Learn how to form the passato remoto ("preterit") tense for first conjugation Italian verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Ciao a tutti. Sono Consuelo. |
| Marco: Marco here. Upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson #1. How Can I Get Over My Fear of Flying in Italy? |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone. I am Consuelo and welcome to italianpod101.com. |
| Marco: With us, you 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. In today’s class, we will focus on the passato remoto tense of first conjugation regular verbs. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place on a plane. |
| Marco: And it’s between Claudia and a passenger. Flight attendant Claudia is talking to a passenger who apparently is afraid of flying. |
| Consuelo: In this conversation, they will be speaking formal Italian. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Altoparlanti: Si prega di allacciare le cinture di sicurezza... |
| Passeggero: Signorina! Scusi, signorina! |
| Claudia: Sì, mi dica! |
| Passeggero: Parli un attimo con me per favore. Durante il decollo sono sempre molto nervoso. |
| Claudia: Sì, certo. Allora, prima volta in Africa? |
| Passeggero: Veramente no, nel '63 andai in Kenya a trovare mio fratello che faceva lì il volontario. Mi piace proprio l'Africa! Sa, mi ricordo quella volta quando... |
| (in dissolvenza) |
| -Dopo venti minuti- |
| Passeggero: Poi ho conosciuto quella donna bellissima con quel nome strano... |
| Claudia: Ehm, ehm, mi scusi adesso l'aereo si è stabilizzato, dovrei andare dagli altri passeggeri adesso... |
| Passeggero: Ah, veramente!? Grazie, mi ha aiutato molto. |
| Claudia: Si figuri! |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Altoparlanti: Si prega di allacciare le cinture di sicurezza... |
| Passeggero: Signorina! Scusi, signorina! |
| Claudia: Sì, mi dica! |
| Passeggero: Parli un attimo con me per favore. Durante il decollo sono sempre molto nervoso. |
| Claudia: Sì, certo. Allora, prima volta in Africa? |
| Passeggero: Veramente no, nel '63 andai in Kenya a trovare mio fratello che faceva lì il volontario. Mi piace proprio l'Africa! Sa, mi ricordo quella volta quando... |
| (in dissolvenza) |
| -Dopo venti minuti- |
| Passeggero: Poi ho conosciuto quella donna bellissima con quel nome strano... |
| Claudia: Ehm, ehm, mi scusi adesso l'aereo si è stabilizzato, dovrei andare dagli altri passeggeri adesso... |
| Passeggero: Ah, veramente!? Grazie, mi ha aiutato molto. |
| Claudia: Si figuri! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Altoparlanti: Si prega di allacciare le cinture di sicurezza… |
| Speakers: Please fasten your seat belts... |
| Passeggero: Signorina! Scusi, signorina! |
| Passenger: Miss! Excuse me, Miss! |
| Claudia: Sì, mi dica! |
| Claudia: Yes, may I help you? |
| Passeggero: Parli un attimo con me per favore. Durante il decollo sono sempre molto nervoso. |
| Passenger: Talk with me for a moment, please. During takeoffs I'm always so nervous. |
| Claudia: Sì, certo. Allora, prima volta in Africa? |
| Claudia: Yes, certainly. So, first time in Africa? |
| Passeggero: Veramente no, nel '63 andai in Kenya a trovare mio fratello che faceva lì il volontario. Mi piace proprio l'Africa! Sa, mi ricordo quella volta quando... |
| Passenger: Honestly, no, in '63 I went to Kenya to visit my brother who was a volunteer there. I really like Africa! You know, I remember that time when... |
| (in dissolvenza) |
| (fade-out) |
| -Dopo venti minuti- |
| After twenty minutes... |
| Passeggero: Poi ho conosciuto quella donna bellissima con quel nome strano... |
| Passenger: ...Then I met that woman with that very strange name... |
| Claudia: Ehm, ehm, mi scusi adesso l'aereo si è stabilizzato, dovrei andare dagli altri passeggeri adesso... |
| Claudia: Ahem, ahem. Excuse me, but now the plane has leveled off. I should to go to the other passengers now... |
| Passeggero: Ah, veramente!? Grazie, mi ha aiutato molto. |
| Passenger: Oh, really? Thank you. You helped me a lot... |
| Claudia: Si figuri! |
| Claudia: Don't mention it! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Hey Consuelo, we started this new series by flying. |
| Consuelo: Right. |
| Marco: Claudia is a flight attendant. How do we say that in Italian? |
| Consuelo: We can simply say hostess, or a longer way is assistente di volo. |
| Marco: Oh I see. And the national airline is? |
| Consuelo: Alitalia, the wings of Italy. |
| Marco: Wings? |
| Consuelo: Yes. Ali means wings. |
