Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

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!

Comments

Hide