Learn how to ask the questions, "how are you," and "what are you like,"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno tutti! Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here! Beginner series Season 1, Lesson 4 - Tell Them How You Are in Italian! Hello, and welcome to ItalianPod101.com. My name is Marco, and I’m joined here by Cinzia. Cinzia, come stai? |
| Cinzia: Benissimo, Marco, grazie. Benvenuti! Welcome! |
| Marco: We will be guiding you to basic grammar and vocabulary. |
| Cinzia: And don’t forget that we’re going to discuss different aspects of the language, culture, and customs you’ll find in Italy. |
| Marco: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask “How are you?” in Italian |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place on the streets of Italy. |
| Marco: And it is between Luca and Elena. |
| Cinzia: They will be speaking both formal and informal Italian. |
| Marco: I will be Luca Marini. |
| Cinzia: While I will be Elena Rossi. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Elena: Ciao Luca. Come stai? |
| Luca: Sto bene, grazie. E tu? |
| Elena: Non c’è male. |
| Marco: One more time, slowly. |
| Elena: Ciao Luca. Come stai? |
| Luca: Sto bene, grazie. E tu? |
| Elena: Non c’è male. |
| Marco: Once again, this time with the translation. |
| Elena: Ciao Luca. Come stai? |
| Elena: Hey, Luca. How are you? |
| Luca: Sto bene, grazie. E tu? |
| Luca: I’m fine, thanks. And you? |
| Elena: Non c’è male. |
| Elena: I’m all right. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: So Marco, who are these two people? |
| Marco: Well, if we take a look at how they’re greeting each other, I’d say they’re friends. |
| Cinzia: Yeah, friends like you and me. |
| Marco: Exactly! And friends use the Informal Italian, yes, because, remember, in the case of strangers or older people, it’s better to use the Formal Italian. |
| Cinzia: Yes! In the bonus track. |
| Marco: So please stop by and download the bonus track on the formal conversation. Now, we will take a look at the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Cinzia: come [natural native speed] |
| Marco: how |
| Cinzia: come [slowly - broken down by syllable] come [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: stare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to be, to stand, to lie, to be located, to be situated |
| Cinzia: stare [slowly - broken down by syllable] stare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: bene [natural native speed] |
| Marco: well, good, fine |
| Cinzia: bene [slowly - broken down by syllable] bene [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: tu [natural native speed] |
| Marco: you |
| Cinzia: tu [slowly - broken down by syllable] tu [natural native speed] |
| Marco: Next |
| Cinzia: male [natural native speed] |
| Marco: bad, badly, ill, not well |
| Cinzia: male [slowly - broken down by syllable] male [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Now Cinzia, for example, bene is “well, good, fine,” right? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Male is “bad, badly,” and so on, but bene is an adjective, but we can also use it as a noun like “the good,” right? |
| Cinzia: Yes, sure, but even for male, it’s the same thing. |
| Marco: So, il bene is “the good.” |
| Cinzia: Yes. And il male is “the evil.” |
| Marco: So, let’s say we’re two forces. We’re the forces of evil and the forces of good, right? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: And- well, I think you can be bene, so you’re the force of good and I will be male, the force of… |
| Cinzia: Evil. |
| Marco: As always, hahaha. |
| Cinzia: Marco, are you sure you wanna be the evil? |
| Marco: Yes. |
| Cinzia: Okay. |
| Marco: Evil is fun. |
| Cinzia: Okay. |
| Marco: Good is boring. |
| Cinzia: Okay. Now, let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words. |
| Cinzia: The first word we will look at is come. |
| Marco: Cinzia, can you give us an example sentence, please? |
| Cinzia: Come stanno? |
| Marco: “How are they?” |
| Cinzia: The next word we’re going to look at today is bene. |
| Marco: Let’s have an example with bene. |
| Cinzia: Stiamo bene. |
| Marco: “We are fine.” |
| Cinzia: Yes! I’ve used stiamo bene so many times with my parents. |
| Marco: Really? What are you answering to? |
| Cinzia: Well…my brother and I used to spend every summer in Gaeta. It’s a resort, one-hour drive from Napoli and my parents used to call us every few days asking - Come stavi? “How were you?” And we would always answer- Stiamo bene. “We are fine.” |
| Marco: So, it really is a very common expression, isn’t it? |
| Cinzia: Yes, it is. |
