Learn how to form irregular Italian adjectives and adverbs when forming the Italian comparative of majority
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno. |
| Marco: Marco here. Lower intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 27. Do You Know An Easier Way to Cook Italian Fish? |
| Cinzia: Hello everyone. I am Cinzia and welcome to italianpod101.com |
| Marco: With us, you learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Cinzia: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, we will study the adjectives and adverbs that take up on the regular inflection when used as terms of comparison in the comparativo di maggioranza. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place in a grocery store. |
| Marco: The conversation is between Giulia and Manuel. |
| Cinzia: And the speakers are friends. Therefore they will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Now before we listen to the conversation |
| Cinzia: We want to ask |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes while you listen? |
| Cinzia: We have received an email about the study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you tried it and if so |
| Cinzia: What do you think of it? |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Giulia: Il pesce fresco è migliore di quello surgelato. |
| Manuel: Ma quello surgelato è più comodo da cucinare. |
| Giulia: Allora prendi i bastoncini di merluzzo. |
| Manuel: Questi vanno bene? |
| Giulia: No, quelli che hai preso sono peggiori di questi. |
| Manuel: Perché? |
| Giulia: Perché sono difficili da cuocere al forno. |
| Manuel: Al forno? Ma non li friggi? |
| Giulia: A volte si, ma è meglio non mangiare troppi cibi fritti. |
| Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Giulia: Il pesce fresco è migliore di quello surgelato. |
| Manuel: Ma quello surgelato è più comodo da cucinare. |
| Giulia: Allora prendi i bastoncini di merluzzo. |
| Manuel: Questi vanno bene? |
| Giulia: No, quelli che hai preso sono peggiori di questi. |
| Manuel: Perché? |
| Giulia: Perché sono difficili da cuocere al forno. |
| Manuel: Al forno? Ma non li friggi? |
| Giulia: A volte si, ma è meglio non mangiare troppi cibi fritti. |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Giulia: Il pesce fresco è migliore di quello surgelato. |
| Giulia: Fresh fish is better than frozen. |
| Manuel: Ma quello surgelato è più comodo da cucinare. |
| Manuel: But frozen fish is easier to cook. |
| Giulia: Allora prendi i bastoncini di merluzzo. |
| Giulia: Then get fish fingers. |
| Manuel: Questi vanno bene? |
| Manuel: Are these okay? |
| Giulia: No, quelli che hai preso sono peggiori di questi. |
| Giulia: No, the ones you have are worse than these. |
| Manuel: Perché? |
| Manuel: Why? |
| Giulia: Perché sono difficili da cuocere al forno. |
| Giulia: Because they are difficult to cook in the oven. |
| Manuel: Al forno? Ma non li friggi? |
| Manuel: In the oven? Don’t you fry them? |
| Giulia: A volte si, ma è meglio non mangiare troppi cibi fritti. |
| Giulia: Sometimes I do, but it’s better not to eat too much fried food. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. Today’s first word is |
| Cinzia: Fresco. |
| Marco: Fresh, cool, chilly. |
| Cinzia: Fresco. Fresco. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Cinzia: Comodo. |
| Marco: Comfortable, convenient, easy, useful. |
| Cinzia: Comodo. Comodo. |
| Marco: Next we have an expression. |
| Cinzia: Bastoncini di merluzzo. |
| Marco: Fish fingers, fish sticks. |
| Cinzia: Bastoncini di merluzzo. Bastoncini di merluzzo. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Difficile. |
| Marco: Difficult, hard, unlikely. |
| Cinzia: Difficile. Difficile. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Cinzia: Forno. |
| Marco: Oven, kiln, furnace. |
| Cinzia: Forno. Forno. |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Cinzia: Friggere. |
| Marco: To fry, sizzle. |
| Cinzia: Friggere. Friggere. |
| 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 fresco. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Mi piace la birra fresca. |
| Marco: I like cool beer. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is comodo. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Questo divano è molto comodo. |
| Marco: This sofa is very comfortable. |
| Cinzia: Next we have an expression. Bastoncini di merluzzo. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: Tutti conoscono i bastoncini di merluzzo Findus. |
| Marco: Everyone knows Findus Fish Fingers. |
| Cinzia: The next word we will look at is difficile. |
| Marco: And the sample sentence is |
| Cinzia: Questo problema è molto difficile. |
| Marco: This problem is very difficult. |
| Cinzia: And the next word is forno. |
| Marco: And the sample is |
| Cinzia: Ti piace il pesce al forno? |
| Marco: Do you like oven-baked fish? |
| Cinzia: And the last word we will look at is friggere. |
| Marco: So the last sample sentence for today is |
| Cinzia: Aiutami a friggere le patatine. |
