Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Business Italian for Beginners Season, 1 Lesson 5 - Talking About Your Long Weekend in Italian. I’m Eric.
Ofelia: Ciao, I'm Ofelia.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask about the weekend. The conversation takes place at an office.
Ofelia: It's between Linda and Carlo.
Eric: The speakers are co-workers, so they will use informal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Linda: Buongiorno, Carlo!
Carlo: Ciao Linda!
Linda: Com'è andato il ponte?
Carlo: Sono andato a Cremona.
Linda: Ah, e com'era?
Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Linda: Buongiorno, Carlo!
Carlo: Ciao Linda!
Linda: Com'è andato il ponte?
Carlo: Sono andato a Cremona.
Linda: Ah, e com'era?
Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Linda: Good day, Carlo!
Carlo: Hello Linda!
Linda: How was the long weekend?
Carlo: I went to Cremona.
Linda: Oh, and how was it?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Ofelia, what are the most important holiday periods in Italy?
Ofelia: The most important holidays in Italy are the summer holidays and Christmas holidays. They are the biggest school holidays, and families use them as a chance to take a trip, or just to spend more time together.
Eric: Isn’t there a spring break?
Ofelia: Spring break is very short, usually shorter than one week.
Eric: How many official public holidays are there in Italy?
Ofelia: In total, the average number of public holidays is around 12 days. That’s not many, but keep in mind that by law, a full-time working contract includes 20 days of paid holidays, though these days fewer and fewer people can enjoy such conditions.
Eric: What is the Italian for "paid holidays"?
Ofelia: ferie retribuite
Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Ofelia: ciao [natural native speed]
Eric: hello, hi, bye
Ofelia: ciao[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Ofelia: ciao [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Ofelia: come [natural native speed]
Eric: how
Ofelia: come[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Ofelia: come [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Ofelia: andare [natural native speed]
Eric: to go
Ofelia: andare [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Ofelia: andare [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Ofelia: ponte [natural native speed]
Eric: long weekend (literally; bridge)
Ofelia: ponte[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Ofelia: ponte [natural native speed]
Eric: And last..
Ofelia: essere [natural native speed]
Eric: to be
Ofelia: essere[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Ofelia: essere [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Ofelia: Ponte
Eric: meaning "long weekend"
Ofelia: Ponte first means "bridge," but the same word may also refer to a long weekend, for example, ponte del primo maggio,
Eric: Which means the "Labor Day long weekend."
Ofelia: Any time a working day is merged with a weekend and a holiday, in Italian you can say fare il ponte,
Eric: Meaning "to have a long weekend." Can you give us an example using this word?
Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ho fatto il ponte e mi sono riposato per quattro giorni di fila.
Eric: ..which means "I had the long weekend and I rested for 4 days in a row." Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to greet your co-worker on a Monday morning after a long weekend.
Ofelia: After a long holiday or a weekend, it’s good to make small talk and ask your co-workers how it was.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask your co-workers how their holidays were.
Ofelia: In the dialogue, when Linda asked Carlo how the long weekend was, she said Com’è andato il ponte?
Eric: Let’s break this down.
Ofelia: Com’è is a contraction of come è, so the first word we see is come meaning “how,” è andato is the main verb and means “it went,” and finally we have il ponte,
Eric: Which, as we’ve already seen, refers to the “consecutive holidays” or “long weekend.”
Ofelia: È andato is the third person singular of the past of the verb andare
Eric: Which means “to go,” and, as in English, can be used to ask about something that develops over time.
Ofelia: You can use a similar sentence when asking about something else.
Eric: All you have to remember is to conjugate the verb accordingly. Let’s see some examples:
Ofelia: Com’è andato il weekend?
Eric: "How was the weekend?"
Ofelia: Come sono andate le vacanze?
Eric: "How were the holidays?"
Ofelia: Here the verb sono andate is in third person plural, feminine
Eric: Let’s see all the cases, both singular and plural and both masculine and feminine. The third person singular masculine is
Ofelia: È andato, for example il weekend è andato...,
Eric: Meaning “the weekend went...” Next, the third person singular feminine is
Ofelia: È andata, for example la vacanza è andata...,
Eric: Meaning “the holiday went...” Next, the third person plural, masculine
Ofelia: Sono andati, for example i giorni di vacanza sono andati...
Eric: Meaning “the vacation days went…” Finally, the third person plural, feminine is
Ofelia: Sono andate, for example le vacanze sono andate
Eric: Meaning “the holidays went…”
Ofelia: Usually in the answer, either the adverb bene meaning “well” or male meaning “bad” follows. For example, Le vacanze sono andate bene.
Eric: which means “The holidays went well.” Ok, now let’s see which are the major Italian holiday names.
Ofelia: The most common is fine-settimana or weekend
Eric: Which mean “weekend”
Ofelia: Vacanze estive
Eric: “Summer vacation”
Ofelia: Vacanze di Natale
Eric: “Christmas holidays”
Ofelia: Vacanze di Pasqua
Eric: “Easter holidays”. OK, after you are asked in general about your vacation, you could be asked about the place that you visited.
Ofelia: In the dialogue, we had Com’era?
Eric: In English, this is also translated as “How was it?”, but here the question refers more to the quality of something, not to the development of a process, as in the case we saw before.
Ofelia: Please note that here, the verb essere meaning “to be,” is in the imperfect past form.
Eric: It’s a simple question, but by using it you can show interest in the other person’s experience and start a conversation. Ok, let’s wrap up the lesson with a couple of sample sentences.
Ofelia: For example, Com'è andata la vacanza a Londra?
Eric: "How was your vacation in London?"
Ofelia: Com'era la città?
Eric: "How was the city?"

Outro

Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time!
Ofelia: A presto!

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