Learn how to talk about your hobbies
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| Welcome to Can-Do Italian by ItalianPod101.com. |
| In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your hobbies in Italian. |
| For example, “I like fishing.” is |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| Two neighbors, Giuseppe Mancini and Adam Russo , are having a conversation in an apartment building lobby. |
| Before you hear their conversation, let’s preview some of its key components. |
| pescare |
| "fishing" |
| pescare |
| pescare |
| hobby |
| "hobby" |
| hobby |
| hobby |
| Listen to the conversation. |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| Once more with the English translation. |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| "What's your hobby?" |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| "I like fishing." |
| Let's break down the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Giuseppe Mancini asks, |
| "What's your hobby?" |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Let's start with the word, hobby, "hobby." Hobby. Hobby. |
| Pronunciation note: the letter h in Italian is never pronounced. |
| In Italian, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Hobby is masculine and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence. |
| Before hobby is il tuo, a phrase meaning "your." Il tuo. |
| Tuo means "your." Tuo. Tuo. |
| Tuo is masculine and singular to agree with hobby. |
| Before tuo is the article il. Think of it like "the" in English. Il. Il. |
| Il is also masculine and singular to agree with hobby. |
| Note: in this sentence, the article il does not have a corresponding English translation. |
| In Italian, possessive adjectives, like mio, "my," tuo, "your," and so forth, often pair with an article, like the il in il tuo. |
| Together, it's il tuo, a phrase for "your." Il tuo. |
| All together, il tuo hobby. "Your hobby." Il tuo hobby. |
| Moving to the start of the sentence, qual, literally meaning "which," in this context it translates as "what." Qual. Qual. |
| Note: qual is also masculine singular to agree with hobby. |
| Pronunciation note: qual is the shortened form of quale. When quale is followed by a word which starts with its same final vowel sound, e, it’s shortened to qual. |
| Next is è, "is," as in "what is..." È. È. |
| È is from the verb essere, meaning "to be." Essere. |
| All together, it's Qual è il tuo hobby? This literally means "Which is your hobby?" But it translates as "What's your hobby?" |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Adam Russo says, |
| "I like fishing." |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| First is mi piace, "I like." Mi piace. |
| Let's start with piace, " is pleasant." Piace. |
| "It" is omitted, as it's understood from context. |
| Piace is from the verb piacere meaning "to be pleasant." Piacere. |
| Before piace is the pronoun mi, translating as "for me," in this context. Mi. Mi. |
| Together it's mi piace, "for me is pleasant," but translates as "I like. Mi piace. |
| Next is pescare, literally "to fish," but it translates as "fishing." Pescare. Pescare. |
| All together it's Mi piace pescare. literally "for me is pleasant fishing," but it translates as "I like fishing." |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| The pattern is |
| Mi piace ACTIVITY. |
| I like ACTIVITY. |
| Mi piace ACTIVITY. |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {ACTIVITY} placeholder with an activity you like to do. |
| Note: the placeholder is a verb and must be placed in the infinitive, or, in other words, the dictionary form. |
| Imagine you like reading, leggere. Leggere. Leggere. |
| Say |
| "I like reading." |
| Ready? |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| "I like reading." |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| Again, the key pattern is |
| Mi piace ACTIVITY. |
| I like ACTIVITY. |
| Mi piace ACTIVITY. |
| Let's look at some examples. |
| Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers. |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| "I like fishing." |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| "I like reading." |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| Mi piace viaggiare. |
| "I like traveling." |
| Mi piace viaggiare. |
| Mi piace nuotare. |
| "I like swimming." |
| Mi piace nuotare. |
| Mi piace giocare a calcio. |
| "I like playing soccer." |
| Mi piace giocare a calcio. |
| Did you notice how the last speaker uses a different pattern? |
| Mi piace giocare a calcio. |
| "I like playing soccer." |
| First is mi piace. "I like." Mi piace. |
| Next is giocare, literally "to play," but it translates as "playing." Giocare. Giocare. |
| After this is a calcio literally "at soccer," but it translates as "soccer." A calcio. |
| First is the preposition a, meaning "at." A. A. |
| It's used after giocare, when referring to a recreational activity or a sport. |
| Note: in this sentence, the preposition a does not have a corresponding English translation. |
| Last is calcio, "soccer." Calcio. Calcio. |
| This pattern is: |
| Mi piace giocare a ACTIVITY. |
| I like playing ACTIVITY. |
| You should be aware of this, but for this lesson, we'll use the pattern |
| Mi piace ACTIVITY. |
| I like ACTIVITY. |
| Let's review the new words. |
| Viaggiare. "Travelling." |
| Viaggiare. Viaggiare. |
| Nuotare. "Swimming." |
| Nuotare. Nuotare. |
| Let's review. |
| Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after me, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Ready? |
| Do you remember the word for "fishing?" |
| Pescare. |
| Pescare. |
| Do you remember how Adam Russo says, |
| "I like fishing." |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| Mi piace pescare. |
| Do you remember how to say "hobby"? |
| Hobby. |
| Hobby. |
| And how to say "your hobby"? |
| Il tuo hobby. |
| Il tuo hobby. |
| Do you remember how Giuseppe Mancini asks, |
| "What's your hobby?" |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| And do you remember the word for "reading?" |
| Leggere. |
| Leggere. |
| And the word for "swimming?" |
| Nuotare. |
| Nuotare. |
| Do you remember the word for "traveling?" |
| Viaggiare. |
| Viaggiare. |
| Let's practice. |
| Imagine you're Martina Moretti , and you like reading, or leggere. |
| Respond to the question. |
| Ready? |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| Mi piace leggere. |
| Let's try another. |
| Imagine you're Patrizia Palmieri , and you like traveling, or viaggiare. |
| Ready? |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Mi piace viaggiare. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Mi piace viaggiare. |
| Mi piace viaggiare. |
| Let's try one more. |
| Imagine you're Matteo Marino , and you like swimming, or nuotare. |
| Ready? |
| Qual è il tuo hobby? |
| Mi piace nuotare. |
| Listen again and repeat. |
| Mi piace nuotare. |
| Mi piace nuotare. |
| Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Talk About Hobbies unit of this course. |
| Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills. |
| What's next? |
| Show us what you can do. |
| When you're ready, take your assessment. |
| You can take it again and again, so try anytime you like. |
| Our teachers will assess it, and give you your results. |
| Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson! |
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