Learn about how to use the simple Italian preposition su, which has many uses, including "about
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone! I'm Consuelo, and welcome to ItalianPOD101. |
| Marco: With us, you'll learn to speak Italian with fun and effective lessons. |
| Consuelo: We also provide you with cultural insights |
| Marco: and tips you won't find in a textbook... |
| Marco: In this lesson, we will continue our study of Italian simple prepositions, delving into su. This conversation takes place in John's car. |
| Consuelo: The conversation is between John and Laura. The speakers are friends; therefore, the speakers will be speaking informally |
| Marco: Now, before we listen to the conversation... |
| Consuelo: We want to ask... |
| Marco: Do you read the lesson notes, while you listen? |
| Consuelo: We received an e-mail about this study tip. |
| Marco: So we were wondering if you've tried it, and if so, |
| Consuelo: what do you think of it. |
| Marco: You can leave us feedback in the comment section of this lesson. Okay... |
| Marco: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| John: Laura, ti ricordi il numero di Martina? |
| Laura: Sì, dovrei averlo sulla rubrica del telefonino. A proposito, hai visto il mio cellulare? |
| John: Sì, è lì sul cruscotto della macchina. |
| Laura: Ah già, grazie. |
| John: Con questo traffico ci metteremo molto tempo per arrivare da Martina. |
| Laura: Su col morale dai, andremo al cinema insieme un'altra volta! |
| John: Va bene, va bene. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| John: Laura, ti ricordi il numero di Martina? |
| Laura: Sì, dovrei averlo sulla rubrica del telefonino. A proposito, hai visto il mio cellulare? |
| John: Sì, è lì sul cruscotto della macchina. |
| Laura: Ah già, grazie. |
| John: Con questo traffico ci metteremo molto tempo per arrivare da Martina. |
| Laura: Su col morale dai, andremo al cinema insieme un'altra volta! |
| John: Va bene, va bene. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| John: Laura, ti ricordi il numero di Martina? |
| Marco: Laura, do you remember Martina's number? |
| Laura: Sì, dovrei averlo sulla rubrica del telefonino. A proposito, hai visto il mio cellulare? |
| Marco: Yes, I should have it in my mobile's address book. By the way, did you see my cell phone? |
| John: Sì, è lì sul cruscotto della macchina. |
| Marco: Yeah, it's on the car's dashboard. |
| Laura: Ah già, grazie. |
| Marco: Oh, right! Thank you. |
| John: Con questo traffico ci metteremo molto tempo per arrivare da Martina. |
| Marco: With this traffic, it'll take us a lot of time to go to Martina's place. |
| Laura: Su col morale dai, andremo al cinema insieme un'altra volta! |
| Marco: Come on, keep your spirits up, we'll go to movies together soon! |
| John: Va bene, va bene. |
| Marco: All right, all right. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Cristiano: Marco, have you ever missed a date because of a traffic jam? |
| Marco: No, I was lucky! |
| Cris: That's something you don't want to wish even to our worst enemy. |
| Marco: But probably in cities where moving by car is essential, like Rome or Milan, one day it could happen. |
| Cris: Yes, you're right, Marco. Sometimes I wish I were born in Venice! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Consuelo: ricordare [natural native speed] |
| Marco: to remember, to not forget, to recall |
| Consuelo: ricordare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: ricordare [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: numero [natural native speed] |
| Marco: number |
| Consuelo: numero [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: numero [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: rubrica [natural native speed] |
| Marco: address book |
| Consuelo: rubrica [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: rubrica [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: telefono [natural native speed] |
| Marco: telephone |
| Consuelo: telefono [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: telefono [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: cruscotto [natural native speed] |
| Marco: dashboard, instrument panel |
