Learn how to use the Italian verbs volerci and impiegare as well as how to hail a taxi when you're in Italy
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey: Hi everyone! Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower beginner, Season 1 Lesson 24 - Running Late for a Conference in Italy. I’m Betsey. |
| Ofelia: Ciao! I’m Ofelia. |
| Betsey: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to get a taxi. |
| Ofelia: You'll also learn about the verbs volerci and impiegare. This conversation takes place in the street. |
| Betsey: It’s between Mieke and a taxi driver. The speakers don’t know each other, so they’ll be using formal language. |
| Ofelia: Ascoltiamo. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mieke: Taxi! Buongiorno. Hotel Astor, per favore. E’ lontano? |
| Tassista: No, è appena fuori Torino, nella zona del Lingotto. Va alla fiera? |
| Mieke: No, vado a una conferenza di Slow Food. Purtroppo sono terribilmente in ritardo. Quanto ci vuole? |
| Tassista: Da qui ci vogliono circa venti minuti. |
| Mieke: Arriverò appena in tempo. |
| Tassista: Oggi c’è poco traffico. Forse impieghiamo meno tempo. |
| Betsey: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mieke: Taxi! Buongiorno. Hotel Astor, per favore. E’ lontano? |
| Tassista: No, è appena fuori Torino, nella zona del Lingotto. Va alla fiera? |
| Mieke: No, vado a una conferenza di Slow Food. Purtroppo sono terribilmente in ritardo. Quanto ci vuole? |
| Tassista: Da qui ci vogliono circa venti minuti. |
| Mieke: Arriverò appena in tempo. |
| Tassista: Oggi c’è poco traffico. Forse impieghiamo meno tempo. |
| Betsey: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Mieke: Taxi! Buongiorno. Hotel Astor, per favore. E’ lontano? |
| Mieke: Taxi! Good morning. Hotel Astor, please. Is it far? |
| Tassista: No, è appena fuori Torino, nella zona del Lingotto. Va alla fiera? |
| Taxi driver: No, it's just outside Turin, in the area of Lingotto. Are you going to the Fair? |
| Mieke: No, vado a una conferenza di Slow Food. Purtroppo sono terribilmente in ritardo. Quanto ci vuole? |
| Mieke: No, I'm going to a Slow Food conference. Unfortunately, I'm terribly late. How long does it take? |
| Tassista: Da qui ci vogliono circa venti minuti. |
| Taxi driver: From here, it takes about twenty minutes. |
| Mieke: Arriverò appena in tempo. |
| Mieke: I'll get there just in time. |
| Tassista: Oggi c’è poco traffico. Forse impieghiamo meno tempo. |
| Taxi driver: Today there is not much traffic. Maybe it will take us less time. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ofelia: In this lesson we’ll talk about Slow Food. |
| Betsey: Slow Food is an international movement that has spread to 150 countries. |
| Ofelia: It was founded by an Italian, Carlo Petrini, in 1986. |
| Betsey: You can tell from its name that it’s meant to be an alternative to the fast food lifestyle. |
| Ofelia: Exactly. It promotes the production and consumption of locally grown and organic food, and it’s against genetically modified foods. |
| Betsey: How did it start? |
| Ofelia: When the movement started in Italy, it aimed to preserve traditional and regional cuisine. |
| Betsey: I see. |
| Ofelia: It also pays a lot of attention to educating the young generations about learning how to cook, rather than buying ready-made meals. And to giving kids healthy, home-made packed lunches to take to school. |
| Betsey: Do they hold workshops and activities in schools? |
| Ofelia: Oh yes, as well as workshops for children and adults in supermarkets, squares, farms and of course at the Saloni del gusto, great food fairs. |
| Betsey: Interesting. |
| Ofelia: One of the most popular mottos of the movement is Mangia bene e cresci meglio. |
| Betsey: Which is literally, “Eat well and grow better.” Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Betsey: The first word we shall see is... |
| Ofelia: lontano [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: far, distant |
| Ofelia: lontano [slowly - broken down by syllable] lontano [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: tassista [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: taxi driver |
| Ofelia: tassista [slowly - broken down by syllable] tassista [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: fuori [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: out, outside |
| Ofelia: fuori [slowly - broken down by syllable] fuori [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: zona [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: area |
| Ofelia: zona [slowly - broken down by syllable] zona [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: purtroppo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: unfortunately |
| Ofelia: purtroppo [slowly - broken down by syllable] purtroppo [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: terribilmente [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: terribly |
| Ofelia: terribilmente [slowly - broken down by syllable] terribilmente [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: volerci [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: to take (as in time) |
| Ofelia: volerci [slowly - broken down by syllable] volerci [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: volerci [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: In time |
| Ofelia: volerci [slowly - broken down by syllable] volerci [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: Next |
| Ofelia: traffico [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: traffic |
| Ofelia: traffico [slowly - broken down by syllable] traffico [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: And last... |
