Learn how to use the particle ci to talk about the weather and organize a trip using an informal conversation between friends as an example
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 3, Lesson 13 - Let’s Take a Trip to the Italian Countryside. Becky here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the particle ci. The conversation takes place in the company break room. |
| Ofelia: It's between Maria and Elia. |
| Becky: The speakers are coworkers and friends, so they’ll be using informal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Elia: Oggi è lunedì, che noia! |
| Maria: Vero, ma questo fine-settimana c'è il ponte...hai qualche progetto? |
| Elia: No. Vediamo che tempo fa... le previsoni dicono "soleggiato su tutto il territorio nazionale"! |
| Maria: Evvai! Perchè non facciamo una gita? Vorrei visitare Spello, ci sei mai stato? |
| Elia: No, dov'è? |
| Maria: E' vicino Perugia. |
| Elia: Perugia? Ci abitano alcuni miei amici. |
| Maria: Puoi chiedergli se ci fanno da guida. |
| Elia: Sì, di solito sono molto disponibili. |
| Becky: Now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Elia: Today is Monday. What a bore! |
| Maria: That's true, but this week there will be a three-day weekend... Do you have any plans? |
| Elia: No. Let's see what the weather will be... The forecast says, "Sunny all over the country!” |
| Maria: Great! Why don't we take a short trip? I would like to visit Spello. Have you ever been there? |
| Elia: No, where is it? |
| Maria: It's near Perugia. |
| Elia: Perugia? Some of my friends live there. |
| Maria: You can ask them if they could show us around. |
| Elia: Yes, usually they’re really helpful. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Ofelia, could you tell me a bit about Spello? |
| Ofelia: Of course! Spello is an ancient town in Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria. |
| Becky: Is it known for anything special? |
| Ofelia: Yes, it’s well-known as one of the most beautiful townships of Italy and for its most precious product: extra virgin olive oil. Also, the famous Infiorata festival is a whole night of creating over sixty flower carpets on the Corpus Domini feast. |
| Becky: Sounds interesting! What’s a good expression to know here? |
| Ofelia: You could say Spello è una splendida città nel cuore dell'Italia. |
| Becky: Meaning, "Spello is a magnificent town in the very center of Italy." It sounds like this is true, too! Okay, now on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: ponte [natural native speed] |
| Becky: bridge, three-day weekend |
| Ofelia: ponte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: ponte [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: progetto [natural native speed] |
| Becky: project, plan |
| Ofelia: progetto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: progetto [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: previsione [natural native speed] |
| Becky: forecast |
| Ofelia: previsione [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: previsione [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: soleggiato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: sunny |
| Ofelia: soleggiato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: soleggiato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: nazionale [natural native speed] |
| Becky: national |
| Ofelia: nazionale [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: nazionale [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next one is... |
| Ofelia: Evvai! [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Oh yes! Hurray! Great! |
| Ofelia: Evvai! [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: Evvai! [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: fare da guida [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to show around |
| Ofelia: fare da guida [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: fare da guida [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The last word is... |
| Ofelia: disponibile [natural native speed] |
| Becky: available |
| Ofelia: disponibile [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: disponibile [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ofelia: ...ponte. |
| Becky: Which means "long weekend." |
| Ofelia: Ponte primarily means "bridge," just like the famous Ponte dei Sospiri, “Bridge of Sighs,” in Venice and Ponte Vecchio in Florence. |
| Becky: But the same word can also refer to a long weekend. |
| Ofelia: That’s right. For example, ponte del primo maggio, the “Labor Day long weekend.” Any time there is a holiday before or after the weekend, you can say fare il ponte in Italian. |
| Becky: And it means “to have a long weekend.” When this word refers to a bridge, it can be followed by a proper name as we’ve just said. |
| Ofelia: When it refers to a holiday, it’s usually followed by the preposition di, plus an article, and the name of the holiday. For example, Ponte del Venticinque Aprile. |
| Becky: The “April 25th long weekend.” Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Per il ponte di Pasqua io e la mia famiglia andremo in montagna. |
| Becky: Meaning, "My family and I are going to spend the Easter long weekend in the mountains." Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Ofelia: In this lesson you’ll learn how to use the particle ci. |
| Becky: This particle can be used as a pronoun, either reflexive or reciprocal. |
| Ofelia: When using a reflexive verb, ci is the reflexive pronoun for the first person plural. |
| Becky: Can you give us some examples? |
| Ofelia: Sure! Ci possiamo fermare qui. |
| Becky: "We can stop here." |
| Ofelia: Ci dobbiamo sbrigare. |
| Becky:"We should hurry." |
| Becky: Ci can also be a reciprocal pronoun when you’re using reflexive verbs that express a reciprocal action. |
| Ofelia: For example, Nella mia famiglia ci salutiamo sempre con un bacio. |
| Becky: "In my family, we always greet each other with a kiss." This particle can also be used as a direct or indirect pronoun for the first person plural. |
| Ofelia: For example, Giulia e Marco ci verranno a trovare domenica. |
| Becky: "Giulia and Marco will visit us on Sunday." |
| Ofelia: Quando va in vacanza, Mario ci scrive sempre una cartolina. |
| Becky: "When he goes on vacation, Mario always writes a postcard to us." This particle can also be used as a place adverb, right? |
| Ofelia: That’s right. Ci as a place adverb can be substituted by qui, meaning "here;" in questo luogo meaning "in this place;" lì meaning "there;" or in quel luogo meaning "in that place," usually once a place has been stated. The most common phrases that use it are c'è which is made from ci plus è and means "there is"; and ci sono which means "there are." |
| Becky: This particle replaces noun phrases that follow the preposition a. |
| Ofelia: For example, let’s consider the phrase pensare a qualcosa, meaning “to think about something.” You will often hear Ci penso io! Meaning, "I’ll think about it!” Or, “I’ll take care of it!" Here, ci stands for “about it.” |
| Becky: Finally, this particle can be used with an emphasizing and repetitive function. Here’s an example. |
| Ofelia: Qui ci sto bene. |
| Becky: "Here, I'm at ease." |
| Ofelia: In this case, ci is a repetition of qui, and the sentence can also be Qui sto bene. |
Outro |
| Becky: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Ofelia: A presto. |
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