Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

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.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Buon giorno! Mi chiamo Cinzia.
Marco: Marco here. Newbie Series season 1, lesson #23 - How to Handle a Difficult Situation in Italian. Buon giorno a tutti! Hello, and welcome to ItalianPod101.com. My name is Marco and I'm joined here by Cinzia! Come stai Cinzia!
Cinzia: Bene grazie, e tu, Marco?
Marco: Anch'io grazie.
Cinzia: Today we have the 23rd lesson of our newbie series!
Marco: This series focuses on the essentials of Italian for anyone who wants to start learning.
Cinzia: Yes, so join us for this lesson of Italianpod101.com.
Marco: In this lesson we will be learning how to say “there is” and “there are” in Italian.
Cinzia: This conversation takes place at Martina and Laura's place.
Marco: And it is between Paolo and Martina.
Cinzia: They are friends, therefore they will be speaking in informal Italian. Please reinforce your Italian by using the Grammar Bank of the Learning Center at Italianpod101.com.
Marco: And now, let’s get in today’s conversation.
Cinzia: Yes!
DIALOGUE
Paolo: Ci sono birre nel frigorifero?
Martina: No, ma c'è il vino rosso sul tavolo.
Paolo: E il chinotto?
Martina: No.
Paolo: Ma non c'è proprio niente!
Marco: Let’s hear it slowly now.
Paolo: Ci sono birre nel frigorifero?
Martina: No, ma c'è il vino rosso sul tavolo.
Paolo: E il chinotto?
Martina: No.
Paolo: Ma non c'è proprio niente!
Marco: And now, with the translation.
Paolo: Ci sono birre nel frigorifero?
Marco: Are there beers in the fridge?
Martina: No, ma c'è il vino rosso sul tavolo.
Marco: No, but there's the red wine on the table.
Paolo: E il chinotto?
Marco: What about chinotto?
Martina: No.
Marco: No.
Paolo: Ma non c'è proprio niente!
Marco: But there really isn't anything!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Marco: Cinzia, Cinzia, Cinzia, what is chinotto?
Cinzia: First of all, it's something I detest!
Marco: You don't like it?
Cinzia: No, I don’t like chinotto.
Marco: But from the dialog we can understand that's maybe something to drink, right?
Cinzia: Yes, exactly! It's a drink, but it's very particular, because of its taste, which is a mix between bitter and sweet.
Marco: The first thing I notice when I see, for example, chinotto, and I would like to warn all our listeners, the colour is just like coca-cola.
Cinzia: Yes, it's like coca-cola, but the taste is completely different, do you like it?
Marco: No, I don't. My father does though.
Cinzia: Marco tell us... Is it alcoholic drink?
Marco: No, no, it's a soft drink, it's just like coke, we can say.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: But where does it come from?
Cinzia: It comes from a tree and the drink takes its name from the tree.
Marco: But this tree makes some special kind of fruits...
Cinzia: Yes, exactly.
Marco: That usually are only ornamental, you don't actually make juice out of it.
Cinzia: It's one of the most important ingredients of our campari!
Marco: Oh yes, campari, it's a very famous Italian amaro. An amaro is a sort of...
Cinzia: Aperitif.
Marco: Exactly, but amaro means?
Cinzia: Bitter.
Marco: So it's a bitter digestive.
Cinzia: Let's put some links about chinotto on this lesson!
Marco: Yes... So listeners check the comments section for links on chinotto for more explanation! Sorry but time is short, let's move on!
Cinzia: Yes but please tell us if you like chinotto or not.
Marco: Oh yes exactly!
VOCAB LIST
Marco: Let's take a look at today’s vocabulary.
Marco: First
Cinzia: ci sono [natural native speed]
Marco: there are
Cinzia: ci sono [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: ci sono [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: birre [natural native speed]
Marco: beers
Cinzia: birre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: birre [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: frigorifero [natural native speed]
Marco: refrigerator, fridge
Cinzia: frigorifero [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: frigorifero [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: c'è [natural native speed]
Marco: there is
Cinzia: c'è [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: c'è [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: vino [natural native speed]
Marco: wine
Cinzia: vino [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: vino [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: sul [natural native speed]
Marco: on the
Cinzia: sul [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: sul [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: chinotto [natural native speed]
Marco: chinotto, sometimes referred to as the Myrtle-leaf orange
Cinzia: chinotto [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: chinotto [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: proprio [natural native speed]
Marco: really, actually
Cinzia: proprio [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: proprio [natural native speed]
Marco: And last word
Cinzia: niente [natural native speed]
Marco: nothing
Cinzia: niente [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: niente [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Cinzia: And now let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words and expressions. The first word we will look at is frigorifero.
Marco: And the sample sentence is?
Cinzia: Il latte è nel frigorifero.
Marco: The milk is in the refrigerator.
Cinzia: We have another way to say refrigerator... right?
Marco: Yes, just as in English we can say fridge or refrigerator, in Italian we can say...
Cinzia: Frigo instead of frigorifero!
Marco: So it's actually the same usage right?
Cinzia: Yes! It's just the shortest way to say frigorifero.
Marco: And what do you use... Frigorifero or frigo?
Cinzia: I always use frigo.
Marco: What about the freezer? How do we say freezer in Italian?
Cinzia: Uhm... Freezer is really funny because we say FRIZZER!
Marco: Yes... We say the I, the Italian way, so freezer becomes FRIZZER. Very strange.
Cinzia: Yes, but what is the other word for freezer, Marco?
Marco: It is congelatore, which is actually the Italian word, but we have imported and started using also FRIZZER.
Cinzia: Yes, I always use FRIZZER!
Marco: Me too!
Cinzia: Ok, and the next word we will look at is c'è.
Marco: And the sample sentence is?
Cinzia: Pronto, c'è Marco?
Marco: Hello, is Marco there?
Cinzia: So we use c'è even when we call someone at the phone?
Marco: Exactly, so for example... Pronto? C'è Steven?
Cinzia: Hello? Is Steven there? And the next word is vino.
Marco: And the sample sentence is?
Cinzia: Il Falerno è un vino rosso.
Marco: Falerno is a red wine.
Cinzia: Yes, and it actually comes from my region.
Marco: Let's move on!
Cinzia: Ok. The next word is proprio.
Marco: And the sample sentence is?
Cinzia: Non ti capisco proprio.
Marco: I really don't understand you.
Cinzia: And the last word is niente.
Marco: And the last sample sentence is?
Cinzia: Non c'è niente.
Marco: There's nothing.

