Vocabulary (Review)

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Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Chiara asks,
"How's the weather?"
Com'è il tempo?
First is Com'è, which translates as "how's." Com'è. Com'è
This consists of 2 parts.
The first is come. "How." Come. Come.
Next is è, "is." È. È.
È is from the verb, essere, "to be." Essere.
Come is contracted with è to form com'è.
Next is il tempo, "the weather." Il tempo.
Let's start with tempo, "weather." Tempo. Tempo.
In Italian, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Tempo is masculine and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.
Before tempo is the article, il. Think of it like "the" in English. Il. Il.
Il is also masculine and singular to agree with tempo.
Together, il tempo. "The weather." Il tempo.
All together, it's Com'è il tempo? "How's the weather?"
Com'è il tempo?
Let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Karen says,
"It's sunny?"
C'è il sole.
This starts with c'è. "There is." C'è. C'è.
C'è is the contracted form of ci è.
Ci. "There." Ci. Ci.
Next is è. "Is." È.
È is from the verb, essere, "to be."
Ci is contracted with è to form c'è.
Note, c'è, "there is," is used to talk about the presence or existence of something. It's not used to describe things.
Last is il sole, "the sun." Il sole.
Let's start with sole, "sun." Sole. Sole.
Sole is masculine and singular.
Before sole is the article, il. "The." Il.
Il is masculine and singular to agree with sole.
Together, il sole. "The sun." Il sole.
All together, it's C'è il sole. This literally means "There is the sun," but it translates as "It's sunny."
C'è il sole.
The pattern is
C'è {weather condition}.
It's {weather condition}.
C'è {weather condition}.
When talking about the weather, there is also another pattern used.
È {weather adjective}.
It is {weather adjective}.
È {weather adjective}.
È is from the verb, essere, "to be."
To use this pattern, simply follow È with an adjective that describes the local weather conditions.
Let's try this new pattern.
Imagine it's cloudy. Nuvoloso. "Cloudy." Nuvoloso. nuvoloso.
Say
"It's cloudy."
Ready?
È nuvoloso.
"It's cloudy."
È nuvoloso.
When talking about the weather, it's common to use impersonal verbs in Italian. Impersonal verbs are verbs without a fully stated subject and which are conjugated in the third person singular.
For example,"It's snowing" in Italian is Nevica.
Nevica, literally, "It snows," is from the verb, nevicare, "to snow." This is the third person singular form of the verb.
Nevica.
Nevica.
Pay attention. You'll see another example of this pattern shortly.

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