Learn the difference between telling someone to have a good evening and telling someone to sleep well when they are going to bed
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Cinzia: Buongiorno a tutti. Mi chiamo Cinzia. |
| Marco: Marco here. Newbie series Season 1 Lesson #2 - How do you want them to Remember this Night? |
| Marco: Buongiorno a tutti. In this lesson we will learn how to say hello and ask how someone is doing. |
| Cinzia: This conversation takes place in a café. |
| Marco: And they are between John Smith and Laura Rossi. |
| Cinzia: In the first conversation they will be speaking informal Italian. In the second one the Italian is formal. |
| DIALOGUE - INFORMAL |
| Laura: Buona sera. Come stai? |
| John: Buona sera, io sto bene e tu? |
| Laura: Anche io sto bene, grazie. |
| Marco: One more time, slowly. |
| Laura: Buona sera. Come stai? |
| John: Buona sera, io sto bene e tu? |
| Laura: Anche io sto bene, grazie. |
| Marco: Once again, this time, with the translation. |
| Laura: Buona sera. Come stai? |
| Marco: Good evening. How are you? |
| John: Buona sera, io sto bene e tu? |
| Marco: Good evening. I am fine, and you? |
| Laura: Anche io sto bene, grazie. |
| Marco: I am also fine, thank you. |
| DIALOGUE - FORMAL |
| Marco: And now, let’s take a look at the formal conversation. |
| Laura: Buona sera. Come sta? |
| John: Buona sera, io sto bene e Lei? |
| Laura: Anche io sto bene, grazie . |
| Marco: One more time, slowly. |
| Laura: Buona sera. Come sta? |
| John: Buona sera, io sto bene e Lei? |
| Laura: Anche io sto bene, grazie . |
| Marco: Once again, this time, with the translation. |
| Laura: Buona sera. Come sta? |
| Laura: Good evening. How are you, sir? |
| John: Buona sera, io sto bene e Lei? |
| John: Good evening. I am fine, and you madam? |
| Laura: Anche io sto bene, grazie . |
| Laura: I am also well, thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: And now we'll see the differences between buona sera and buona serata. In this situation Cizia is leaving, from a restaurant, from the house, from any place. Okay, here we go. |
| Cinzia: Ciao! |
| Marco: Buona serata, Laura. |
| Cinzia: Oh Marco, I'm sorry, can we do that again? |
| Marco: Sure, no problem. |
| Cinzia: I was using ciao with the wrong intonation, as I was arriving, but I was leaving, so my ciao should be a little bit different! |
| Marco: Let's hear it then. |
| Cinzia: Ciao! |
| Marco: Buona serata, Laura. |
| Cinzia: Marco, come on, what kind of goodbye were you saying to me? |
| Marco: You're right, sorry, I put a little bit more of emphasis in it |
| Cinzia: You should be sorry to leave me! |
| Marco: It's true it's true, but I was just thinking of normal situation, with a normal manner of customer or something. Anyway you're right. |
| Cinzia: Uhmm... let's try again |
| Marco: Buona serata, Laura. |
| Cinzia: Grazie, ci vediamo! |
| Marco: Ok, sorry about that. |
| Cinzia: Ahahah! |
| Cinzia: Ciao! |
| Marco: Buona serata, Laura. |
| Cinzia: Good bye! |
| Marco: Have a good evening, Laura. |
| Marco: And now, the formal Italian. |
| Cinzia: Buona serata! |
| Marco: Buona serata, signora Rossi. |
| Cinzia: Good bye! |
| Marco: Have a good evening, Mrs. Rossi. |
| Marco: Well Cinzia, what do you think about the conversation? |
| Cinzia: I come from Naples, this kind of conversation just seems to me pretty cold. |
| Marco: Really? |
| Cinzia: Yes, a little bit but... |
| Marco: So, would you add something? |
| Cinzia: Well, after buona sera I would just say tutto bene, which is “everything is fine”. |
| Marco: Oh, so you ask the other person if everything is fine, not how he is, right? |
| Cinzia: Yeah exactly. |
| Marco: Oh, I understand. So, how would that sound? |
| Cinzia: Buona sera, tutto bene, e tu? |
| Marco: Oh, I see, and what would I answer? |
| Cinzia: If you would be in Naples, you would just say tutto apposto, which means “everything is in its right place.” But, well, we’re not in Naples, so you can just say tutto bene, grazie. |
| Marco: Perfect, so tutto bene, grazie. |
| Cinzia: Oh Marco, come on, you are missing the southern feeling! |
| Marco: Yeah, I know, I'm more like a robot style person, sorry. So... tutto bene! Is that better? |
| Cinzia: Yes ok! I can take it! |
| Marco: Thank you. |
| Cinzia: Ahahah! |
