Learn some useful Italian words and phrases for absolute beginners
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| Hi! | |
| Welcome to Introduction to Italian. | |
| My name is Alisha and I'm joined by... | |
| Hi everyone! I'm Marika. | |
| In *this* lesson, we'll focus on teaching you the most useful Italian words and phrases for absolute beginners! | |
| Make sure you're repeating the words out loud after I say the examples! | |
| Are you ready? Let's get started! | |
| Expressing Thanks and Forgiveness | |
| The best phrase to learn when studying a new language is one that expresses gratitude and appreciation. If you had to learn only a single phrase, this would be it! | |
| We taught you this phrase in the first lesson of this series. Do you remember what it was? | |
| Grazie. | |
| It means "Thank you." | |
| Grazie | |
| Keep repeating after Marika. Until you get it! | |
| Grazie | |
| Your turn! | |
| Grazie | |
| Once more. | |
| Grazie | |
| Do you remember the trilled R? We talked about it in lesson 2. Even though it looks like the English R, the pronunciation is very different. Listen to how Marika is pronouncing this sound. | |
| RRR | |
| RRR | |
| Altogether it's… | |
| Grazie | |
| OK. One last time… | |
| Grazie | |
| The next phrase we'll teach you is perhaps the second most useful phrase of all. It's use to apologize or to excuse yourself. | |
| Mi scusi. | |
| This means "excuse me" or "I'm sorry" | |
| Mi scusi. | |
| Use *this* phrase when you want to grab a waiter's attention, or when you're hustling through the busy streets of Rome! | |
| Mi scusi. | |
| Your turn! | |
| Mi scusi. | |
| Imagine you're on the street and you want to stop someone to ask them for directions, what do you say...? | |
| Mi scusi. | |
| OK. One last time... | |
| Mi scusi. | |
| Now you can say "thank you very much", "excuse me", and "I'm sorry" in Italian. Let's move on. | |
| Where is...? | |
| Asking where something is, is an incredibly important and useful thing to learn. You're going to need this when asking where the bathroom, the train station, or where the hotel is. | |
| To ask where something is, just say... | |
| Dov'è…? | |
| Where is…? | |
| and add the name of the place or location. | |
| Dove means "where". è means "is". The apostrophe here has replaced the final E. This can happen when a word ending in a vowel is next to one beginning with a vowel. | |
| If you want to ask "Where is the bathroom?" for example. it'd be... | |
| Dov'è il bagno? | |
| Where is the bathroom/toilet? | |
| For the train station, it'll be... | |
| Dov'è la stazione? | |
| Where is the station? | |
| And so on. | |
| You can ask where anything is, simply by starting with... | |
| Dov'è…? | |
| And then adding the name of the place or location. | |
| Now listen and repeat after Marika. | |
| Dov'è…? | |
| Your turn! | |
| Dov'è…? | |
| One last time. | |
| Dov'è…? | |
| OK. Now let's teach you some vocabulary so that you can use it in the sentence. | |
| Here are some of the most common words you'll need to learn: | |
| bagno | |
| “bathroom” | |
| Dov'è il bagno? | |
| “Where is the bathroom/toilet?” | |
| Next… | |
| stazione | |
| “station” | |
| Dov'è la stazione? | |
| “Where is the station?” | |
| If you ask someone this question, they'll direct you to the closest train station. | |
| If you'd like to ask where a *specific* train station is, like Rome Termini station for example, simply place the location after "station"... | |
| stazione Roma Termini - “Rome Termini station” | |
| Dov'è la stazione Roma Termini? | |
| “Where is Rome Termini station?” | |
| Next... | |
| hotel - “hotel” | |
| Dov'è l'hotel? | |
| “Where is the hotel?” | |
| For a specific hotel, do the same as before, just place the name after "hotel"... | |
| Hotel Eden - “Eden Hotel” | |
| Dov'è l'Hotel Eden? | |
| “Where is the Eden Hotel?” | |
| Next... | |
| supermercato - “supermarket” | |
| Dov'è il supermercato? | |
| You can where anything is in Italian, simply by saying... | |
| Dov'è…? | |
| and then adding the name of the place or location. | |
| In this final lesson, you learned how to say "thank you", "excuse me", "I'm sorry", and to ask where something is in Italian. | |
