Lesson Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome back to ItalianPod101.
My name is Desiree, mi chiamo Desiree, but you can call me Desy, ma potete chiamarmi Desy.
In this video, we're gonna talk about pickup lines, but careful! I'm just gonna give you some examples of pickup lines in Italian, but it doesn't mean that they're gonna work, okay? Let's get that from the beginning. It's up to you in the end.
I know it sucks but…
Provarci.
First of all, let's say that, "hit on someone" in English.
In Italian, can be translated as provarci con qualcuno so "to try with someone."
Otherwise, a more neutral verb could be approcciare, so just to "get in touch with." Not physically.
Let's imagine you're at a bar, you see someone you would like to talk to and…okay, there is the easiest way that we all went through, either you tried this or someone tried this or you knew, I'm sure.
"Do we know each other already?"
Ci conosciamo?
Or, ci siamo già visti?
"Have we seen each other already?"
"Have we met before?"
Ci siamo già visti?
Or if you want to really commit this technique then you just go, let's assume it’s a girl, just go up to her and be like
"Hey Giulia! It has been so long!"
Ehi Giulia! Quanto tempo!
and then you go like
"oh sorry, you're not Giulia! What's your name?"
Oh scusa, non sei Giulia! Come ti chiami?
it's always an option, and if you get the “I don't know you!”, Non ti conosco!
you can also answer you can always be like “Yeah, then let’s!”, Okay, allora conosciamoci!
Which may be a bit creepy but…
"Conosciamoci"
If you don't want to go for the fake "I know you already" and you just accept the fact that you don't know each other you can ask, if she’s drinking something, maybe, you can pretend you want to get the same one, otherwise you can ask so that you can buy her the same one… uh-huh! So, I know you did see that coming, huh?
Cosa stai bevendo?
"What are you drinking?"
This is super personal but it happened to me before and I don't dislike this approach like when you're on a line to wait to get your drink, "what are you gonna get?"
Cosa prendi?
Or even better,
Cosa consigli?
"What do you suggest?"
Which may also lead you to the next phrase:
Vieni qua spesso?
"Do you come here often?"
Or "is it your first time here?"
È la prima volta che vieni?
Another way to break the ice, especially in Italy, I'm sure everyone in the world, but especially in Italy, you just ask for a lighter if you're a smoker. If you don't, you can pretend, okay?
I don't smoke, for example, but stI'll you can ask for… I wouldn't ask for a cigarette though, because I see that with my friends and they don't really like it because it sounds like you just want to get something for free so just ask for a lighter.
Hai un accendino?
"Do you have a lighter" or
"Do you have to light up?"
It's also something that we say
Hai da accendere?
But if they tell you no, you can just go with the truth and be like,
“well it doesn't matter because I just wanted to talk to you”:
Non importa volevo solo parlarti,
which I find really cute, by the way.
Volevo solo parlarti.
I think I'm saying this step by step in my mind. I hope you can follow me too.
Now that we broke the ice and we are talking already, it's better to compliment something in particular.
Hai dei bellissimi occhi.
"You have beautiful eyes."
Or,
Hai un sorriso stupendo.
"Your smile is beautiful."
"Splendid."
Splendido.
Hai un sorriso splendido.
Let's say you know this girl already for real, not just pretending. You may want to be more specific in your compliment, because maybe you said something nice to her already.
So something like, questo vestito, "this dress," ti sta molto bene, "really suits you."
Questo vestito ti sta molto bene.
But be careful because then the answer maybe "oh why? Because I'm not beautiful in other dresses?"
Which you don't want to go through, like you have the whole relationship to go through that, right? So just, yeah.
Maybe ask "where did she buy that particular accessory?"
Like, dove hai comprato questa borsa?
"Where did you buy this bag?"
We all know you don't care. But sometimes, you know, you just have to say things that you don't really think.
The ones that are the most used ones are, for example,
Posso avere il tuo numero?
"Can I have your number?"
Of course telephone number but you don't have to say that its not like you're asking for her shoes size. Or maybe you are, which is really nic,e by the way, so you know what to buy here later on but yeah if you want to specify:
Posso avere il tuo numero di telefono?
So, “can I have your cell phone number”; or nowadays probably,
Posso aggiungerti su Facebook?
"Can I add you on Facebook?"
We use WhatsApp a lot in Italy so you can ask for her WhatsApp directly.
Posso avere il tuo WhatsApp?
"Can I have your WhatsApp?"
Which is the same as a telephone number in the end but "Can I write to you on WhatsApp?"
Posso scriverti su WhatsApp?
Posso scriverti su WhatsApp?
Then the most important one:
Posso invitarti a cena con me?
"Can I invite you to have dinner with me?"
You don't really have to add that “with me”.
Ti andrebbe di andare a cena.
"Would you like to go eat?"
I mean I would say yes to anyone just because I like eating. But if you want to make sure that she gets it is a date then:
Ti andrebbe di uscire con me?
“ Would you like to go out with me?”
Ti va di andare al cinema?
This “Ti va” is really nice in my opinion, because it's not a direct question like “why do you want to?” and it's not like “would you like to?” it's just more like “do you feel like going to the cinema?”, which is a nice safety zone to me because it's not too harsh on you if the girl says “no” because she's like “I don't really watch movies” like, you know, read between the lines. This is something very important: if someone tells you No!, it's “No!”.
Now, for the last part I want to briefly touch on those phrases that everyone thinks they're so nice and cute and extra and cheesy but that you don't really want to say, maybe. This is just my opinion, but for example starting with “I usually don't say this, but…”,
Di solito non lo dico, ma…
“…you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen!”
Di solito non lo dico, ma sei la donna più bella che abbia mai visto!
Which is a really long phrase by the way, so maybe you would forget some parts while you’re saying that.
Sei la donna più bella che abbia mai visto.
Mi sono innamorato!
Just like “I fell in love!”
“It's love at first sight”
È un colpo di fulmine.
Colpo means hit and fulmine is the thunder.
So it basically means that a thunder hit you and you're just like, "Oh, what was that?"
Colpo di fulmine.
=
"Love at first sight."
Amore a prima vista.
Literally.
But I prefer the colpo di fulmine.
È stato un colpo di fulmine.
Then let me just give you the easiest example:
Ti sei fatta male quando sei caduta dal cielo?
Perché sembri un angelo?
Like, "did it hurt when you fell from the sky? Because you look like an angel."
This would be my reaction.
But you know, you can try!
Sembri un angelo.
But if you're hitting on someone Italian, let's not forget that we're Italians and you may want to hit on our soft spots, being like, "let’s go get coffee together,"
Andiamo a prendere un caffè insieme.
Andiamo a mangiare una pizza insieme.
"Lets go eat pizza together."
Personally, that's what would touch me, also because most times we probably just really like coffee and pizza so much that we would go anyway. Yeah, that's the safest you can go.
Prendiamo un caffè insieme.
Thank you for coming with me through this journey of picking up people at the bar. I hope you wI'll be able to use those phrases, some of them not all of them, and they were helpful, but let me know in the comments. What are your ideas? Or, if there's some phrase that you would like to know how to say in Italian. And if you want to learn more Italian, don't forget to subscribe.
Thank you, I'll see you soon. Ciao ciao!

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