Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Ciao a tutti!
Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 33 - I went to visit some friends in Trentino. Hello and welcome to the beginner series at ItalianPod101.com, where we study modern Italian in a fun, educational format.
Cinzia: So, brush up on the Italian that you started learning long ago or start learning today!
Marco: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Cinzia, what are we looking at in this lesson?
Cinzia: In this lesson, we will study how to use the partitive in Italian.
Marco: This conversation takes place in a cafe.
Cinzia: And it’s between Luca and Elena.
Marco: The speakers are friends, so they will be speaking informal Italian.
Cinzia: Remember commenting each day…
Marco: And posting in the forum are two great ways to get answers.
Cinzia: Community members…
Marco: And staff are all ready to help.
Cinzia: Definitely take advantage. Okay.
Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Elena: Ciao Luca, come va?
Luca: Bene, grazie. E tu? Hai trascorso delle belle vacanze?
Elena: Sì, mi sono divertita molto.
Luca: Dove sei stata?
Elena: In montagna. Ho fatto qualche passeggiata a cavallo.
Luca: Davvero? E poi?
Elena: Poi sono andata a trovare alcuni amici in Trentino.
Luca: Come ti invidio!
Marco: Let's hear it slowly now.
Cinzia: Ascoltiamolo lentamente.
Elena: Ciao Luca, come va?
Luca: Bene, grazie. E tu? Hai trascorso delle belle vacanze?
Elena: Sì, mi sono divertita molto.
Luca: Dove sei stata?
Elena: In montagna. Ho fatto qualche passeggiata a cavallo.
Luca: Davvero? E poi?
Elena: Poi sono andata a trovare alcuni amici in Trentino.
Luca: Come ti invidio!
Marco: And now, with the translation.
Cinzia: E ora, con la traduzione.
Elena: Ciao Luca, come va?
Elena: Hi Luca, how is it going?
Luca: Bene, grazie. E tu? Hai trascorso delle belle vacanze?
Luca: Fine, thanks. And you? Did you spend some nice holidays?
Elena: Sì, mi sono divertita molto.
Elena: Yes, I had a lot of fun.
Luca: Dove sei stata?
Luca:Where did you go?
Elena: In montagna. Ho fatto qualche passeggiata a cavallo.
Elena: To the mountains. I did some horse riding.
Luca: Davvero? E poi?
Luca: Really? What else?
Elena: Poi sono andata a trovare alcuni amici in Trentino.
Elena: Then I went to visit some friends in Trentino.
Luca: Come ti invidio!
Luca: How I envy you!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Cinzia: Marco my dear, do you prefer beach or mountains?
Marco: Well, if I had to choose for my holidays, I’d rather go and spend some time to the beach.
Cinzia: I simply love the beach, but I think a holiday to the mountains can become a different and original holiday, don’t you think?
Marco: Yes, especially in Italy where during summertime, the majority of the people go al mare. Few people actually go up into the mountains.
Cinzia: Yes, they like spending some time in agriturismi, so dealing with nature and animals, so…
Marco: Yes. A lot of Italians also do trekking or they do some free climbing.
Cinzia: Yeah, hiking. Okay, after this, I think we can move on.
Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Marco: Today’s first word is…
Cinzia: trascorrere [natural native speed]
Marco: to spend, pass (time)
Cinzia: trascorrere [slowly - broken down by syllable] trascorrere [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word…
Cinzia: vacanze [natural native speed]
Marco: holidays, vacation
Cinzia: vacanze [slowly - broken down by syllable] vacanze [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word…
Cinzia: divertirsi [natural native speed]
Marco: to have fun, enjoy oneself
Cinzia: divertirsi [slowly - broken down by syllable] divertirsi [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word is…
Cinzia: montagna [natural native speed]
Marco: mountain
Cinzia: montagna [slowly - broken down by syllable] montagna [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word…
Cinzia: passeggiata [natural native speed]
Marco: walk, ride
Cinzia: passeggiata [slowly - broken down by syllable] passeggiata [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word is…
Cinzia: andare a trovare [natural native speed]
Marco: to visit
Cinzia: andare a trovare [slowly - broken down by syllable] andare a trovare [natural native speed]
Marco: Today’s last word is…
Cinzia: invidiare [natural native speed]
Marco: to envy
Cinzia: invidiare [slowly - broken down by syllable] invidiare [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 trascorrere.
Marco: And the sample sentence is…
Cinzia: Ho trascorso davvero una bella vacanza.
Marco: "I actually spent a very nice holiday."
Cinzia: The next word is vacanze.
Marco: And the sample sentence is
Cinzia: Come sono andate le tue vacanze?
Marco: "How were your holidays?"
Cinzia: The word vacanze is one of those words we Italians can use in plural, right?
Marco: Yes. I think it’s because we love to have vacanze, many!
Cinzia: Yes, many, many vacanze. We actually like thinking that we could go to many places.
Marco: Yes. You can hear also vacanza, but it’s more specific for some organized holiday or something you would plan. Its close.
Cinzia: Yes, it’s a planned trip.
Marco: Dove vai in vacanza? “Where are you going in vacation?” But it’s those, maybe three days, four days.
Cinzia: Yes. Instead, if we say “Come sono andate le tue vacanze?” means “How did your holidays go?”
Marco: So, a lot of time.
Cinzia: So now, let’s take a look at the next word, which is divertirsi.
Marco: And the sample sentence is…
Cinzia: Non mi sono divertita alla festa.
Marco: "I didn't enjoy the party."
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is montagna.
Marco: And the sample sentence is…
Cinzia: Ti piace la montagna?
Marco: "Do you like mountains?"
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is passeggiata.
Marco: And the sample sentence is…
Cinzia: Facciamo una passeggiata insieme?
Marco: "Shall we take a walk together?"
Cinzia: Next, we have an expression, andare a trovare.
Marco: And the sample sentence is…
Cinzia: Sono andata a trovare i miei genitori tre mesi fa.
Marco: "I visited my family three months ago."
Cinzia: And lastly, we have invidiare.
Marco: So, one last sample sentence.
Cinzia: Ti invidio molto.
Marco: "I envy you a lot."
Cinzia: And now, let’s take a look at today’s grammar.

