Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Ciao a tutti.
Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 19. Have You Met the Italian Art Critic? Hi, my name is Marco and I am joined here by Cinzia.
Cinzia: In this lesson, you will learn about the differences between formal and informal type 3 if clauses.
Marco: This conversation takes place at an art exhibition in a nightclub.
Cinzia: It’s between Giulia and Manuel.
Marco: And because they are friends, they will be speaking informal Italian.
Cinzia: Don’t forget. You can leave us a comment on this lesson.
Marco: So if you have a question
Cinzia: Or some feedback
Marco: Please leave us a comment.
Cinzia: It’s very easy to do. Just stop by italianpod101.com
Marco: Click on comments, enter your comment and name and that’s it.
Cinzia: We are looking forward to hearing from you. Okay.
Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Manuel: Mi piace il posto, ma non c’è musica jazz stasera.
Giulia: Già, ma la mostra di questo giovane artista americano è molto intrigante.
Marcella: Se lo sapevo saremmo potuti andare al Rolling Stones.
Manuel: Ma non si dovrebbe dire “se l’avessi saputo”?
Giulia: Ahah, non essere troppo preciso, va bene anche così.
Marcella: Cosa dite, potremmo andarci lo stesso?
Manuel: Questa scultura è veramente bella, chissà cosa rappresenta.
Giulia: Giochiamo a fare i critici d’arte!
Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now.
Manuel: Mi piace il posto, ma non c’è musica jazz stasera.
Giulia: Già, ma la mostra di questo giovane artista americano è molto intrigante.
Marcella: Se lo sapevo saremmo potuti andare al Rolling Stones.
Manuel: Ma non si dovrebbe dire “se l’avessi saputo”?
Giulia: Ahah, non essere troppo preciso, va bene anche così.
Marcella: Cosa dite, potremmo andarci lo stesso?
Manuel: Questa scultura è veramente bella, chissà cosa rappresenta.
Giulia: Giochiamo a fare i critici d’arte!
Marco: And now, with the translation.
Manuel: Mi piace il posto, ma non c’è musica jazz stasera.
Manuel: I like the place, though there is no jazz music tonight.
Giulia: Già, ma la mostra di questo giovane artista americano è molto intrigante.
Giulia: That's right, but the exhibition of this young American artist is very intriguing.
Marcella: Se lo sapevo saremmo potuti andare al Rolling Stones.
Marcella: If I knew it, we could have gone to the Rolling Stones.
Manuel: Ma non si dovrebbe dire “se l’avessi saputo”?
Manuel: But shouldn't it be "If I had known it."
Giulia: Ahah, non essere troppo preciso, va bene anche così.
Giulia: Ha ha, don't be a square head, it's also fine this way.
Marcella: Cosa dite, potremmo andarci lo stesso?
Marcella: We could go there anyway; what do you think?
Manuel: Questa scultura è veramente bella, chissà cosa rappresenta.
Manuel: This sculpture is very nice; I wonder what it represents.
Giulia: Giochiamo a fare i critici d’arte!
Giulia: Let's act like art critics.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Cinzia: Ah, se lo sapevo.
Marco: Yes exactly. We Italians commonly use the imperfetto indicativo in place of the congiuntivo trapassato.
Cinzia: Se lo avessi saputo. It is really very common to hear this usage as the congiuntivo trapassato is quite difficult to use.
Marco: But we are sure that our listeners want to speak excellent Italian.
Cinzia: Yes so they should try to use the correct form.
Marco: But also be careful as in many occasions, they will hear people using the incorrect form.
VOCAB LIST
Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is
Cinzia: Posto.
Marco: Place
Cinzia: Posto. Posto.
Marco: The next word is
Cinzia: Già.
Marco: That’s right.
Cinzia: Già. Già.
Marco: Then we have
Cinzia: Mostra.
Marco: Exhibition.
Cinzia: Mostra. Mostra.
Marco: The next word is
Cinzia: Intrigante.
Marco: Intriguing.
Cinzia: Intrigante. Intrigante.
Marco: And next we have an expression
Cinzia: Essere troppo preciso.
Marco: To be square head.
Cinzia: Essere troppo preciso. Essere troppo preciso.
Marco: Next word is
Cinzia: Scultura.
Marco: Sculpture.
Cinzia: Scultura. Scultura.
Marco: And today’s final word is
Cinzia: Critico.
Marco: Critic.
Cinzia: Critico. Critico.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Marco: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Cinzia: The first word we will look at is posto.
Marco: And the sample sentence is
Cinzia: Hai un posto in cui stare a Milano?
Marco: Do you have a place to stay in Milan.
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is già.
Marco: And the sample is
Cinzia: Hai perso il treno, vero? Già.
Marco: You missed the train, didn’t you? That’s right.
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is mostra.
Marco: And the sample sentence is
Cinzia: Noi di solito non andiamo alle mostre.
Marco: We don’t usually go to exhibitions.
Cinzia: Next we have intrigante.
Marco: And the sample is
Cinzia: Il libro che ho letto è molto intrigante.
Marco: The book I read is very intriguing.
Cinzia: Next we have an expression: essere troppo preciso.
Marco: And the sample is
Cinzia: I miei colleghi sono troppo precisi.
Marco: My colleagues are square head.
Cinzia: The next word we will look at is scultura.
Marco: And the sample sentence is
Cinzia: Il museo ospitava molte sculture in marmo.
Marco: The museum hosted many marble sculptures.
Cinzia: And the last word is critico.
Marco: And the sample sentence is
Cinzia: Mike è un critico musicale.
Marco: Mike is a music critic.

Lesson focus

Marco: Let us take a look at today’s grammar point.
Cinzia: As it is the case for every language, there are sensible differences between spoken and written language.
Marco: As well as between formal and informal communication.
Cinzia: And regarding the Italian type 3 if clauses, the tense agreement structure states that we have to employ the congiuntivo trapassato
Marco: The past perfect subjunctive
Cinzia: In the subordinate clause, and the condizionale passato
Marco: Past conditional
Cinzia: In the main clause.
Marco: However when speaking informal Italian, well we Italians sometimes use the imperfetto indicativo tense in the subordinate clause instead of the congiuntivo trapassato.
Cinzia: Here are a few examples.
Marco: Formal communication, appropriate in both written and spoken Italian.
Cinzia: Se avessi saputo che non ti piaceva, non avrei preparato la torta di mele.
Marco: Had I known you didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have made the apple pie. Let’s now see informal communication possible only in spoken Italian.
Cinzia: Se sapevo che non ti piaceva, non preparavo la torta di mele. Or, Se sapevo che non ti piaceva, non avrei preparato la torta di mele.
Marco: If I knew you didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have made the apple pie.
Cinzia: The indicativo imperfetto may be used in either the subordinate or main clause, sometimes in both.
Marco: It has to be clear that Italians shouldn’t use this variant not even at the colloquial level, but the majority actually does.
Cinzia: So much so that there is an ongoing debate whether to consider the indicativo imperfetto inappropriate at any level or not.
Marco: As far as everyday spoken Italian is concerned, we should use the indicativo imperfetto only in informal situations, when we don’t recall the appropriate congiuntivo trapassato form.
Cinzia: And please remember that the indicativo imperfetto is much easier to conjugate than the congiuntivo trapassato, and people will always understand us.

Outro

Marco: That just about does it for today. Cinzia, I’d like to share a study tip a listener shared with us.
Cinzia: Ah, you are talking about the student who uses just the conversation tracks to review the lessons.
Marco: Cinzia, you read my mind. Yes, a listener of ours listens to each lessons several times
Cinzia: Then afterward get the conversation only track from our site
Marco: She then listens to them on shuffle again and again. She created her own immersion program using italianpod101.com
Cinzia: This is a great idea. Please, give it a try and let us know what you think.
Marco: Ok, thank you.
Cinzia: Grazie a tutti, ciao.

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