Lesson focus

Marco: The first topic of today's grammar section is “there is” and “there are”. How do we say “there is” in Italian?
Cinzia: C'è.
Marco: And “there are”?
Cinzia: Ci sono.
Marco: So they are separate, just like in English.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: One for for singular,
Cinzia: and one for plural.
Marco: Very nice. Cinzia, give us one example with “there is”.
Cinzia: C'è un quadro sulla parete,
Marco: "There is a picture on the wall". One example with “there are”.
Cinzia: Ci sono dei gelati nel congelatore.
Marco: "There are some ice creams in the freezer". It’s very straightforward.
Cinzia: I think it’s very very easy, Marco. You can just learn it by heart.
Marco: Yes, just c'è and ci sono. So simple.
Cinzia: Yes, so c'è is made up by ci, which is a locative adverb, plus è, verb essere "to be".
Marco: And how do you write it?
Cinzia: We write it with c, then apostrophe, and then è of verb essere "to be".
Marco: Remember that it actually would be ci è, but since the i is a vowel, and the e is also a vowel, the vowel i falls off and is replaced by an apostrophe, giving us c'è. Altogether c'è.
Cinzia: And Marco, what about the negative form?
Marco: You mean the negative form of c'è and ci sono?
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: Well, that’s just easy, we just say non c'è and non ci sono.
Cinzia: So you obtain the negative form just by adding non before c'è or ci sono.
Marco: Exactly! One example, Cinzia.
Cinzia: Non c'è più latte.
Marco: "There's no more milk".
Marco: Non ci sono posti.
Marco: "There are no seats".
Cinzia: So it’s really easy, right, Marco?
Marco: It is, maybe only writing c'è is difficult, but all the rest is really easy.
Cinzia: Yes. Please remember that the pattern non c'è niente is often used when followed by the preposition da + an infinitive. So then we have Non c'è niente da mangiare.
Marco: "There is nothing to eat".
Cinzia: Or, non c'è niente da dire.
Marco: "There is nothing to say".
Cinzia: So very straightforward.
Marco: Yes. To close out today’s grammar section, let’s take a look at proprio.
Cinzia: Proprio in Italian can have three different meanings, actually.
Marco: The first one, I think, we have seen in the dialogue, right?
Cinzia: Yes, right, it’s like davvero or veramente.
Marco: For example, È proprio un bel film!
Cinzia: "It's really a good movie!"
Marco: Furthermore, it can also be a possessive adjective always referred to the subject. And in English it can be translated with "one's own".
Cinzia: For example, È difficile ammettere le proprie colpe.
Marco: "It's difficult to admit one's own faults."
Cinzia: And finally, it can be translated also as a synonym of tipico, caratteristico.
Marco: "Typical, distinctive".
Cinzia: For example, La tarantella è una danza propria della regione Campania.
Marco: "Tarantella is a typical dance of the Campania region"
Cinzia: Yes.

Outro

Marco: So let’s finish this lesson by dancing!
Cinzia, Marco: La la la la la la la~
Marco: Ok that’s enough!
Cinzia: While Marco and I are going to dance tarantella, check out the PDF and be ready for the next lesson with us.
Marco: Yes. Buona giornata!
Cinzia: Ciao!

Comments

Hide