| Marco: Okay, okay. Then, what is the next word? |
| Cinzia: The next word is the opposite of bene and that is male. |
| Marco: Perfect! Can you give us one example, please? |
| Cinzia: Sto male. |
| Marco: “I am ill” or “I am not feeling well.” |
| Cinzia: Yeah, sto male. I’ve used it so many times, Marco, to skip school. |
| Marco: What do you mean? |
| Cinzia: Why? Don’t you ever use sto male to skip something? |
| Marco: Well, I used to whine a lot before going to swimming lessons. I was afraid of the water. |
| Cinzia: Really? Marco, how old were you? |
| Marco: Eh… I think I was 6 or 7. |
| Cinzia: Oh, that’s okay. So, Marco, in the end, did you go to classes? |
| Marco: Well, I whined. I said to my parents I wasn’t feeling well. I was saying- I was saying to them, non sto bene, non sto bene. So, I skipped a few classes, maybe 6 months of classes, if I remember correctly. |
| Cinzia: Oh my God! Didn’t your mom say to you - Devi andare “You have to go”? |
| Marco: I don’t really remember. I mean I was 6-7, maybe even younger. I don’t remember. But, no, they let me be and after a while, when I was so bad at swimming, I was- I was falling behind in classes, then I realized that I had to do something myself. So, when swimming, swim more than everybody else and improve. |
| Cinzia: Oh, finally! That’s my Marco. That’s the Marco I want. You have some hidden talent. |
| Marco: Ma grazie, “Well, thank you.” |
| Cinzia: You are more than welcome, Marco. |
| Marco: Now, on with the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cinzia: Stare is an important verb to know and use. |
| Marco: Although often used as a near synonym for essere, it does not carry the same underlying meaning as essere “to be.” |
| Cinzia: In fact, stare describes a more temporary state or characteristic. |
| Marco: While essere defines or describes how something is characterically. |
| Cinzia: For example, come stai is asking “How are you?” |
| Marco: While the same question using essere, come sei is asking, “What are you like?” |
| Cinzia: Okay, Marco. So, let me give our loyal listeners the conjugation of stare. |
| Marco: Perfect! I’m sure you’re waiting for it. |
| Cinzia: Stare. |
| Marco: First person singular. |
| Cinzia: Io sto. |
| Marco: “I am.” Second person singular. |
| Cinzia: Tu stai. |
| Marco: “You are.” Third person singular. |
| Cinzia: Lui/lei sta. |
| Marco: “He/she/it is.” First person plural. |
| Cinzia: Noi stiamo. |
| Marco: “We are.” Second person plural. |
| Cinzia: Voi state. |
| Marco. “You are.” Third person plural? |
| Cinzia: Loro stanno. |
| Marco: “They are.” Now, another way to answer, “How are you?” is non c'è male, which also means “I’m fine.” |
| Cinzia: So, non c'è male means “I am fine,” but the literal meaning is “there is no bad,” isn’t it? |
| Marco: True! Very, very true. |
| Cinzia: So, Italians use it to avoid revealing anything too personal or thinking too much. |
| Marco: Well, yes! This is because it does not refer directly to the person speaking, and it can also be used when responding to questions about food, places, and events. |
| Cinzia: For example - Com'è il vino? Non c'è male. |
| Marco: Com'è la pizza? |
| Cinzia: È buonissima. |
| Marco: Oh, come on! Non c'è male, yeah. Say non c'è male. |
| Cinzia: Yes, but my pizza is buonissima. |
| Marco: Okay. Anyway, let’s give it for the students, please. So, com'è la pizza? |
| Cinzia: Mm, non c'è male. |
| Marco: Perfect! But remember, Napoli pizza is the best. That’s what she says. Okay. |
| Cinzia: Of course! Oh, wait, wait, Marco. We didn’t explain c'è to our listeners. I think it’s a little bit complicated. |
| Marco: Yes, yes. We’re gonna be explaining it in the newbie lesson, so we’ll probably tell them now. Well, c'è is the contraction of ci è, that means… |
| Cinzia: “There is.” |
| Marco: Yes. That is the literal meaning. |
| Cinzia: So, how do you write it? |
| Marco: You write it with a “c” followed by an apostrophe and then an è with a grave accent on it. |
| Cinzia: So, it’s just the third person singular of the verb essere, isn’t it? |
| Marco: Perfect! Yes, just ci and third person singular of the verb essere, è. |
Outro |
| Marco: That’s it for today’s lesson. |
| Cinzia: Don’t forget to check out the lesson transcript in the PDF at ItalianPod1010.com. |
| Marco: Also, feel free to use our forum for your questions. And if you like to leave a comment, we’d be happy to respond. |
| Cinzia: And drop by! |
| Marco: Venite a trovarci! |
| Cinzia: Marco, happier! |
| Marco: Venite a trovarci! |
| Cinzia: Ok, that’s better. Ciao ciao! |
| Marco: Ciao! |
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