Dialogue

Want to Understand & Master the Italian Dialogue 100%?

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.

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.

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.

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Cinzia: Buon giorno! Mi chiamo Cinzia.
Marco: Marco here. Newbie Series, season 1, lesson 8 - A Gender Mistake You Can’t Afford to Make!
Cinzia: Hello and welcome to the Newbie Series of ItalianPod101.com. We are glad you could join us again.
Marco: We will be guiding you through basic grammar and vocabulary.
Cinzia: And don't forget we’re going to discuss different aspects of the language, culture, and customs that you find in Italy.
Marco: Excellent. The focus of this lesson is on Italian indefinite articles.
Cinzia: This conversation takes place in the countryside during a picnic.
Marco: And it is is between Laura Rossi and John Smith.
Cinzia: They are friends, therefore they will be speaking informal Italian.
DIALOGUE
Laura: John vuoi una mela?
John: Si grazie. Tu vuoi un panino?
Laura: No grazie, sono piena.
John: Vuoi un bicchiere di vino?
Laura: Si grazie.
Marco: one more time, slowly.
Laura: John vuoi una mela?
John: Si grazie. Tu vuoi un panino?
Laura: No grazie, sono piena.
John: Vuoi un bicchiere di vino?
Laura: Si grazie.
Marco: Once again, this time, with the translation.
Laura: John vuoi una mela?
Marco: John, would you like an apple?
John: Si grazie. Tu vuoi un panino?
Marco: Yes, thank you. Do you want a sandwich?
Laura: No grazie, sono piena.
Marco: No thanks, I’m full.
John: Vuoi un bicchiere di vino?
Marco: Do you want a glass of wine?
Laura: Si grazie.
Marco: Yes, thank you.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Marco: So Cinzia, picnics, when was the last time you went to a picnic?
Cinzia: It was such a long time ago!
Marco: Really? So you are that old! Aren't you?
Cinzia: What??? Are you joking Marco?
Marco: Yes, yes, I'm joking!
Cinzia: Ah! Ok... What about you Marco? When was your last picnic?
Marco: Last picnic, last picnic... I think at Easter, few years ago...
Cinzia: Oh! You are meaning the picnic of pasquetta?
Marco: Yes, pasquetta, where the majority of Italians prepare their picnic baskets and go out for a picnic in the countryside.
Cinzia: Oh my god! Yeah, it's such a fun thing!
Marco: It is a fun thing, but I don't know if I am not lucky, but every time I go, it rains! Or sometimes it also...
Cinzia: Ahah! Yeah, I know, it happened to me as well!
Marco: It is supposed to be the middle of spring, but that day it always rains!
Cinzia: Yes, it's unbelievable. At Easter always rains!
Marco: Oh! And before we forget... Cinzia, what is pasquetta?
Cinzia: Oh pasquetta is a wonderful thing, a wonderful habit we have, usually we party pasquetta on the monday after Easter, so we have a lot of food, after the big Easter lunch.
Marco: So yes, many family use the leftovers of the feast of the day before, or some other families make something new, something fresh like cold rice salad...
Cinzia: Or lasagna...
Marco: Ok, I'll stick with my apple then and let's go on.
Cinzia: Ok!
VOCAB LIST
Marco: Let us take a look at today’s vocabulary.
Marco: First
Cinzia: una [natural native speed]
Marco: a, an
Cinzia: una [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: una [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: mela [natural native speed]
Marco: apple
Cinzia: mela [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: mela [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: un [natural native speed]
Marco: a, an
Cinzia: un [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: un [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: panino [natural native speed]
Marco: sandwich
Cinzia: panino [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: panino [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: piena [natural native speed]
Marco: full
Cinzia: piena [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: piena [natural native speed]
Marco: Next word
Cinzia: bicchiere [natural native speed]
Marco: glass
Cinzia: bicchiere [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Cinzia: bicchiere [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: Now our listeners might have noticed that una and un, both are translate into English as “a; an”.
Cinzia: Yes, Marco. You’re right, but listeners, be careful, una is for mela, which is feminine. Instead, un is for panino, which is masculine.
Marco: We should see it in more details in the grammar section.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Cinzia: Let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words. The first word we will look at is una.
Marco: [Cinzia, can you give us an example sentence please?
Cinzia: Voglio una pesca.
Marco: I want a peach. Uhm... good Italian peach!
Cinzia: Oh my god! Don't make me think about the peaches in Italy! They are so sweet!
Marco: So juicy!
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: Which is your favourite?
Cinzia: My favourite type of peaches is called pesche noci, which is a kind of peache very very hard and it's yellow inside, and it's very very sweet.
Marco: Ok, pesca noce... What can that be in English? Yes, we have the answer in the comments, so go read them!
Cinzia: The next vocabulary word is mela.
Marco: Let’s have an example
Cinzia: La mela verde.
Marco: The greenapple.
Cinzia: Next word is un.
Marco: One example please.
Cinzia: Francesco Totti è un calciatore.
Marco: Francesco Totti is a soccer player. And that is really apparent isn't it. Who doesn't know Francesco Totti?
Cinzia: So yeah, Francesco Totti, the striker for ROMA
Marco: Yes, we all know him, he's a very funny guy.
Cinzia: Yes, he is, especially when he speaks Roman dialect.
Marco: Ahaha! Sometimes you wonder
Cinzia: Ahaha! Yeah true!
Cinzia: The next word we will see is panino.
Marco: And the example is?
Cinzia: Mangio un panino.
Marco: “I eat a sandwich/panino.” We are hungry, aren't we?
Cinzia: I really would like a panino now!
Marco: Come on come on, the sooner we finish, the sooner we eat a nice panino!
Cinzia: Yes, the next word we will see is piena.
Marco: One example please.
Cinzia: La bottiglia è piena.
Marco: The bottle is full.
Cinzia: The last word for today is [bicchiere.
And the example is [Vorrei un bicchiere di Coca-Cola.
Marco: I’d like a glass of Coke.
Cinzia: This wraps it up for the vocabulary usage.