| Ofelia: meno [natural native speed] |
| Betsey: less |
| Ofelia: meno [slowly - broken down by syllable] meno [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Betsey: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Ofelia: The first word is... TASSISTA |
| Betsey: Meaning “TAXI DRIVER” |
| Ofelia: The word tassista is an Italianization of the English word ‘taxi’ plus the suffix –ista, which is the most common ending for jobs. It is both a masculine and feminine noun - il tassista or la tassista |
| Betsey: What’s an example with a feminine noun? |
| Ofelia: Mia zia fa la tassista. |
| Betsey: My aunt is a taxi driver. |
| Betsey: Ok, what's the next one we'll look at? |
| Ofelia: VOLERCI |
| Betsey: TO TAKE |
| Ofelia: Volerci means ‘to take’, in terms of time. A synonym is impiegare. They are both followed by nouns that indicate time, like minuti |
| Betsey: ...minutes... |
| Ofelia: or tempo and ore |
| Betsey: “time” and “Hours”. |
| Betsey: What are some examples? |
| Ofelia: Se andiamo in macchina a Roma, ci vogliono 6 ore. |
| Betsey: If we go to Rome by car, it‘ll take 6 hours. |
| Ofelia: L’autobus impiega mezz’ora da qui alla stazione. |
| Betsey: The bus takes half an hour from here to the station. |
| Betsey: The last one we'll look at is... |
| Ofelia: IN TEMPO |
| Betsey: IN TIME |
| Ofelia: Yes, it means “in time” or “soon enough”. For example Spero di arrivare in tempo, “I hope I can arrive in time.” A similar expression in Italian is in orario. |
| Betsey: Ok, what are some examples with these two? |
| Ofelia: Sei arrivato appena in tempo. |
| Betsey: You have arrived just in time. |
| Ofelia: A scuola arrivo sempre in orario. |
| Betsey: “I always arrive at school in time.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Betsey: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the verbs... |
| Ofelia: volerci and impiegare. |
| Betsey: Both mean ‘to take time’ |
| Ofelia: Let’s first have a look at the verb volerci |
| Betsey: As we said, it means ‘to take time’. |
| Ofelia: The infinitive mood of the verb volerci looks different from the usual ending. That’s because the verb volere meaning “to want” is combined with the pronoun ci. |
| Betsey: So, in the dictionary, you will find volere. |
| Ofelia: Right, there are only two forms of the verb volerci. One is ‘CI VUOLE’ |
| Betsey: ….In the case of a singular noun |
| Ofelia: Here is a sample sentence. Ci vuole un’ora per arrivare a Roma. |
| Betsey: It takes one hour to get to Rome. |
| Ofelia: In the case of a plural noun, it becomes Ci vogliono. |
| Betsey: Can you give us an example? |
| Ofelia: Ci vogliono anni per imparare a suonare il pianoforte. |
| Betsey: It takes years to learn how to play the piano. |
| Ofelia: The verb volerci is always followed by expressions of time, like ora/ore, |
| Betsey: Hour/hours |
| Ofelia: giorni, mesi |
| Betsey: days, months |
| Ofelia: tanto tempo, poco tempo |
| Betsey: a lot of time, a little time |
| Ofelia: Here’s another example: Ci vogliono 20 minuti da qui alla stazione. |
| Betsey: It takes 20 minutes from here to the station. |
| Ofelia: As you may have noticed, the subject of the sentence is the noun following the verb volerci. So the only possible forms are ci vuole plus a singular noun, and ci vogliono plus a plural noun. |
| Betsey: Ok, let’s hear an example. |
| Ofelia: Ci vuole tanto tempo per imparare a giocare bene a golf. |
| Betsey: It takes a long time to learn how to play well golf. |
| Ofelia: Now let’s look at the verb impiegare |
| Betsey: Impiegare translates as ‘to take time’, just like volerci. |
| Ofelia: Impiegare is a regular verb that follows the usual declension of verbs ending in ‘-are’. |
| Betsey: Can you give us the conjugation? |
| Ofelia: Sure, here it is: Io impiego |
| I take time |
| Tu impieghi |
| You take time |
| Lui/lei impiega |
| He/she takes time |
| Noi impieghiamo |
| We take time |
| Voi impiegate |
| You take time (plural) |
| Loro impiegano |
| They take time |
| Betsey: Now, this word is used in a different type of sentence construction from volerci. |
| Ofelia: Yes, because when using impiegare, the subject of the sentence is “I,” “you,” “he/she”, “we”, “you,” and “they”, and not the quantity of time. |
| Betsey: So all the forms of the verb are possible. |
| Ofelia: The expressions of time, like for example “30 minutes”, “one hour”, “20 years” and so on, become the object. |
| Betsey: For example… |
| Ofelia: Impiego due ore per arrivare al lavoro. |
| Betsey: It takes me two hours to get to work. |
| Ofelia: Quanto tempo impieghiamo a preparare questa ricetta? |
| Betsey: How long will it take us to prepare this recipe? |
| Ofelia: Now let’s compare two sentences using volerci and impiegare |
| Betsey: It is actually possible to use either of them in the same sentence, because they both convey the same idea. Can you give us the two alternative sentences please Ofelia:? |
| Ofelia: Ci volgliono 30 minuti per andare al mio ufficio. OR |
| Impiego 30 minuti per andare al mio ufficio. |
| Betsey: Both mean “It takes 30 minutes to get to my office.” Ok listeners, remember to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson. |
Outro |
|---|
| Betsey: OK. That's all for this lesson. |
| Ofelia: Thank you all for listening! A presto! |
| Betsey: See you next time! |
3 Comments
HideConoscete Slow Food?
Do you know Slow Food?
Ciao Roberto,
allora devi solo trovare qualcuno che lo prepari per te 😉
(then you just need to find someone that prepares it for you)
Thanks for your comment, let us know if you have any questions!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Slow Food? No. Io non cucino quel cibo che ci vuole più di trenta minuti per preparare. 🤷♂️