| Marco: Forgive me for this time and any for the next to come! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. |
| Marco: First |
| Cinzia: buona sera natural native speed |
| Marco: good evening |
| Cinzia: buona sera slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: buona sera natural native speed |
| Marco: Next we have a phrase |
| Cinzia: buona serata natural native speed |
| Marco: have a good evening |
| Cinzia: buona serata slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: buona serata natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: come natural native speed |
| Marco: how |
| Cinzia: come slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: come natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word, actually next verb |
| Cinzia: stare natural native speed |
| Marco: to be, to stand, to lie, to be located, to be situated |
| Cinzia: stare slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: stare natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: bene natural native speed |
| Marco: good, well |
| Cinzia: bene slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: bene natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: anche natural native speed |
| Marco: also, too |
| Cinzia: anche slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: anche natural native speed |
| Marco: Next word |
| Cinzia: grazie natural native speed |
| Marco: thank you |
| Cinzia: grazie slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: grazie natural native speed |
| Marco: Now for the last vocab |
| Cinzia: e natural native speed |
| Marco: and |
| Cinzia: e slowly - broken down by syllable |
| Cinzia: e natural native speed |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Cinzia: Ok, let's have a look at the usage for some of the words. The first word we’ll look at is buona sera. |
| Marco: Can you give us an example with buona sera? |
| Cinzia: For example, buona sera, Signore. |
| Marco: Good evening, Sir. |
| Cinzia: It is the perfect equivalent for “good evening” and as such is to be used when meeting someone |
| Marco: Or when leaving. |
| Cinzia: The next expression we're going to look at today is Buona serata. |
| Marco: Cinzia, Let’s have an example with "Buona serata"? |
| Cinzia: Buona serata, Anna. |
| Marco: Have a good evening, Anna. |
| Cinzia: Marco. Who's this Anna? |
| Marco: Aww... Anna is just a name I used... |
| Cinzia: You didn't mention her to me! |
| Marco: Well, don't worry, she's not part of the team... don't worry don't worry... |
| Cinzia: Why don't you try Buona serata, Cinzia. |
| Marco: Ok, then, only for you, only for this time "Have a good evening Cinzia"! |
| Cinzia: Oh! Questo mi piace di più, I like it better! |
| Cinzia: This greeting is used to wish someone a nice evening. |
| Marco: So it shouldn’t be used when meeting someone or entering a place. |
| Cinzia: OK. The next vocabulary word is Come. |
| Marco: Cinzia, would you give us an example with "Come", please? |
| Cinzia: Come stai? |
| Marco: How are you? |
| Cinzia: Come stai? means “how are you?” referred to “you” second person singular. |
| Marco: While Come sta? is used in formal speech as “how are you, sir/madam.” |
| Marco: Next word? |
| Cinzia: Bene. |
| Marco: One example, please. |
| Cinzia: Sto bene. |
| Marco: I am fine. |
| Cinzia: Bene in this case is an adverb. |
| Marco: Perfetto, perfect, this wraps it up for today’s vocabulary usage. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: buona sera is the perfect equivalent for “good evening”. |
| Cinzia: Yes, and so you can use it when meeting someone. |
| Marco: While buona serata is used to wish someone a nice evening and well, translates roughly as “have a nice evening” |
| Cinzia: So you don’t use it when meeting someone. |
| Marco: So Buona sera and buona serata can be used from dusk to just before going to bed. |
| Cinzia: Then buona notte “good night” is used. |
| Marco: If for example a person is leaving a restaurant at 9 pm, buona serata might be used to wish him a good evening. |
| Cinzia: Exactly, but the same can be offered when a person leaves at 11 pm or after midnight if the intended meaning is to wish him to have fun in the following hours, even if it is already night time. |
| Marco: So let's say for example that you're at the restaurant, I am the waiter and it's around half past ten, but it's saturday, so it's late, not so late, but you're going out, maybe dancing. Would I use buona serata? |
