Vocabulary
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.
Learn the key pattern to ask for a word in Italian
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
Do you remember how Ben asks, |
"How do you say "book" in Italian?" |
Come si dice "book" in italiano? |
The standard way to ask for the meaning of a word in Italian follows a simple pattern. |
First is come, translating as "How" in this context. Come. Come. |
Next is si dice. "One says." Si dice. |
Si, "one," roughly translating as, "one" as in "one says." Si . si. |
Next is the word, dice, "says," as in "one says." Dice. |
Dice is from the verb, dire, meaning "to say." Dire. |
Together, Come si dice, literally, "How one says," but translates as, "how [does] one say." Come si dice. |
After this is the English word, "book." |
Last is the phrase, in italiano, meaning "in Italian." In italiano. |
First is, in, "in." In. In. |
After this is, italiano."Italian," as in "the Italian language." Italiano. Italiano. |
Note, when the context is clear, you may omit in italiano. |
All together, Come si dice "book" in italiano? means something like "How one says "book" in Italian?" but translates as, "How [does] one say "book" in Italian?" and in more natural English, "How do you say "book" in Italian?" |
Note the rising intonation of the sentence to mark that it's a question. |
Come si dice "book" in italiano? |
Let's take a closer look at the response. |
Do you remember how Federica says, |
"You say ‘book.'" |
Si dice "libro," |
First is the phrase, si dice, which literally means "one says," but translates here as "you say." Si dice. |
After this is the answer to the question, libro, "Book." Libro. Libro. |
All together Si dice "libro" literally means "One says "book," but it translates as "You say "book."" |
Si dice "libro," |
The pattern is: |
Come si dice "{ENGLISH WORD}" in italiano? |
How do you say "{ENGLISH WORD}" in Italian? |
Come si dice "{ENGLISH WORD}" in italiano? |
To use this pattern, simply replace the {ENGLISH WORD} placeholder with the word you want to know. |
Imagine you want to know the Italian word for "pen." |
Ask |
"How do you say "pen" in Italian?" |
Ready? |
Come si dice "pen" in italiano? |
"How do you say "pen" in Italian?" |
Come si dice "pen" in italiano? |
This lesson introduces a grammatically complex, but commonly used, pattern: the impersonal form with si. |
The si-construction is used to express what people do in general, rather than point to a specific person. |
The pattern is si plus a verb in the third person. The example used in the lesson was si dice, "one says." Let's quickly look at a few more examples. |
Si chiama, one calls, as in, "One calls it "a book,"" |
Si mangia, one eats, as in, "One eats a lot at Christmas." |
Si dorme, one sleeps, as in "One sleeps late on Saturday." |
Comments
Hide