Learn the key pattern to ask for a word in Italian
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| 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." |
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