| Cinzia: Yes, of course. |
| Marco: Because I want you to have fun, maybe dancing, clubbing wherever you usually go, right? |
| Cinzia: Yes. |
| Marco: Ok. If instead we wished him a good night for example a good sleep, then buona notte is to be used. |
| Cinzia: Exactly, Marco. |
| Marco: So when for example you are finally tired after all those hours of dancing, and clubbing and whatever it is you girls do, you're saying goodbye to your friends... it's night... |
| Cinzia: Yes... |
| Marco: You would use buonanotte? |
| Cinzia: Yes, I would use buonanotte, when I'm pretty sure that my friends are going home, to sleep, so I would say buonanotte. |
| Marco: Ok, so this wraps up today's lesson. |
Outro |
| Cinzia: Don’t forget to try out the Italian review in the Learning Center, where you’ll find test questions, answers, and comments on the answer. |
| Marco: It's a great way to start practicing on your own |
| Cinzia: Okay see you again! Arrivederci! |
| Marco: arrivederci. |
56 Comments
HideThis was a very interesting lesson. Oops but I was in it! Did you enjoy it? Did it help understand the difference in usage of Italian greeting? Let me know! Buona serata
Ciao Rhonda,
Grazie mille for your kind feedback. 😉 We are happy to hear!
If you have any questions, let us know. Good luck with your Italian studies! 😇
A presto,
Levente
Team ItalianPod101.com
I loved this lesson! the joking and resulting change of intonations was very helpful AND made me smile!! Thank you!!
Ciao Andrea,
We are very sorry for the inconvenience. We'll consider your feedback for our future development!
Best,
Levente
Team ItalianPod101.com
The useful part of this lesson was all the way at the end. The dialogue had way too much awkward joking and interruptions to be helpful, even if the tips about intonation are worth noting.
Hello Victoria,
Thank you for posting!
We're glad to hear that you're enjoying our program.
Regarding payment options, unfortunately, we can't help through this comment section,
however, our Customer Service will be able to offer some solutions if you email them at:
contactus@ItalianPod101.com
Sincerely,
Lena
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hello everyone and ItalianPod 101 team!
I really like the concept and digital resources this online course offers, even the prices of the memberships are ok, I had the 7 day trial and it was great, unfortunetely it expired and I can't longer listen to this lesson for example.
I know a lot of people like me are struggling with something.... there's no other payment method besides credit card and paypal, which is basically the same. I understand there are international users, in my case I'm from Colombia, and there are plenty of other electronic method payments. It may be a lot work for logistics, but you should give it a try to take time and personalize payment methods by country. You'll sure get plenty of more memberships!
Hi linda thursyon,
When you sign up, you're given a free 7-day trial to experience Premium access to ItalianPod101. When your trial ends, your access to our Premium subscription features ends, but you still have access to all of our free learning tools:
New audio and video lessons every week – 3-5 new, free lessons a week
The first 3 lessons of every single series – 100+ lessons in total
New Daily Dose of Italian lessons – a new free lesson every day
and much more.
If your trial has not expired but you still cannot get the lessons to play, you can contact us at contactus@ItalianPod101.com.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Valentina
I am trying out your lessons, but have a hard time getting them to play because clicking on the play button takes me to the sales page over and over again and again. How can I get the lessons to actually play?
Hi Rick,
thanks for posting!
If learning both forms is confusing for you, my advice is to just focus on the informal language first. The grammar is easier for a beginner. When you feel more confident, you can always go back and learn the formal language.
Cheers,
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi Veronica,
both forms are correct when used as a greeting.
Thanks for posting, let us know if you have more questions!
Valentina
Team ItalianPod101.com