Learn the usage of the verb credere
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Marco: Buongiorno. Mi chiamo Marco. |
| Cinzia: Cinzia here. |
| Marco: Lower intermediate series, season 1, lesson 2. Where Will You Find The Most Beautiful Italian Beaches? |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno a tutti. My name is Cinzia and I am joined here by |
| Marco: Paulo. No it’s always Marco sorry. So it’s Marco. |
| Cinzia: Who is this Paulo? |
| Marco: No, no forget it. Just a friend. |
| Cinzia: He is one of your friends in your mind? |
| Marco: No he is a real friend I think. He is, he is, he is. |
| Cinzia: Oh maybe it’s the imaginary friend. |
| Marco: No, no he is real. He is real. |
| Cinzia: Okay. |
| Marco: Any way. We would like to welcome you to the second lesson of this lower intermediate series in italianpod101.com |
| Cinzia: Yes. We hope you enjoyed the first lesson of this new series and be ready to study more Italian with us. |
| Marco: That’s for sure and don’t forget to check the learning center where you will find a lot of tools to help you in your Italian studies. |
| Cinzia: What are we talking about today Marco? |
| Marco: We still have Manuel and Giulia today and… |
| Cinzia: Still? |
| Marco: Yes. |
| Cinzia: The perfect couple maybe. |
| Marco: Well I don’t know. We will have to see today’s dialogue to see that too. |
| Cinzia: Oh okay. |
| Marco: And what grammar topics are we taking a look at today? |
| Cinzia: Today we are going to take a look at some typical expressions that we use in Italian like credo di and penso di. |
| Marco: Let’s not make our students wait and jump right into the dialogue. |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: I will be Manuel. |
| Cinzia: And I will be Giulia. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Manuel: Ciao come stai? |
| Giulia: Io bene e tu? |
| Manuel: Anche io bene. Cosa fai domani? |
| Giulia: Credo di andare al mare. |
| Manuel: Vai da sola? |
| Giulia: No, penso di andare con le mie amiche. |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Manuel: Ciao come stai? |
| Giulia: Io bene e tu? |
| Manuel: Anche io bene. Cosa fai domani? |
| Giulia: Credo di andare al mare. |
| Manuel: Vai da sola? |
| Giulia: No, penso di andare con le mie amiche. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Manuel: Ciao come stai? |
| Manuel: Hello, how are you? |
| Giulia: Io bene e tu? |
| Giulia: I am fine, and you? |
| Manuel: Anche io bene. Cosa fai domani? |
| Manuel: I am also fine. What are you doing tomorrow? |
| Giulia: Credo di andare al mare. |
| Giulia: I think I will go to the beach. |
| Manuel: Vai da sola? |
| Manuel: Are you going alone? |
| Giulia: No, penso di andare con le mie amiche. |
| Giulia: No, I think I will go with my girlfriends. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cinzia: Okay so thank you dear listeners. That’s all for today. Bye, bye. |
| Marco: Well like Cinzia doesn’t want to work today. What’s happening? |
| Cinzia: Why? What’s wrong? We are finished. |
| Marco: Ah you want to go to the beach with your girlfriends. |
| Cinzia: Of course I want. |
| Marco: No, no, no, no we still have lots to do here. |
| Cinzia: Oh, okay. |
| Marco: Next time, you can bring your costume and towel and everything you want and after recording, you can go straight to the beach. |
| Cinzia: Okay so is there a promise? |
| Marco: Well you can go. I am not coming with you at the beach. |
| Cinzia: Of course you will not. |
| Marco: No, no sometimes it hurts me. |
| Cinzia: Okay so let’s jump in to this vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Today’s first word is |
| Cinzia: Andare. |
| Marco: To go. |
| Cinzia: Andare. Andare. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Credere. |
| Marco: To believe. |
| Cinzia: Credere. Credere. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Mare. |
| Marco: Sea. |
| Cinzia: Mare. Mare. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Solo. |
| Marco: Alone. |
| Cinzia: Solo. Solo. |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: Pensare. |
| Marco: To think |
| Cinzia: Pensare. Pensare. |
| Marco: And last word |
| Cinzia: Amico. |
| Marco: Friend. |
| Cinzia: Amico. Amico. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: And now let’s go home. Let’s take a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. |
| Marco: That’s better. |
| Cinzia: So the first word we will look at is credere. |
| Marco: And the first example is |
| Cinzia: Credo di si. |
| Marco: I believe so. |
| Cinzia: The second word we will look at is mare. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Ho il mal di mare. |
| Marco: I am seasick. Are you seasick? |
| Cinzia: No, never. |
| Marco: Never? |
| Cinzia: No. |
| Marco: Hmm okay. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is amico. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Un buon amico. |
| Marco: A good friend. And finally we have |
| Cinzia: Solo. |
| Marco: And the example sentence is |
| Cinzia: Vado da solo. |
| Marco: I am going alone. Very useful, for example, when you fight with somebody and you want to say I am going alone, you say |
| Cinzia: Vado da solo... |
| Marco: You would say vado da sola, right? |
| Cinzia: Yes of course. |
| Marco: For example, let’s say, we fight and you go to the beach by yourself, you say |
| Cinzia: Vado da sola |
| Marco: Exactly. You weren’t following me. Were you? |
| Cinzia: No I am following you as always but I… |
| Marco: No you aren’t following me. You said vado da sola, you can’t be following me. |