| Marco: Help me fry the potatoes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Cinzia: Certain irregular adjectives and adverbs change their form when forming the comparative of majority. |
| Marco: These irregular forms are never preceded by the adverb Più. |
| Cinzia: This is because it is in fact already implied into their irregular form. |
| Marco: For example |
| Cinzia: Il tuo piano è migliore di quello che abbiamo letto ieri. |
| Marco: Your plan is better than the one we read yesterday. Migliore means più buono, more good. |
| Cinzia: La macchina nuova funziona peggio di quella vecchia. |
| Marco: The new car works worst than the old one. Peggio means più male, more bad. |
| Cinzia: We shall now see some irregular forms. |
| Marco: We shall present first adjective in Italian, then the adjective in English, followed by the comparativo di maggioranza in Italian and then finally the comparative of majority in English. Take it from here Cinzia. |
| Cinzia: Grande |
| Marco: Great, large. |
| Cinzia: Maggiore |
| Marco: Greater, larger. |
| Cinzia: Piccolo |
| Marco: Small, short. |
| Cinzia: Minore |
| Marco: Smaller, shorter. |
| Cinzia: Buono |
| Marco: Good. |
| Cinzia: Migliore |
| Marco: Better. |
| Cinzia: Cattivo |
| Marco: Bad. |
| Cinzia: Peggiore |
| Marco: Worst. And now let’s take a look at some adverbs. The first one is |
| Cinzia: Bene |
| Marco: Well. |
| Cinzia: Meglio |
| Marco: Better. |
| Cinzia: Male |
| Marco: Badly. |
| Cinzia: Peggio |
| Marco: Worst. |
| Cinzia: Grandemente |
| Marco: Greatly. |
| Cinzia: Maggiormente |
| Marco: More greatly. |
| Cinzia: Bassamente |
| Marco: Lowly. |
| Cinzia: Inferiormente |
| Marco: More lowly. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Cinzia, I would 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 lesson several times. |
| Cinzia: Then afterward gets the conversation-only track from our site. |
| Marco: She then listens to them on the 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: Okay. Arrivederci. |
| Cinzia: Ciao. |
15 Comments
HideHi Sylvia May,
Thank you for posting.
You can find the review by pressing the "play" button next to "Vocabulary" and the dialogue track is available by pressing the "play" button next to "Dialogue".
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
I can't find the review and dialogue boxes in this new format.
I agree with your comment. As a language teacher, I believe that grammar is better explained in the mother-tongue of the learner. Many thanks for your interesting podcasts.
Ciao Cate,
Thank you for your feedback.
The Upper Intermediate Season 2 series www.italianpod101.com/index.php?cat=53 is almost completely in Italian.
The level gets quite difficult when the grammar is explained in Italian.
Please give it a try! Provala!
Grazie mille e buona giornata!
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao a tutti
Adoro queste lezioni ma penso che sarebbe buono se parlate solo in italiano durante la lezione.
Grazie mille,
Cate
Hi everyone
I love these lessons but I think that it would be good if you speak only in Italian during the lesson.
Thanks a lot
Cate
Ciao Don(atello)
Thank you for the useful feedback!
Please keep up the good work! :smile::thumbsup:
A presto,
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Re your inquiry about whether we view the Lesson Material while listening to the Audio portion of the lesson, I found it helps me to not look at the Lesson Material until after I've first completely listened to the audio towards better developing my ear for hearing and understanding spoken Italian. This is because I'm far better at reading and understanding Italian than I am at comprehending spoken Italian so I'm now forcing myself to 'develop my ear' for which all of your audio sessions are terrific.
Well, IMHO Italian verb tenses and moods are tricky for a Russian native speaker. And it's also true for English and probably many other Romance and Germanic languages, I guess, since tenses and moods work in a different way in Russian (there are only three tenses:mrgreen: but our nouns, pronouns, numbers and adjectives have cases:twisted:) Pronunciation is similar (there are basically no sounds that are really unfamiliar for a Russian speaker, e.g. the English "th", "w") but it's still different. In Italian there's (almost?) no vowel reduction whereas in Russian you have a hard time trying to figure out what phoneme this sound actually is and therefore how to spell it:smile: And well, Italian uses articles and Russian doesn't, Italian nouns have two genders and in Russian there are three. Surely there are more differences but I don't know much about Italiano yet. :oops:
Hello Aigul,
We're glad you find our podcasts interesting :smile:
What is the most difficult thing about Italian? And how is it different from Russian?
Cheers,
Neha/ItalianPod101.com
Dear hosts of ItalianPod101!
It's a trivial thing to say but thank you! Grazie mille! You're making it so much more interesting and easy to learn Italian and that's very important when you only start to learn a foreign language :smile: I love the podcasts!
Greetings from Russia :mrgreen: