Learn how to express your ability to do something
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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 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! |
36 Comments
HideListeners, list some of your abilities here!
Riesco a beve acqua freddo
Hi Maria Laura,
tre lingue, impressive!
Just remember that "riesco" is spelled with a C 😉
Thanks for studying with us.
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Riesgo a parlare tre lingue correntemente
Riesco suonare la chitarra - I can play the guitar
Hi Julie,
yes, that's correct!
Let us know if you have more questions.
A presto,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
If I wanted to make this a negative statement, as in "I can't...." would I write: "Non riesco a dormire sull'aereo" to state that I can't sleep on the plane?
Ciao MariaPaula,
Just put the article "la" before "salsa" and your sentence is perfect 👍
Grazie per il tuo commento!
Buona giornata
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Ciao a tutti! Riesco a danzare salsa per tutta la notte. si? sta bene scrito?
Hi Donna,
in each lesson you can take a Quiz. Just click on the Take Quiz button in the Vocabulary section of the webpage.
Or, if you have a Premium Plus subscription, you can practice with your teacher.
Sincerely,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
I am new to this. Where do I practice these skills? is there a practice lesson for speaking or writing or both? Thanks,
Donna