Learn about the preposition "in"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Buonasera a tutti. |
| Marco: Marco here. Upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson #18. Don’t Be Stingy With Your Italian Money. |
| Consuelo: Hi my name is Consuelo and I am joined here by Marco. |
| Marco: Hello everyone and welcome back to italianpod101.com |
| Consuelo: What are we learning today? |
| Marco: In today’s class, we will focus on the preposition In. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place on the street. |
| Marco: And it’s between Irene, Claudia and Davide. |
| Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Claudia: Eccolo lì il babbo, non ci vede, ma è cieco? |
| Irene: Babbo, siamo qua! |
| Davide: Ehi ragazze, eccovi qui! Dove volete andare a pranzo? Ho una fame... |
| Claudia: Perché non andiamo in quel ristorante in centro? |
| Davide: Ristorante? Per pranzo? No, dai, andiamo al bar. |
| Irene: Babbo non fare il tirchio! |
| Davide: Ah, pago io? |
| Claudia: Certo, siamo solo in tre! |
| Davide: Voi mi invitate per pranzo e io pago, giusto? |
| Irene: In pratica sì! |
| Claudia: Va bene allora andiamo al bar. |
| Irene: In quello in Piazza Alberti fanno dei primi molto buoni. |
| Davide: Va bene, non è neanche lontano, andiamo. Così vi compro anche un gratta e vinci! |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| Claudia: Eccolo lì il babbo, non ci vede, ma è cieco? |
| Irene: Babbo, siamo qua! |
| Davide: Ehi ragazze, eccovi qui! Dove volete andare a pranzo? Ho una fame... |
| Claudia: Perché non andiamo in quel ristorante in centro? |
| Davide: Ristorante? Per pranzo? No, dai, andiamo al bar. |
| Irene: Babbo non fare il tirchio! |
| Davide: Ah, pago io? |
| Claudia: Certo, siamo solo in tre! |
| Davide: Voi mi invitate per pranzo e io pago, giusto? |
| Irene: In pratica sì! |
| Claudia: Va bene allora andiamo al bar. |
| Irene: In quello in Piazza Alberti fanno dei primi molto buoni. |
| Davide: Va bene, non è neanche lontano, andiamo. Così vi compro anche un gratta e vinci! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| Claudia: Eccolo lì il babbo, non ci vede, ma è cieco? |
| Claudia: There he is. He doesn't see us; is he blind? |
| Irene: Babbo, siamo qua! |
| Irene: Dad, we're here! |
| Davide: Ehi ragazze, eccovi qui! Dove volete andare a pranzo? Ho una fame... |
| Davide: Hey, girls, here you are! Where do you want to go for lunch? I'm so hungry... |
| Claudia: Perché non andiamo in quel ristorante in centro? |
| Claudia: Why don't we go to that restaurant in downtown? |
| Davide: Ristorante? Per pranzo? No, dai, andiamo al bar. |
| Davide: Restaurant? For lunch? No, come on, let's go to a bar. |
| Irene: Babbo non fare il tirchio! |
| Irene: Dad, don't be stingy! |
| Davide: Ah, pago io? |
| Davide: Ah, am I paying? |
| Claudia: Certo, siamo solo in tre! |
| Claudia: Sure, we are only three! |
| Davide: Voi mi invitate per pranzo e io pago, giusto? |
| Davide: You're inviting me for lunch, and I'm paying, right? |
| Irene: In pratica sì! |
| Irene: Practically yes! |
| Claudia: Va bene allora andiamo al bar. |
| Claudia: Okay, so let's go to the bar. |
| Irene: In quello in Piazza Alberti fanno dei primi molto buoni. |
| Irene: In the one in Alberti Square they make very good first courses. |
| Davide: Va bene, non è neanche lontano, andiamo. Così vi compro anche un gratta e vinci! |
| Davide: Okay, it's not even far; let's go. Then I'll also buy a lottery scratch card for you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: This is a very funny dialogue. Don’t you think Consuelo? |
| Consuelo: Yes it is especially when the dad realizes he has to pay for lunch and wants to go to a bar. |
| Marco: Hah true, because a restaurant is much more expensive than a bar. |
| Consuelo: Yep. He also wants to give the daughters a gratta e vinci. Do you know what it is? |
| Marco: Yes I do. That is a scratch card lottery. Are they popular in Italy? |
| Consuelo: Oh my god! They are. In Italy, we play all sorts of lotteries. Recently gratta e vinci is becoming more and more popular. |
| Marco: Gratta e vinci literally means scratch and win! |
| Consuelo: If you are fortunato, meaning lucky, you win. |
| Marco: I remember my friends buying those scratch cards in Italy. What was the name ah! Il milionario. |
| Consuelo: Exactly, the millionaire. |
| Marco: Have you ever won Consuelo? |
| Consuelo: No never but my dad won €500, he paid only €5 for the card. |
| Marco: Wow how lucky! Che fortunato! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Cieco. |
| Marco: Blind. |
| Consuelo: Cieco. Cieco. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Tirchio. |
| Marco: Mean, stingy, miserly. |
| Consuelo: Tirchio. Tirchio |
| Marco: Next we have |
| Consuelo: Pagare. |
| Marco: To pay. |
| Consuelo: Pagare. Pagare |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Invitare. |
| Marco: To invite. |
| Consuelo: Invitare. Invitare. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Pranzo. |
| Marco: Lunch |
| Consuelo: Pranzo. Pranzo |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Buono. |
| Marco: Good, tasty. |
| Consuelo: Buono. Buono. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Neanche. |
| Marco: Neither, even. |
| Consuelo: Neanche. Neanche. |
| Marco: And lastly we have |
| Consuelo: Gratta e vinci. |
| Marco: Lottery scratch card. |
| Consuelo: Gratta e vinci. Gratta e vinci. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: So Consuelo, what expression are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: Today we are studying the expression “non fare il tirchio!” |
