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 22. Using the Auxiliary Verb "Can."
Asia: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for expressing your ability to do something.
PATTERN
Asia: For example, "I can sleep even on the plane."
Daniele: Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
Daniele: [slow] Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
Asia: The pattern for expressing your ability to do something has 3 elements. First, the verb "can, to be able," conjugated as "I can," and followed by the preposition literally meaning “to.”
Daniele: Riesco a.
Asia: Second, a verb in the infinitive form, in this case "to sleep."
Daniele: dormire.
Asia: Third, a phrase, in this case "even on the plane."
Daniele: anche sull'aereo.
Asia: Altogether, we have, "I can sleep even on the plane."
Daniele: Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo. [slow] Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo. [normal] Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
Asia: Start with the verbal phrase meaning "I can."
Daniele: riesco a
Asia: Add an infinitive verb followed by a complement —either a phrase, an adverb, a noun, a noun phrase or a verbal phrase.
Daniele: Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
Asia: So remember, to express your ability to do something, start with "I can," followed by an infinitive verb and lastly, a complement.
Asia: Here's another example meaning, "I can run for 3km in 15 minutes." First, the verb "can, to be able", conjugated as "I can," and followed by the preposition literally meaning “to.”
Daniele: Riesco a
Asia: Second, a verb in the infinitive form, in this case "to run."
Daniele: correre
Asia: Third, a phrase, in this case ''for 3km in 15 minutes."
Daniele: per 3km in 15 minuti.
Asia: Altogether we have...
Daniele: Riesco a correre per 3 Km in 15 minuti. [slow] Riesco a correre per 3 Km in 15 minuti. [normal] Riesco a correre per 3 Km in 15 minuti.
Asia: "I can run for 3km in 15 minutes."
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a correre per 3 Km in 15 minuti.
Asia: How do you say - "I can translate without a dictionary." To give you a hint, "to translate without a dictionary" is...
Daniele: tradurre senza dizionario. [slow] tradurre senza dizionario. [normal] tradurre senza dizionario.
Asia: "I can translate without a dictionary."
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a tradurre senza dizionario. [slow] Riesco a tradurre senza dizionario. [normal] Riesco a tradurre senza dizionario.
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a tradurre senza dizionario.
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: "I can sleep even on the plane."
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
Asia: "I can run for 3km in 15 minutes."
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a correre per 3 Km in 15 minuti.
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a correre per 3 Km in 15 minuti.
Asia: "I can translate without a dictionary."
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a tradurre senza dizionario.
[pause]
Daniele: Riesco a tradurre senza dizionario.

Outro

Asia: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for expressing your ability to do something, as in...
Daniele: Riesco a dormire anche sull'aereo.
Asia: meaning "I can sleep even on the plane."
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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