Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Italian by ItalianPod101.com.
Ciao a tutti, sono Felice Angelini, il vostro insegnante di italiano.
Hi, everyone. I’m Felice Angelini, your Italian teacher.
In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce your family in Italian.
This is Ben Lee, and this is his family: his father, his mother, and his younger sister. (pause)
Ben is in an Italian lesson, and the teacher asks him,
"How many (people) are you in (your) family?"
Quanti siete in famiglia?
Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.
Insegnante: Quanti siete in famiglia?
Ben Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io.
Ben Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io.
Listen again to Ben’s response with the English translation.
Ben Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io.
Translation: We are four: my father, my mother, my sister and me.
Let’s take a closer look at the question and the response.
First the question: The teacher asks Ben, "How many (people) are you in (your) family?"
Quanti siete in famiglia?
The first word is Quanti, "how many," quanti.
Next, siete. This is translated as "are you" in this context, siete. In this sentence, the word, "you" is understood from context. Siete simply means "are," but it contains the idea of "you," so you can use it without the Italian word for "you."
Together, Quanti siete "How many are you" Quanti siete
Next is the word, in. This is like the English "in" and means the same thing here. In.
Last is famiglia. "Family." Famiglia. The phrase in famiglia means "in your family." In Italian, the word "your" is understood from context. It’s clear from the dialogue that the teacher is asking Ben about his family, so she doesn’t say the Italian word for "your."
All together, Quanti siete in famiglia?
In English, a natural translation of this would be, "How many people are there in your family?" but the structure of the Italian sentence is different, and a literal translation would be "How many are you in your family?"
Quanti siete in famiglia?
Remember this request. You’ll hear it again later.
Let’s take a closer look at the response.
Ben says,
Siamo in quattro: mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io.
"We are four: my father, my mother, my sister and me."
The first part of the response, Siamo, is "we are," siamo. In Italian, the word for "we" is understood from context.
Siamo simply means "are," but it contains the idea of "we," so you can use it without the Italian word for "we."
Next is in, meaning "in," in,
Then the number, quattro, "four," quattro.
Together, In quattro also just means "four." In Italian, the in tells us the larger group, described by "we," is broken into four segments.
All together,
Siamo in quattro. "We are four." In more natural English, this would be, "There are four of us," but in the native construction of Italian, it would be "We are four." Siamo in quattro.
This is an important pattern for your task.
Siamo in plus the number of family members.
We can use the pattern Siamo in plus the number of family members to say "We are (number of) people.”
For example, for a family of tre, "three," tre...
You say: Siamo in tre. "We are three." Siamo in tre.
In the second part, Ben talks about his family members.
Mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io. "My father, my mother, my sister and me."
First is Mio padre.
Padre is "father," padre.
Padre is masculine and singular, so the word for "my" is mio.
Mio padre, "my father," mio padre.
Mia madre, "my mother," mia madre.
Madre is feminine and singular, so the the word for "my" is mia.
Mia madre, "my mother," mia madre.
Mia sorella, "my sister," mia sorella.
This is also feminine and singular, so the the word for "my" is mia.
Mia sorella, "my sister," mia sorella.
E, "and", e.
Io literally "I," "me" in this context, io.
All together, Mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io. "My father, my mother, my sister and me." Mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella e io.
Let’s look at some examples.
Mark Lee, Ben’s father.
Karen Lee, Ben’s mother.
First, do you remember the key pattern for "we are" plus the number of family members?
Siamo in... , "we are....," siamo in...
Mark and Ben are in the same family, so the number of family members is the same. Do you remember the number of people in Ben’s family?
Quattro, "four," quattro.
These are pieces to the key sentence pattern Siamo in quattro. "We are four." Siamo in quattro.
Imagine you are Mark Lee, the father.
The number of people in your family is also quattro, "four," quattro.
Use the response pattern to say "We are four."
Now you try it.
Listen to the correct response:
Mark Lee: Siamo in quattro.
Listen again and repeat.
Mark Lee: Siamo in quattro.
There are four people in Mark’s family. Now, you will need the following vocabulary for family members to complete the next part.
Moglie, "wife," moglie.
Figlia, "daughter," figlia.
And figlio, "son," figlio.
First, do you remember the phrase for "and me"?
E io, "and me," e io.
Use the second pattern to say, "My (moglie) wife, my (figlia) daughter, my (figlio) son and me.
Pay attention to the gender of the possessive pronoun.
Now you try it.
Listen to the correct response:
Mark Lee: Mia moglie, mia figlia, mio figlio e io.
Listen again and repeat.
Mark Lee: Mia moglie, mia figlia, mio figlio e io.
Let’s look at one more example:
Now, imagine you are Karen Lee, Ben’s mother.
The number of people in your family is also quattro, "four."
There is one new vocabulary word, marito "husband" marito.
Say, "We are four: my (marito) husband (marito), my daughter, my son and me."
Now you try it.
Listen to the correct response:
Karen Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio marito, mia figlia, mio figlio e io.
Listen again and repeat.
Karen Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio marito, mia figlia, mio figlio e io.
Now, let’s practice with these two people:
Sasha Lee, Ben’s sister.
And you, the newly adopted sibling of Ben and Sasha Lee.
Remember the question by the teacher?
Quanti siete in famiglia?
"How many (people) are you in (your) family?"
Remember this question. In this practice section, you’ll respond after the teacher’s question.
Imagine you're Sasha Lee.
There are four people in your family. Your mother, your father, your brother and you.
"brother," is a new word fratello, "brother," fratello.
After the teacher’s question, use the sentence pattern to say,
"We are four: my mother, my father, my (fratello) brother (fratello), and me."
Ready?
Quanti siete in famiglia?
The correct response is:
Sasha Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio padre, mia madre, mio fratello e io.
Listen again and repeat.
Sasha Lee: Siamo in quattro: mio padre, mia madre, mio fratello e io.
Let’s try one more.
You are now part of the Lee family. You are now one of the children.
There are cinque, "five," cinque people in your family. Your father, your mother, your brother, your sister and you.
After the teacher’s question, use the sentence pattern to say,
"We are (cinque) five (cinque) people: my father, my mother, my brother, my sister and me.
Ready?
Quanti siete in famiglia?
The correct response is:
You Lee: Siamo in cinque: mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella, mio fratello e io.
Listen again and repeat.
You Lee: Siamo in cinque: mio padre, mia madre, mia sorella, mio fratello e io.
When we introduce our siblings, we usually don’t say if they’re older or younger than us. If you want to make it clear, you just have to add the adjective after the noun.
"Younger" is minore, [SLOW] minore. "Older" is maggiore, [SLOW] maggiore.
Both adjectives end in -e, so you don’t have to worry about the gender, as adjectives ending in -e don’t change, regardless of the noun’s gender.
"Younger brother" is fratello minore, [SLOW] fratello minore. "Younger sister" is sorella minore, [SLOW] sorella minore. In both cases you can use minore.
"Older brother" is fratello maggiore, [SLOW] fratello maggiore. "Older sister" is sorella maggiore, [SLOW] sorella maggiore. In both cases you can use maggiore.
This is the end of this lesson. Question or comment? Let us know.
Remember these Can-Do lessons are about learning practical language skills. Once you have mastered the content in this lesson, prove it.
Go to ItalianPod101.com and get assessed by a certified teacher.
And don’t forget the lesson notes for this lesson while you are there.
A presto!
Good bye.

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