| Cinzia: Okay, okay, let’s move on. |
| Marco: Together, vai da sola. |
| Cinzia: Of course. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Okay. Now let’s take a look at today’s grammar. We shall start talking about the usage of the verb credere, which is commonly translated in English as to believe but also as to think or to deem. |
| Cinzia: So as we have seen, in today’s dialogue, this verb is followed by di plus the present infinitive that expresses what we believe or think of doing. |
| Marco: Exactly. Furthermore, credo di andare al mare is translating using I think I will go to the beach. Because you are expressing an opinion, a belief, a desire. |
| Cinzia: We can apply the same rule to the expression penso di using the verb pensare to think. |
| Marco: Yes in the dialogue, we had penso di andare con le mie amiche. |
| Cinzia: Yes. I know what you mean and maybe credo that is credere, to believe, it’s a little bit stronger but in most cases, we are never sure. |
| Marco: Exactly. So we can translate both as I think or sometimes I believe but I don’t think it’s very correct to say I believe I will go to the beach. It sounds so old-fashioned. |
| Cinzia: Oh yes, yes but in the Italian translation, credo has just the same meaning of penso. |
| Marco: Yes exactly. |
| Cinzia: It’s just about something that we are planning. So we are not sure and that’s why we say credo or penso So now let’s take a look at the few examples. |
| Marco: The first one is |
| Cinzia: Penso di si. |
| Marco: I think so. |
| Cinzia: And then we have credo di si. |
| Marco: I believe so |
| Cinzia: Or penso di no. |
| Marco: I don’t think so. |
| Cinzia: Credo di no. |
| Marco: I don’t believe so. |
| Cinzia: And what else do we have Marco? |
| Marco: Well we have penso di andare a dormire. |
| Cinzia: I think I would go to sleep. |
| Marco: And credo di andare a dormire. |
| Cinzia: I believe I would go to sleep. |
| Marco: Something old fashioned right? |
| Cinzia: Yes, we never use it. |
| Marco: So also in this case, it’s best maybe to use I think I would go to sleep. |
| Cinzia: In the English translation. |
| Marco: Exactly. And then what do we have? |
| Cinzia: Penso di partire domani. |
| Marco: I think I will leave tomorrow and finally |
| Cinzia: Credo di partire domani. |
| Marco: I believe I will leave tomorrow. |
| Cinzia: Yes I believe I will leave you tomorrow Marco. |
| Marco: Tomorrow? |
| Cinzia: Yes I am going to go to the beach. |
| Marco: Whole day. |
| Cinzia: Of course. |
| Marco: Penso che ti licenzio. I think I will fire you. |
| Cinzia: Oh my god! No, no, no, no, no, no beach for me tomorrow okay. |
| Marco: Joking, joking. Any way I think that… |
Outro |
| Cinzia: It’s finally all for today. |
| Marco: Yes it’s finished and Penso di aver detto tutto, I think I have said everything. |
| Cinzia: Si Marco, hai detto tutto. |
| Marco: And don’t forget to check the learning center. |
| Cinzia: Ci vediamo domani. |
| Marco: Ciao. |
| Cinzia: Ciao ciao. |
31 Comments
HideVorrei andare al mare !!! Tra due settimane cominciano le mie vacanze... pero questa fine settimana è una festa in Francia, e non lavoro il lunedì :cool:
Hi kelly, patrick
thanks for your question.
What you say is correct. However, the combination of tenses used in that example is also possible (meaning you can also say "penso che non sia stato spaventoso").
When the verb in the main clause is in the present, you can sometimes use the imperfect subjunctive to express that the fact of the past has a durative value. For example, if it's an ongoing situation in the past or a habitual situation in the past.
Penso che da bambino fosse felice/ sia stato felice = I think he was happy as a child [throughout his childhood]
Penso che quel film non fosse/ non sia stato spaventoso [I wasn't scared throughout the movie]
The difference is really subtle, so don't worry too much about it, you can just normally use the past subjunctive.
Hope this helps!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi cinzia. In the vocabulary section of this lesson the first example sentence for pensareis Penso che quel film non fosse spaventoso per niente.
Why fosse? and not sia stato spaventoso.
I thought that when the main verb Penso is in the present tense and the verb in the dependent clause is in the past, one hould use the past subjunctive.
Ciao Amr Barrada,
Thank you for your message.
On ItalianPod101, you can pay for your subscription all at once but you have the choice of the length: 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months.
Hope this helps. If you have more questions, please let us know again.
Best Regards,
Cristiane
Team ItalianPod101.com
Can I pay on a month-by-month basis? I don't want to pay for two years.
Hi Cecile,
We have two more Lower Intermediate series:
Season 2 https://www.italianpod101.com/index.php?cat=33
Season 3 https://www.italianpod101.com/index.php?cat=60
Check them out!
I'm sure you'll find something that fits your level.
A presto!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Too basic and the English dialogue is quite silly.:::disappointed:
Ciao Hilary,
Grazie per il commento.
Adesso forse fa troppo freddo per il mare! :grin:
Maybe now it's too cold for the beach!
A presto!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
A me piace andare al mare, ma adesso è inverno, credo che sarà meglio in estate. I like to go to the beach, but now it's winter, I think it will be better in summer.
Hi Mina,
Thank you for posting!
Let us know if you have questions.
Cheers,
Laura
Team ItalianPod101.com
AMAZING
THANK YOU