| Marco: Don’t be stingy. I like the word tirchio. |
| Consuelo: You like the word, but do you like also the meaning? |
| Marco: Well I think yes. It’s always better to save money. |
| Consuelo: Ah I see, you lived too many years in Genova I think? |
| Marco: Hah! You are right. Genova’s people are famous for being stingy. |
| Consuelo: So listeners, I am talking to the girls. If you date a guy who is stingy, remember this. Non fare il tirchio. |
| Marco: Come on Consuelo, it is not a nice thing to say. |
| Consuelo: True, it is not and you should use this expression with someone you know very well as a close friend or a relative. |
| Marco: Good to know. |
| Consuelo: Io non sono tirchia, I am the opposite of tirchia. I spent every single Euro I have. I am spendacciona. You know Marco, non mi paghi mai il caffè, sei un po’ tirchio con me. |
| Marco: I have to admit. Si, sono tirchio con Consuelo. E tu sei una spendacciona. |
| Consuelo: Lo so, I know. The word spendaccione/spendacciona comes from the verb spendere, meaning to spend. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Marco: In today’s lesson, we will focus on the preposition In and its usages. |
| Consuelo: Prepositions, prepositions. |
| Marco: We go on analyzing Italian prepositions and In is one often used. In English, it stands for in, to and also by. |
| Consuelo: Its articulated forms, those combined with the definite articles are nel, nello and nella at singular |
| Marco: And nei, negli and nelle at plural. |
| Consuelo: Now we will start giving you a list with all the different usages for the preposition in. |
| Marco: At first we use in when going or staying somewhere. For example |
| Consuelo: Vado in America. |
| Marco: I go to America. |
| Consuelo: Ci vediamo in biblioteca. |
| Marco: We meet at the library. |
| Consuelo: Abito in Toscana. |
| Marco: I live in Tuscany. The second usage implies a temporal meaning. |
| Consuelo: Referring to time as in: in estate andiamo in spiaggia. |
| Marco: We go to the beach in summer. |
| Consuelo: Sono nato nel 1979. |
| Marco: I was born in 1979. |
| Consuelo: Or: sono lì in 5 minuti. |
| Marco: I am there in 5 minutes. |
| Consuelo: The next usage indicates what is called a model meaning. |
| Marco: Expressing the way we are doing something. For instance |
| Consuelo: Siamo in attesa. |
| Marco: We are waiting. |
| Consuelo: Mangio in piedi. |
| Marco: I eat standing up. |
| Consuelo: Non arriviamo in tempo. |
| Marco: We are not arriving on time. |
| Consuelo: Furthermore, in is also used when indicating the material of something. |
| Marco: We already saw the preposition Di that can be used in the same case. |
| Consuelo: True. Thank you for reminding us Marco. It happens that a preposition can replace another one. |
| Marco: Okay. Let’s see some examples using in. |
| Consuelo: Una statua in bronzo. |
| Marco: A bronze statue. |
| Consuelo: Un abito in seta. |
| Marco: A silk dress. |
| Consuelo: Una cornice in legno. |
| Marco: A wooden frame. |
| Consuelo: Now we can go on with the fifth usage for this proposition which is |
| Marco: To express a change of status. For example |
| Consuelo: L’economia è in crisi. |
| Marco: The economy is in crisis. |
| Consuelo: Il mio vaso è andato in pezzi. |
| Marco: My ways is shattered. |
| Consuelo: The preposition in is also used when indicating quantities as in: a tavola siamo in tredici. |
| Marco: We are 13 at the table. |
| Consuelo: Alla festa eravamo in sei. |
| Marco: We were six at the party. |
| Consuelo: Hanno partecipato in massa. |
| Marco: They participated in crowds. Dear listeners, don’t forget that prepositions are always part of idiomatic expressions. |
| Consuelo: True and the most common with the preposition in are: in fin dei conti. |
| Marco: In the end. |
| Consuelo: In sostanza. |
| Marco: To sum up. |
| Consuelo: Nei limiti. |
| Marco: Within the limits. |
| Consuelo: In su, in giù. |
| Marco: Up and down. |
| Consuelo: In pratica. |
| Marco: Practically. Okay we are almost done. |
| Consuelo: Yes the last effort. |
| Marco: We will finish this grammar lesson by giving you the most common verbal constructions with in. |
| Consuelo: Such as: avere fiducia in. |
| Marco: To trust in. |
| Consuelo: Credere in. |
| Marco: To believe in. |
| Consuelo: Consistere in. |
| Marco: To consist of. |
| Consuelo: Imbattersi in. |
| Marco: To run into. |
| Consuelo: Includere in. |
| Marco: To include in. |
| Consuelo: Sperare in. |
| Marco: To hope for. |
| Consuelo: This does it for today’s grammar lesson. |
| Marco: Listeners, why don’t you listen a few times to the dialogue again to pick all the uses of in that you hear. |
| Consuelo: Oh that’s a good exercise. |
Outro |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
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| Marco: Ciao. |
| Consuelo: Ciao. |
3 Comments
HideDo you like Italian bars?
Hi George Boccanfuso,
Thank you for posting.
"Cie-co" has two syllables because "i" and "e" are pronounced as one. The spelling for "cieco" is actually an exception, as you'd usually find "cie" written as "ce."
We have fixed the typos in the transcription. Thank you for reporting them.
Also, we apologize for the wrong pronunciation of "stingy."
Let us know if you have more questions.
Ofelia
Team ItalianPod101.com
Hi
Why is "cieco" two syllables? I believe you mean "combine" instead of "combat with the definite articles are nel..."
Also "stingy" is pronouced as it would be in italian "stin-gi".
George