Learn how to talk about your long weekend in a business situation
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| 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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