Learn how to use the sentence pattern "May I...?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Asia: Hi everyone, I'm Asia. |
| Daniele: And I'm Daniele. |
| Asia: And welcome to Must-Know Italian Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 19. Requesting Permission. |
| Asia: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for requesting permission. |
| PATTERN |
| Asia: For example, "May I come in?" |
| Daniele: Posso entrare? |
| Daniele: [slow] Posso entrare? |
| Asia: The pattern for requesting permission has 2 elements. First, the verb "may" in the first person singular, present tense. |
| Daniele: Posso. |
| Asia: Second, a verb in the infinitive form, in this case "to come in." |
| Daniele: entrare. |
| Asia: Altogether, we have, "May I come in?" |
| Daniele: Posso entrare? [slow] Posso entrare? [normal] Posso entrare? |
| Asia: To request permission in Italian, start with the verb which translates "can" or "may" |
| Daniele: potere |
| Asia: Conjugate it in the first person singular in the present tense, "I can" or "I may." |
| Daniele: posso |
| Asia: Note how we don't add the subject pronoun "I" because it’s already implied in the conjugation. Last comes the second verb in the infinitive form. |
| Daniele: Posso entrare? |
| Asia: So remember, to request permission, start with posso ("may I"), followed by an infinitive verb. |
| Asia: Here's another example meaning, "May I talk?" First, the verb "may" in the first person singular, present tense. |
| Daniele: Posso. |
| Asia: Second, a verb in the infinitive form, in this case "to talk." |
| Daniele: parlare. |
| Asia: Altogether we have... |
| Daniele: Posso parlare? [slow] Posso parlare? [normal] Posso parlare? |
| Asia: "May I talk?" |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso parlare? |
| Asia: How do you say - "May I eat?" To give you a hint, "to eat" is... |
| Daniele: mangiare. [slow] mangiare. [normal] mangiare. |
| Asia: "May I eat?" |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso mangiare? [slow] Posso mangiare? [normal] Posso mangiare? |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso mangiare? |
| 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: "May I come in?" |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso entrare? |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso entrare? |
| Asia: "May I talk?" |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso parlare? |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso parlare? |
| Asia: "May I eat?" |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso mangiare? |
| [pause] |
| Daniele: Posso mangiare? |
Outro |
|---|
| Asia: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for requesting permission, as in... |
| Daniele: Posso entrare? |
| Asia: meaning "May I come in?" |
| 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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