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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Common Idiomatic Expressions Related to Colors
John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ItalianPod101.com. I'm John.
Ofelia: And I'm Ofelia!
John: This is Must-Know Italian Slang Words and Phrases, Season 1, Lesson 15. In this lesson, you'll learn common idiomatic expressions related to colors.
John: Make your Italian more colorful (in a good way) with these expressions.
SLANG EXPRESSIONS
John: The expressions you will be learning in this lesson are:
Ofelia: essere al verde
Ofelia: di punto in bianco
Ofelia: principe azzurro
Ofelia: di tutti i colori
John: Ofelia, what's our first expression?
Ofelia: essere al verde
John: literally meaning "to be at the green." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "to be broke."
Ofelia: [SLOW] essere al verde [NORMAL] essere al verde
John: Listeners, please repeat.
Ofelia: essere al verde
[pause - 5 sec.]
John: Use this slang expression when you want to say that you have no money left.
John: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Non posso venire al concerto, sono al verde. [SLOW] Non posso venire al concerto, sono al verde.
John: "I can't come to the concert, I'm broke."
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Non posso venire al concerto, sono al verde.
John: Okay, what's the next expression?
Ofelia: di punto in bianco
John: literally meaning "from point to white." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "out of the blue."
Ofelia: [SLOW] di punto in bianco [NORMAL] di punto in bianco
John: Listeners, please repeat.
Ofelia: di punto in bianco
[pause - 5 sec.]
John: Use this slang expression when you want to express that something happened suddenly, or unexpectedly.
John: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Mi ha chiesto di sposarlo di punto in bianco. [SLOW] Mi ha chiesto di sposarlo di punto in bianco.
John: "He asked me to marry him out of the blue."
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Mi ha chiesto di sposarlo di punto in bianco.
John: Okay, what's our next expression?
Ofelia: principe azzurro
John: literally meaning "blue prince." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "prince charming."
Ofelia: [SLOW] principe azzurro [NORMAL] principe azzurro
John: Listeners, please repeat.
Ofelia: principe azzurro
[pause - 5 sec.]
John: Use this slang expression when talking about a man or a boy who seems to be the ideal boyfriend.
John: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Da piccola sognavo di incontrare il mio principe azzurro. [SLOW] Da piccola sognavo di incontrare il mio principe azzurro.
John: "When I was a child, I used to dream about meeting my prince charming."
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Da piccola sognavo di incontrare il mio principe azzurro.
John: Okay, what's the last expression?
Ofelia: di tutti i colori
John: literally meaning "of all colors." But when it's used as a slang expression, it means "all sorts of things."
Ofelia: [SLOW] di tutti i colori [NORMAL] di tutti i colori
John: Listeners, please repeat.
Ofelia: di tutti i colori
[pause - 5 sec.]
John: Use this slang expression when you want to say that someone did, said, or went through all sorts of things, usually with a negative meaning.
John: Now let's hear an example sentence.
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Mio figlio ne ha combinate di tutti i colori oggi a scuola. [SLOW] Mio figlio ne ha combinate di tutti i colori oggi a scuola.
John: "My son did all sorts of things at school today."
Ofelia: [NORMAL] Mio figlio ne ha combinate di tutti i colori oggi a scuola.
QUIZ
John: Okay listeners, are you ready to be quizzed on the expressions you just learned? I will describe four situations, and you will choose the right expression to use in your reply. Are you ready?
John: Someone just asked you something you didn’t expect.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Ofelia: di punto in bianco
John: "out of the blue"
John: She has no money to buy those new shoes.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Ofelia: essere al verde
John: "to be broke"
John: You hear someone saying all sorts of horrible things.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Ofelia: di tutti i colori
John: "all sorts of things"
John: A recurrent character in fairy tales.
[pause - 5 sec.]
Ofelia: principe azzurro
John: "prince charming"

Outro

John: There you have it; you have mastered four Italian Slang Expressions! We have more vocab lists available at ItalianPod101.com so be sure to check them out. Thanks everyone, and see you next time!
Ofelia: A presto.

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