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. È 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. È 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. È 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! |
Comments
Hide