Lesson focus
Marco: As in English, also in Italian there are articles.
Cinzia: And just as the nouns we have seen in the last lesson they can be singular, plural, masculine or feminine.
Marco: This is because they are bound to nouns and must therefore agree with their gender and number.
Cinzia: This is both bad news, as there are more things to remember...
Marco: ... and good news, for as we shall see the articles help us understand what gender and also number the following nouns are.
Cinzia: There are two main kinds of articles; the indefinite articles, which have the same meaning as in English “an”.
Marco: and the definite articles, that correspond to “the”. We shall see these latter ones in following lessons. Now we have a detailed explanation in the pdf. But let’s make it more simple for our listeners.
Marco: The rules should be actually the following. You should use un before masculine nouns starting with a consonant. Let’s have an example.
Cinzia: un libro “a book”; and a vowel…
Marco: Let’s have an example.
Cinzia: un abito “a dress”
Marco: And we use uno before masculine nouns starting with
Cinzia: y, z, s, gn, ps, pn + consonant.
Marco: Let’s have an example.
Cinzia: uno yogurt “a yogurt”, uno zio "an uncle", uno stagno "a pond", uno gnomo "a gnome", uno psichiatra "a psychiatrist", uno pneumatico "a tire".
Cinzia: And i + other vowel:
Marco: Let’s have an example.
Cinzia: uno iettatore “a jinx”... What's this Marco? Uno iettatore, come on!
Marco: Well, nothing else came to mind! What else can we have with i + other vowel masculine? Well, in short it's a very rare case, so don't worry about it too much!
Cinzia: Ok!
Marco: Now concerning the feminine case, use una before all feminine nouns starting with consonant.
Cinzia: una mela “an apple”, una sedia “a chair”.
Marco: And finally use un’ before all feminine nouns starting with vowel
Cinzia: un’amica “a female friend”
Marco: My advice for our listeners is please listened to this part a couple of time or better yet get the pdf, because it is complex, but I think after a couple of times of seeing it, you can actually master it. What do you think Cinzia?
Cinzia: I think our listeners are very very brave, and very very smart, so they can do it, I trust them.
Marco: I'm sure they can! And lastly please remember that, since indefinite articles refer to unspecified nouns category.
Cinzia: they can never be used with proper nouns, such as Laura and John for instance.
Marco: Please keep this in mind!

Outro
Marco: This is the end of today's lesson.
Cinzia: Be sure to check out the vocabulary lists with audio in the Learning Center at ItalianPod101.com. Also, ask us a question in the forum, or leave us a comment.
Marco: See you soon!
Cinzia: Ci vediamo presto! Ciao!

Comments

Hide