| Consuelo: cruscotto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: cruscotto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Consuelo: morale [natural native speed] |
| Marco: moral, spirits, mood |
| Consuelo: morale [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Consuelo: morale [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Marco: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases we learned in this lesson. The word we'll look at is... |
| Cris: ""telefono."" |
| Marco: In Italian, we have several ways to call our mobile phone. |
| Cris: Yes Marco, for example ""telefono cellulare."" |
| Marco: ""Cell phone."" |
| Cris: Usually as the word is pretty long, we use the informal ""cellulare."" |
| Marco: I see, like the English ""cell."" |
| Cris: Or sometimes we refer to it as ""telefonino,"" which sounds more like ""a small phone,"" but it's used to mean the words ""mobile phone."" |
| Marco: Great, thank you! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Cris: Let's take a look at today's lesson. |
| Marco: Today we are going to continue with the study of the |
| Cris: ""preposizioni semplici"" |
| Marco: ""simple prepositions."" |
| Cristiano: The focus of this lesson is on the Italian preposition su. |
| Marco: The preposition ""su"" is used as follows… |
| Marco: To indicate the topic of a sentence. Note that in this case, the preposition almost always combines with the definite article preceding the noun. For example... |
| Cris: ""Ho scritto diversi articoli sulla (i.e., ""su"" + ""la"") politica internazionale."" |
| Marco: ""I wrote a good deal of articles about international politics."" |
| Cris: ""Hanno letto un libro sulla (i.e., ""su"" + ""la"") vita di JFK."" |
| Marco: ""They read a book on JFK's life."" |
| Cris: ""La riunione verterà sui (i.e., ""su"" + ""i"") nuovi progetti."" |
| Marco: ""The meeting will be focused on the new projects."" |
| Marco: To express the position of objects placed on something. Similarly, to the first case, ""su"" attaches to the definite article preceding the following nouns. For instance... |
| Cris: ""La penna è sul (i.e., ""su"" + ""il"") tavolo."" |
| Marco: ""The pen is on the table."" |
| Cris: ""La maglia è sulla (i.e., ""su"" + ""la"") lavatrice."" |
| Marco: ""The sweater is on the washing machine."" |
| Cris: ""Il cellulare è sul (i.e., ""su"" + ""il"") libro."" |
| Marco: ""The cellular phone is on the book."" |
| Marco: Please note that in this situation, the ""preposizione semplice su"" may be substituted by the equivalent preposition ""sopra"" + definite article (preceding the noun). For example… |
| Cris: ""I piatti sono sopra il tavolo."" |
| Marco: ""The dishes are on the table."" |
| Cris: ""Il (""computer"") portatile era sopra alla scrivania."" |
| Marco: ""The laptop was on the desk."" |
| Cris: ""La sveglia è sopra al comodino."" |
| Marco: ""The alarm clock is on the bedside table."" |
| Marco: In informal Italian, ""su"" is used to express indefinite or rough quantities. The same meaning may be conveyed in formal Italian by the synonym |
| Cristiano: ""circa"" |
| Marco: ""about,"" ""nearly,"" ""approximately."" |
| For example... |
| Cris: ""La giacca costa sui (i.e., ""su"" + ""i"") cento euro."" |
| Marco: ""The jacket costs around a hundred euros."" |
| Cris: ""Federico è un uomo sui (i.e., ""su"" + ""i"") quarant'anni."" |
| Marco: ""Federico is a man in his forties."" |
| Cris: ""Ci vorranno sui cinque giorni per finire il lavoro."" |
| Marco: ""It'll take approximately five days to complete the job."" |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
| Marco: Consuelo, I'd like to share a study tip a listener shared with us. |
| Consuelo: Ahh, you're talking about the student who uses just the conversation tracks to review the lessons. |
| Marco: Consuelo, you read my mind. |
| Consuelo: (laughter) |
| Marco: Yep a listener of ours listens to each lesson several times, |
| Consuelo: Then afterward, get the conversation only track from our site. |
| Marco: She then listens to them on shuffle again and again. She created her own immersion program using ItalianPod101.com. |
| Consuelo: This is a great idea. Please give it a try and let us know what you think? |
| Marco: okay... |
| Marco: Ciao! |
| Consuelo: Arrivederci! |
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