Marco: To be ashamed of something. |
| Cinzia: Pentirsi di qualcosa. |
| Marco: To regret something. And the last case is, in many particular grammatical constructions. For example… |
| Cinzia: Di sera |
| Marco: “In the evening” |
| Cinzia: Di notte |
| Marco: “At night” |
| Cinzia: D'estate |
| Marco: “During the summer/In the summer time” |
| Cinzia: Or nulla di speciale |
| Marco: “Nothing special” |
| Cinzia: Niente di particolare |
| Marco: Nothing particular. |
| Cinzia: Today’s next topic is the word giro. This word in Italian can have many different meanings and it can be used in several different cases. First of all, let's take a look at its different English translations. |
| Marco: Its translations can be circle, turn, tour, excursion, stroll, walk (if it’s by foot), drive, ride (if it’s by car, motorbike, bike, etc.). |
| Cinzia: Yes, exactly. But now, let’s see which are the typical Italian expressions in which the word giro is used. In the dialogue, we have seen in Peter's line - Eri in giro ieri sera? |
| Marco: “Were you hanging around last night?” So essere in giro can be used to translate the idiomatic expression "hanging around." Then we have… |
| Cinzia: fare un giro |
| Marco: “to go for a walk; a drive; a ride” |
| Cinzia: fare il giro di |
| Marco: “to go round” |
| Cinzia: andare in giro |
| Marco: “to go about, walk around” |
| Cinzia: guardarsi in giro |
| Marco: “to look around” |
| Cinzia: And then, one of my favorite ones - prendere in giro qualcuno. |
| Marco: “pull somebody’s leg” |
| Cinzia: And then nel giro di un mese |
| Marco: “in a month's time” |
| Cinzia: essere nel giro |
| Marco: to belong to a circle |
| Cinzia: What about giro turistico? |
| Marco: Ah, very common, very common. It means “sightseeing tour.” |
| Cinzia: And one more, giro guidato. |
| Marco: “a guided tour.” |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. A presto. |
| Cinzia: See you soon! |
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