Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Asia: Hi everyone, I'm Asia.
Daniele: And I'm Daniele.
Asia: And welcome to Must-Know Italian Sentence Structures, Season 1 - Lesson 13. Asking About Manner.
Asia: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for asking about manner, or how something is.
PATTERN
Asia: Let’s start with an example. "How is dinner?"
Daniele: Com'è la cena?
Daniele: [slow] Com'è la cena?
Asia: The pattern for asking about manner has 3 elements. First, the interrogative adverb of manner, "how."
Daniele: Come.
Asia: Second, the verb, in this case "to be" conjugated in the third person singular.
Daniele: è.
Asia: And last, a noun or noun phrase, in this case "the dinner."
Daniele: la cena.
Asia: Altogether, we have, "How is dinner?"
Daniele: Com'è la cena? [slow] Com'è la cena? [normal] Com'è la cena?
Asia: Start with the interrogative adverb meaning “how.”
Daniele: come
Asia: followed by a conjugated verb. In this case the verb "to be" conjugated in the third person singular
Daniele: è
Asia: Note that the interrogative adverb “how,” when followed by the verb "to be" conjugated in the third person singular, can be abbreviated, as in the example
Daniele: come is abbreviated to com'
Asia: After the verb comes the subject — a noun or a noun phrase that is singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be conjugated in the third person plural...
Daniele: sono
Asia: Thus, "How are" would be...
Daniele: come sono.
Asia: So remember to ask about matters related to manner, start with the word "how."
Daniele: come
Asia: followed by a conjugated verb in the third person singular. Last, add a singular noun. When the subject is plural, conjugate the verb in the third person plural.
Asia: Here's another example meaning, "How is the coffee?" First, interrogative adverb of manner, "how".
Daniele: Come.
Asia: Second, the verb,
Daniele: è.
Asia: Third, a noun or noun phrase, in this case "the coffee".
Daniele: il caffè.
Asia: Altogether we have...
Daniele: Com'è il caffè? [slow] Com'è il caffè? [normal] Com'è il caffè?
Asia: "How is the coffee?"
[pause]
Daniele: Com'è il caffè?
Asia: How do you say - "How are the sandwiches?" To give you a hint, "the sandwiches" is...
Daniele: i panini. [slow] i panini. [normal] i panini.
Asia: "How are the sandwiches?"
[pause]
Daniele: Come sono i panini? [slow] Come sono i panini? [normal] Come sono i panini?
[pause]
Daniele: Come sono i panini?
REVIEW
Asia: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I’ll give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud in Italian. Here we go.
Asia: "How is dinner?"
[pause]
Daniele: Com'è la cena?
[pause]
Daniele: Com'è la cena?
Asia: "How is the coffee?"
[pause]
Daniele: Com'è il caffè?
[pause]
Daniele: Com'è il caffè?
Asia: "How are the sandwiches?"
[pause]
Daniele: Come sono i panini?
[pause]
Daniele: Come sono i panini?

Outro

Asia: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for asking about manner, as in...
Daniele: Com'è la cena?
Asia: meaning "How is dinner?"
Asia: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on ItalianPod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time!
Daniele: A presto!

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