| And in this series, we introduced you to the basics of Italian pronunciation, grammar, writing, and more. | |
| Let's conclude with some parting advice from Marika, and listen to some of her tips on how to learn Italian from a native Italian perspective. | |
| Parting Advice - Insider Knowledge | |
| The biggest mistake I see learners make is trying to 'master' Italian grammar before anything. While grammar *is* important, it's only really important at a more intermediate level. If you think about it, children learn how to speak their language well before they can actually read a grammar textbook. Your goal at this moment is to expand your vocabulary by learning words for everyday objects in Italian. You can then *use* those words to string them together to communicate! | |
| The best way to learn Italian, like any language, is to expose yourself to the language as much as possible. In our day and age, technology allows you to immerse yourself in Italian. Watching Italian videos, reading blogs or websites in Italian, listening to podcasts... The possibilities are endless! | |
| Watching Italian movies can help, but keep in mind that most people don't talk like that in everyday conversation. | |
| Watching contemporary videos, such as our videos here at ItalianPod101, will ensure that you're learning real, applicable Italian in the fastest and most effective way. | |
| You've reached the end of this Introduction to Italian course, but it's only the *beginning* of your journey to Italian fluency! Where do you go from here? Try our Innovative Italian series where we teach you beginner vocab and *even more* useful phrases! Or check out any of our other video series. We have many different categories for you to choose from. | |
| Good luck as you continue learning Italian, and I'll see *you* in another video! | |
| Bye! | |
| Bye~! |
16 Comments
HideWhere do you go from here? Try our Learn Italian in Three Minutes series where we teach you beginner vocabulary and even more useful phrases!
https://www.italianpod101.com/index.php?cat=39
Hi Gene,
Thank you for joining us!
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ItalianPod101.com
Grazie!
Hi Jack,
"Mi scusi" and "scusi" are completely interchangeable. They both can be used to politely apologize about something that happened and to politely get someone's attention.
Grazie per il tuo commento! (Thanks for your comment)
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Can you give me some further clarification on the phrase "Mi scusi"?
I thought that "Mi scusi" was used after an action has taken place. For example, if I accidentally bumped into someone or stepped on their foot, I would apologize with "Mi scusi".
But if I wanted to interrupt someone who is talking or get someone's attention I would use just the word, "Scusi" since the action has taken place yet.
Maybe we're splitting hairs here but is there any truth to this?
Grazie!
Hi alan king,
When referring to the room, we use "bagno". The toilet bowl would be "tazza del gabinetto", but nobody would ask "dov'è la tazza del gabinetto". We usually just ask for the room where it is.
Thanks for your comment!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
why are you using the word bagno when you want to know where the toilet is?
Hi Team ItalianPod101.com,
I am having the same issue as Vicki. When I type “Dov’è” or “Dov’è il bagno?” as answers to the quiz, it marks it as incorrect. I am using an iPad and even when I switched to an Italian keyboard in the settings on my iPad, the same result happens. Unfortunately, there is no option for me to choose a different type of apostrophe and I cannot cut and paste the apostrophe from your reply to Vicki. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you!
Hi Vicki,
We've checked the quiz and it works properly. The issue you might be related to the different font of the apostrophe. Please try to type it again using this one: '.
Thank you,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
I’ve taken the written test twice and both times, the two questions with “dov’è” were marked wrong although they looked like your answers. What am I missing?
Hi Al Iannacone,
Thank you for your kind messages.
We hope you'll like the rest of our lessons too.
A presto!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com