| Marco: That’s interesting. So Claudia works for Alitalia. |
| Consuelo: I guess so. We will see her again while she is working on other flights. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Cintura. |
| Marco: Belt. |
| Consuelo: Cintura. Cintura. |
| Marco: Next we have |
| Consuelo: Durante. |
| Marco: During, while. |
| Consuelo: Durante. Durante. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Decollo. |
| Marco: Takeoff |
| Consuelo: Decollo. Decollo. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Nervoso. |
| Marco: Nervous, edgy, bad tempered. |
| Consuelo: Nervoso. Nervoso. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Africa. |
| Marco: Africa. |
| Consuelo: Africa. Africa. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Volontario. |
| Marco: Volunteer. |
| Consuelo: Volontario. Volontario. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Consuelo: Stabilizzarsi. |
| Marco: To level off, to stabilize. |
| Consuelo: Stabilizzarsi. Stabilizzarsi. |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Consuelo: Passeggero. |
| Marco: Passenger. |
| Consuelo: Passeggero. Passeggero. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Consuelo, what expression are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: The Italian expression “Mi dica”. |
| Marco: You can be told mi dica in many places in Italy such as at a restaurant. |
| Consuelo: In a shop. |
| Marco: In an office. |
| Consuelo: In a bank and so on because it is the expression Italians use for saying, May I help you. |
| Marco: But literally dica is the verb dire meaning to say or to tell. Am I right? |
| Consuelo: You are right. Mi dica literally means please tell me. It is conjugated at the imperative tense for the courtesy form Lei. |
| Marco: I see. So we can hear mi dica or simply dica right? |
| Consuelo: Exactly. Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Marco: In today’s lesson, we focus on the passato remoto tense. |
| Consuelo: The passato remoto is equivalent to the English preterit and it is a past tense used to report actions completed in the distant past. |
| Marco: As we mentioned in previous lessons, in Northern Italy, the passato remoto is mostly limited to literature while in Southern Italy, it is more widely used in speech than the passato prossimo. |
| Consuelo: That’s true. In the region where I live for example, in Toscana, we use it a lot but I think Neapolitans and Sicilian people use it too much. |
| Marco: All around Italy, passato remoto is known as the historical or narrator’s past tense and it is frequently used also in TV news and newspapers. |
| Consuelo: It’s the one you read in history textbooks. |
| Marco: However a few verbs in the passato remoto such as dissi |
| Consuelo: From dire, meaning to say, |
| Marco: Or andai |
| Consuelo: From andare, meaning to go, |
| Marco: Are frequently used in spoken standard Italian. |
| Consuelo: You probably can hear them all around Italy. |
| Marco: Let’s now take a look at how to form the passato remoto. |
| Consuelo: The passato remoto of first conjugation regular verbs ending in -are is formed by dropping the infinitive suffix and adding the appropriate endings. |
| Marco: What endings? |
| Consuelo: For io: -ai, tu: -asti, lui/lei: -ò, noi: -ammo, voi: - aste, loro: -arono. |
| Marco: And now let’s conjugate the verb for our listeners. Let’s use the verb we listened to in a dialogue. |
| Consuelo: That is the regular verb andare, meaning to go. Try to repeat with us. |
| Marco: Go ahead. |
| Consuelo: Io andai. |
| Marco: I went. |
| Consuelo: Tu andasti. |
| Marco: You went. |
| Consuelo: Lui/lei andò. |
| Marco: He/she/it went. |
| Consuelo: Noi andammo. |
| Marco: We went. |
| Consuelo: Voi andaste. |
| Marco: You went. |
| Consuelo: Loro andarono. |
| Marco: They went. |
Outro |
| Consuelo: Okay this does it for today. For more information, please take a look at our PDF lesson notes. |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically. |
| Consuelo: The voice recording tool. |
| Marco: Yes the voice recording tool. |
| Consuelo: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Marco: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Consuelo: Record and listen. Then… |
| Marco: Compare it to the native speakers |
| Consuelo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Marco: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. |
| Consuelo: Ciao a tutti, buona serata. |
| Marco: Ciao. |
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