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.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

Hi, everyone! I'm Felice Angelini.
Ciao a tutti, sono Felice Angelini.
Welcome to another Italian Whiteboard Lesson!
In this lesson, we'll learn etalian verbs in everyday life.
Let's get started!
Okay, let's look at the vocabulary.
Our first verb is ascolto,
ascolto (enunciated).
Ascolto literally means "I listen." Note that io, or "I," can be omitted, because Italian verbs conjugate depending on the subject.
That is why here, inside parentheses, we also have the dictionary form, ascoltare, "to listen."
In this lesson, we'll focus on the first-person form, ascolto,"I listen."
So let's continue.
Next is guardo,
guardo (enunciated).
Guardo means "I watch."
And the dictionary form is guardare.
Next is mangio,
mangio (enunciated).
Mangio means "I eat."
And the dictionary form is mangiare.
Next, bevo,
bevo (enunciated).
Bevo means "I drink."
And the dictionary form is bere.
Next, gioco,
gioco (enunciated).
Gioco means "I play."
And the dictionary form is giocare.
Next, scrivo,
scrivo (enunciated).
Scrivo means "I write."
And the dictionary form is scrivere.
Next, dormo,
dormo (enunciated).
Dormo means "I sleep."
And the dictionary form is dormire.
Next, vado,
vado (enunciated).
Vado means "I go."
And the dictionary form is andare.
Next, studio,
studio (enunciated).
Studio means "I study."
And the dictionary form is studiare.
Next, leggo,
leggo (enunciated).
Leggo means "I read."
And the dictionary form is leggere.
Did you notice? For almost all of these verbs, all you have to do to get the first-person form from the dictionary form is to drop the last 3 letters (for example, ascoltare, -are, ciao ciao!) and add -o (ascolto).
But sometimes we have a different verb, exception; for example, bevo and vado, in this case. But, don't worry too much and memorize them as they are. It's okay.
All right! Now, let's go over the 10 verbs one more time.
Are you ready? Ok, bien!
ascolto
"I listen"
Dictionary form: ascoltare
guardo
"I watch"
Dictionary form: guardare
mangio
"I eat"
Dictionary form: mangiare
bevo
"I drink"
Dictionary form: bere
gioco
"I play"
[Dictionary form:] giocare
scrivo
"I write"
[Dictionary form:] scrivere
dormo
"I sleep"
[Dictionary form:] dormire
vado
"I go"
[Dictionary form:] andare
studio
"I study"
[Dictionary form:] studiare
leggo
"I read"
[Dictionary form:] leggere
Okay.
Next, you're going to hear part of a conversation between two friends over the phone. I'm going to read it, but while I'm reading, I want you to look for one of the verbs we just studied.
Are you ready? Focus on the response.
A: Cosa fai?
B: Ascolto la musica.
One more time, a bit slower.
A: Cosa fai? (enunciated)
B: Ascolto la musica. (enunciated)
Did you find it? Did you find the verb?
Right, it's right here, ascolto, means "I listen."
And after ascolto, la musica, "the music."
In Italian, ascoltare la musica, or more simply ascoltare musica, means "to listen to music."
Ascoltare la musica.
So what is the first line, the question?
This literally means "What do you do?", but we can translates it as "what are you doing?" or "what do you do?"
And, fai is from fare, the verb "to do," in the second person. Notice that in this case, like this case, "you," the person, is omitted because, in this case, it's understood from context.
Well, let's see some more examples.
Guardo la televisione.
Guardo, "I watch."
After guardo, la televisione, or la TV.
Because la televisione means TV, and with a friend or for every day Italian, I suggest TV, or "TV."
"I watch TV." Guardo la televisione.
Next,
Mangio un panino.
Mangio, "I eat."
After mango, we have un panino. Un panino.
"I eat a sandwich."
In this case, un panino, is, you know, one is important. If counting is not important, in this case, I suggest un panino, like la televisione, la TV.
So, mangio un panino.
Next, bevo un caffè.
Bevo, "I drink."
un caffè.
In English, "I drink a (cup of) coffee."
"I drink a coffee," bevo un caffè.
And pay attention to the intonation, caffè, with accent on the è.
Next, scrivo una lettera.
Scrivo, "I write."
In English, "I write a letter."
A letter, an e-mail, if you change this object, you can try with many many examples.
So the next line is, vado a Roma.
Vado, "I go."
a Roma.
In English, "I go to Rome."
The same case is the place, so a different place, a different verb.
Pay attention to the preposition. Do you remember Italy, in Italia.
Vado in Italia. "I go to Italy."
So pay attention.
And the last one, studio italiano.
Or, studio l'italiano.
In English, "I study Italian."
Studio, "I study."
For all the examples, we could see a very simple sentence structure:
[Verb in first-person singular] [Object].
This is very similar to the English, [Subject] [Verb (first-person singular)] [Object].
So, omitting the object is impossible, but in Italian, omitting the subject is okay if it is understoodin the context.
And more vocabulary, maybe this is a very good chance to mastering verbs.
Mastering vocabulary is the key to start using verbs in Italian.

Comments

Hide