Learn how to use the partitive article using a formal conversation as an example
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 |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 3, Lesson 14 - Planning a Trip in Italy. Becky here. |
| Ofelia: Ciao. I'm Ofelia. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the partitive. The conversation takes place at a travel agency. |
| Ofelia: It's between Elia and the travel agency employee. |
| Becky: The speakers don't know each other, so they’ll be using formal Italian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Elia: Salve, questo fine settimana vorrei andare a Spello, in Umbria. C'è qualche offerta? |
| Impiegata: Salve. Vediamo... Vuole andare in aereo? |
| Elia: Sì, ci sono dei voli per Perugia? |
| Impiegata: Ci sono due voli giornalieri da Milano Malpensa. |
| Elia: Bene... è possibile avere un servizio di transfer diretto dall'aeroporto a Spello? |
| Impiegata: Dipende. Alcuni alberghi offrono questa opzione. Comunque Spello non dista molto da Perugia, potrebbe prendere un taxi. Oppure prendere la navetta per Perugia e da lì raggiungere Spello in autobus. |
| Elia: No, troppo complicato, preferisco il transfer diretto. |
| Becky: Now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Elia: Hello. This weekend I would like to go to Spello in Umbria. Are there any special offers? |
| Employee: Hello. Let's see... Do you want to go by plane? |
| Elia: Yes, are there any flights for Perugia? |
| Employee: There are two daily flights from Milano Malpensa. |
| Elia: Good... is it possible to get direct transport service from the airport to Spello? |
| Employee: It depends. Some hotels offer this option. Anyway Spello is not very far from Perugia; you could take a taxi. Or take a shuttle bus to Perugia and from there reach Spello by bus. |
| Elia: No, too complicated, I prefer the direct transport. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Ofelia, in the dialogue they were talking about an airport in Milan. The two most important airports in northern Italy are located in Lombardy, which is the region whose capital is Milan. |
| Ofelia: The names of these airports are Malpensa and Linate. Malpensa is the main international airport in Italy after Fiumicino in Rome, whereas Linate is mainly used for domestic and short-haul international flights to destinations within Europe. |
| Becky: Are they connected to the city? |
| Ofelia: Both are connected by train and bus to downtown Milan and other cities. |
| Becky: Have you ever used those airports? |
| Ofelia: Yes! Once I had to fly from Milano and found out I was at the wrong airport! It was two hours before the flight, but I could get to the other airport by taxi. Although it was really risky, I was able to make my flight. You should know that there are fixed fares for taxis connecting the airports and the city center. |
| Becky: Listeners, that’s a good tip! Can you share a useful expression with us about these airports please Ofelia? |
| Ofelia: Sure! Milano Malpensa è uno degli aeroporti più trafficati d'Europa. |
| Becky: "Milano Malpensa is one of the most congested airports in Europe." 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: giornaliero [natural native speed] |
| Becky: daily |
| Ofelia: giornaliero [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: giornaliero [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: transfer [natural native speed] |
| Becky: transport, transfer |
| Ofelia: transfer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: transfer [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: dipendere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to depend |
| Ofelia: dipendere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: dipendere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Our next word is... |
| Ofelia: opzione [natural native speed] |
| Becky: option |
| Ofelia: opzione [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: opzione [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Ofelia: distare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to be distant, to be away |
| Ofelia: distare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: distare [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Ofelia: navetta [natural native speed] |
| Becky: shuttle bus |
| Ofelia: navetta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: navetta [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is... |
| Ofelia: raggiungere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to reach, to achieve, to contact, to arrive, to join |
| Ofelia: raggiungere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: raggiungere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And the last word... |
| Ofelia: complicato [natural native speed] |
| Becky: complicated |
| Ofelia: complicato [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ofelia: complicato [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: ...dipendere. |
| Becky: Which means "to depend." |
| Ofelia: Dipendere means "to be determined by" or "to rely on." In English it’s "to depend on," but in Italian dipendere is followed by the preposition da, basically meaning "from." |
| Becky: This verb is very often used to express the need for financial support, but you’ll often hear it in informal Italian in this form... |
| Ofelia: Dipende. |
| Becky:This is used mostly to answer affirmative or negative questions and means, "It depends.” |
| Ofelia: It's a good answer to use when you don't want to answer with a simple "No" or "Yes", and will make you sound very fluent. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, I giovani italiani tra i 18 e i 35 anni anni dipendono molto dalle loro famiglie. |
| Becky: Meaning, "In Italy, young adults from 18 to 35 depend heavily upon their families." |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Ofelia: Navetta. |
| Becky: Meaning "shuttle bus." Literally, it means "small boat" in Italian, and it always refers to a shuttle bus service. |
| Ofelia: Even if the suffix -etto or -etta is used as a diminutive suffix, the term has none of this nuance here. |
| Becky: It’s widely used to talk about festivals, music concerts, and any event that includes this transport service. |
| Ofelia: That’s right! In Italy, most large events have free shuttle buses from the main train stations or parking lots. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Ofelia: Sure. For example, you can say, Il servizio navetta verrà sospeso dalla mezzanotte. |
| Becky: This means, "The shuttle bus service will be suspended at midnight." Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn how to use partitive articles. We’ll analyze indefinite adjectives, such as "some" or "any." |
| Ofelia: Let’s start with qualche which means “some” or “a few.” We only use qualche with singular nouns, and it’s invariable. We never use this adjective with uncountable items such as acqua meaning "water;" pasta, or sale meaning "salt." Here’s an example with qualche - Mi piacerebbe imparare qualche canzone italiana. |
| Becky: "I'd like to learn some Italian songs." |
| Ofelia: Then we have alcuni and alcune. |
| Becky: These words have the same meaning as the first one – "some” and "a few" – but you can used them to refer to plural nouns. |
| Ofelia: You use alcuni with masculine nouns and alcune with feminine nouns. For example, Alcuni amici giocano a calcio. |
| Becky:"Some friends play soccer." What can you use with uncountable nouns? |
| Ofelia: Un po' di, meaning "some" or "a little." For example, Mi piace bere il caffè con un po' di latte. |
| Becky: "I like drinking coffee with a bit of milk." |
| Ofelia: Another way to express "some" or "any" is to use the partitive di, plus a definite article. For example, Hai dei bellissimi fiori in giardino. |
| Becky: "You have some beautiful flowers in the garden." |
| Ofelia: In this example, dei equals di plus i. Another example is La signora ha comprato delle rose e dei tulipani. |
| Becky:"The lady has bought some roses and tulips." |
| Ofelia: And in this example, delle equals di plus le, and again dei equals di plus i. |
| Becky:The last one we’ll look at is... |
| Ofelia: Qualunque and qualsiasi. These have the same meaning: "any." |
| Becky: Can you give us some examples? |
| Ofelia: Qualunque cosa tu dica mi fa arrabbiare. Or, Qualsiasi cosa tu dica mi fa arrabbiare. |
| Becky: "Anything you say makes me angry." |
| Ofelia: Please note that with qualunque and qualsiasi, you always have to use the subjunctive mood. For example, Qualunque sia la ragione, non posso perdonarti! |
| Becky: "Whatever the reason is, I can't forgive you!" |
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. |
Comments
Hide