Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Giuseppe introduces himself?
"Nice to meet you. I'm Giuseppe."
Piacere, sono Giuseppe.
First is piacere, meaning "A pleasure." Piacere. Piacere.
Piacere is actually a shortened form of Piacere di conoscerla, meaning "It's a pleasure to meet you." Piacere di conoscerla.
Giuseppe uses the shortened version, Piacere, in his introduction. This version can be used in many contexts and is appropriate for both informal and formal situations.
Next is Sono Giuseppe. I'm Giuseppe.
First is Sono. "[I] am." Sono. Sono.
Note, here sono is a shortened form of io sono, "I am." In Italian, io, "I," is usually omitted, as it's understood.
Sono is from the verb, essere, "to be." Essere.
Next is the name, Giuseppe. Giuseppe. Giuseppe.
Note: Giuseppe only uses his given name. Sasha and Giuseppe are young adults in an informal situation, so he only uses his given name.
Together, it's Sono Giuseppe. "I'm Giuseppe." Sono Giuseppe.
All together, it's Piacere, sono Giuseppe. "Nice to meet you. I'm Giuseppe."
Piacere, sono Giuseppe.
Sasha can't catch his name.
Do you remember how she asks,
"Excuse me. Can you repeat that?
Scusa, puoi ripetere?
First is Scusa. "Excuse me." Scusa. Scusa.
Note: Scusa is the informal form of "Excuse me." Scusa. In this conversation, Giuseppe and Sasha are of similar age, so the informal scusa is more natural.
Scusi, "Excuse me," is the formal form.
Next is puoi, "[you] can." Puoi. Puoi.
Note: "you" is understood from the context.
Puoi is from the verb, potere, "to be able." Potere.
Next is ripetere. "Repeat." Ripetere. Ripetere.
Ripetere is a verb, meaning "to repeat," in its infinitive form.
Together, puoi ripetere literally means, "[you] can repeat," but in this context, it translates as, "can [you] repeat?" Puoi ripetere.
All together, Scusa, puoi ripetere? Literally, "Excuse me, [you] can repeat," but translates as "Excuse me, can you repeat [that]?"
Scusa, puoi ripetere?
Note [that] is added to translation so that the English sounds more natural, but there is no corresponding word in the Italian question.
Finally, do you remember how Giuseppe says, 

 "I'm Guiseppe."
Hint, you've heard it before.
Sono Giuseppe. "I'm Giuseppe."
Sono Giuseppe.
In this lesson, you learned how to ask for clarification in an informal situation:
Scusa, puoi ripetere?
Excuse me, can you repeat that?
To ask for clarification in a formal situation:
Scusi, può ripetere?
Excuse me, can you repeat that?
Scusi, può ripetere?
Note the two changes in the formal form.

First, Scusi, replaces Scusa.
Scusi, "Excuse me, formal form." Scusi. Scusi.
Second, Può, replaces puoi.
Può, "[you] can" when using formal Italian. Può. Può.
Può is the third person singular form of the verb potere, "to be able."
The third person singular is used for formal situations when addressing a single person.

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