Lesson focus

Cinzia: In Italian the partitive (some, any) is conveyed by the simple preposition di "of" + the, definite article.
Marco: The partitive articles can be masculine singular.
Cinzia: del and dello
Marco: Before masculine nouns starting with -z, -y or -s + consonant or the group -gn.
Cinzia: And dell + (apostrophe)
Marco: In this case, before masculine nouns starting with a vowel.
Cinzia: So, for example, we have Ieri ho comprato del pane al supermercato.
Marco: “Yesterday, I bought some bread at the supermarket.”
Cinzia: Now, let’s see the feminine singular partitive articles.
Marco: Starting with…
Cinzia: della
Marco: dell’ (with apostrophe)
Cinzia: Before feminine nouns starting with vowels.
Marco: Here are some example sentences.
Cinzia: Elisa ha comprato della frutta.
Marco: Elisa bought some fruit.
Cinzia: And now, let’s see the masculine plural, dei and degli.
Marco: In this case, before masculine nouns starting with -z, -y or -s + consonant or the group -gn.
Cinzia: For example, Matteo mi ha prestato dei libri.
Marco: Matteo lent me some books.
Cinzia: And finally, let’s see feminine plural partitive articles, delle.
Marco: Here is an example sentence using delle.
Cinzia: Ho visto delle scarpe bellissime in un negozio.
Marco: I saw some very beautiful shoes in a shop.
Cinzia: Another way to convey the partitive in Italian is by using qualche followed by singular nouns or alcuni / alcune followed by plural nouns.
Marco: In place of di + definite articles.
Cinzia: Please be careful because qualche and alcuni / alcune can be used only with countable things (and not with uncountable items such as zucchero, pasta, pane).
Marco: “Sugar, pasta, bread.” Let’s see some examples now.
Cinzia: Vorrei vedere qualche amico.
Marco: “I would like to see some friends.”
Cinzia: Vorrei vedere alcuni amici.
Marco: “I would like to see some friends.”
Cinzia: So, as you can notice, the meaning of the two sentences is exactly the same. The only thing that changes is that we use a singular noun after the partitive qualche and a plural noun after the partitive alcuni / alcune.
Marco: Instead, if you are talking about things and using uncountable nouns, you must use the partitive di + definite article.
Cinzia: Now, let's revise some simple and important rules in using the partitive in Italian.
Marco: First of all, the partitive is used only if the quantity is not specified.
Cinzia: Devo comprare delle banane al mercato.
Marco: I have to buy some bananas at the market.
Cinzia: Next rule, Marco.
Marco: The partitive is not used in negative sentences.
Cinzia: Mia sorella non mangia frutta.
Marco: My sister doesn't eat fruit.
Cinzia: And finally…
Marco: The partitive can also be expressed with qualche plus singular nouns and alcuni plus plural nouns.
Cinzia: Ho preparato qualche panino per il viaggio.
Marco: I made some sandwiches for the trip.
Cinzia: Abbiamo invitato alcuni amici per cena.
Marco: We invited some friends for dinner.

Outro

Marco: That just about does it for today. Okay! Bye-bye. See you next time.
Cinzia: Ciao a tutti! Grazie.

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