Learn the Italian proper preposition di, which means "of"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Consuelo: Buongiorno a tutti. Ben tornati. |
| Marco: Marco here. Upper intermediate season 1, Lesson #5. I Know Not of What You Speak in Italian. |
| Consuelo: Hello everyone. I am Consuelo and welcome to italianpod101.com. |
| Marco: With us, you will 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 preposition d and its usage. |
| Consuelo: This conversation takes place at Irene and Claudia’s place. |
| Marco: And it’s between Filippo, Claudia and Irene. |
| Consuelo: They will be speaking informal Italian. |
| Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (doorbell sound) |
| Irene: Deve essere Filippo, ma perché vuole entrare in casa? Ha detto che aspettava fuori, meno male abbiamo pulito oggi... |
| (she opens the door) |
| Irene: Ciao Pippo, entra! Ma che ci fai qui? |
| Filippo: Non so se hai notato, ma fuori piove di brutto! Non volevo aspettarvi da solo in macchina. |
| Irene: Sì hai fatto bene, ma come, piove!? Oh no, mi devo cambiare le scarpe adesso, se piove mi metto gli stivali! |
| Filippo: Basta che ti sbrighi, sto morendo di fame! Poi è inutile che ti fai bella stasera, Mirco non viene. |
| Irene: Cosa? Davvero? E perché? |
| Filippo: E che ne so! Tua sorella è pronta? |
| Claudia: Sì, sono qui al computer! |
| Marco: Let’s here it slowly now. |
| (doorbell sound) |
| Irene: Deve essere Filippo, ma perché vuole entrare in casa? Ha detto che aspettava fuori, meno male abbiamo pulito oggi... |
| (she opens the door) |
| Irene: Ciao Pippo, entra! Ma che ci fai qui? |
| Filippo: Non so se hai notato, ma fuori piove di brutto! Non volevo aspettarvi da solo in macchina. |
| Irene: Sì hai fatto bene, ma come, piove!? Oh no, mi devo cambiare le scarpe adesso, se piove mi metto gli stivali! |
| Filippo: Basta che ti sbrighi, sto morendo di fame! Poi è inutile che ti fai bella stasera, Mirco non viene. |
| Irene: Cosa? Davvero? E perché? |
| Filippo: E che ne so! Tua sorella è pronta? |
| Claudia: Sì, sono qui al computer! |
| Marco: And now, with the translation. |
| (doorbell sound) |
| Irene: Deve essere Filippo, ma perché vuole entrare in casa? Ha detto che aspettava fuori, meno male abbiamo pulito oggi... |
| Irene: It might be Filippo, but why does he want to get in? He said he would wait outside. Thank goodness we cleaned today... |
| (she opens the door) |
| Irene: Ciao Pippo, entra! Ma che ci fai qui? |
| Irene: Hi, Pippo, come in! What are you doing here? |
| Filippo: Non so se hai notato, ma fuori piove di brutto! Non volevo aspettarvi da solo in macchina. |
| Filippo: I don't know whether you noticed, but it's raining like crazy outside! I didn't want to wait for you alone in my car. |
| Irene: Sì hai fatto bene, ma come, piove!? Oh no, mi devo cambiare le scarpe adesso, se piove mi metto gli stivali! |
| Irene: Yes, you did the right thing, but how come it's raining? Oh no, I have to change shoes now. If it's raining, I'll put on the boots! |
| Filippo: Basta che ti sbrighi, sto morendo di fame! Poi è inutile che ti fai bella stasera, Mirco non viene. |
| Filippo: As long as you hurry up; I'm starving! And it's of no use that you dress up tonight; Mirco is not coming. |
| Irene: Cosa? Davvero? E perché? |
| Irene: What? Really? Why? |
| Filippo: E che ne so! Tua sorella è pronta? |
| Filippo: I don't know! Is your sister ready? |
| Claudia: Sì, sono qui al computer! |
| Claudia: Yes, I'm here at the computer! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Marco: Hey Consuelo, am I wrong or did Irene called Filippo using the name Pippo? |
| Consuelo: Oh true. That’s a nickname usually used for guys whose name is Filippo. |
| Marco: Ah I see, a nick name. I have a friend called Luigi but everybody calls him Gigi. |
| Consuelo: That’s another common nick name. For Francesco and Francesca, we use Checco or Checca. |
| Marco: I have heard of that and also Claudia sometimes calls her sister Ire instead of Irene in her dialogues. |
| Consuelo: Right. Good guess. But tell me, did you hear when Irene said meno male abbiamo pulito oggi? |
| Marco: Oh yes. Why is she so worried about cleaning? |
| Consuelo: Because when a person comes to your house in Italy, it must be all clean and sparkling. |
| Marco: Oh really? even between friends? |
| Consuelo: Sure. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Marco: Oh that’s a nice habit. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Consuelo: Entrare. |
| Marco: To go in, come in, enter |
| Consuelo: Entrare. Entrare. |
| Marco: Next we have |
| Consuelo: Pulire. |
| Marco: To clean. |
| Consuelo: Pulire. Pulire. |
| Marco: And the next word is |
| Consuelo: Notare. |
| Marco: To notice, to realize. |
| Consuelo: Notare. Notare. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Mettersi. |
| Marco: To put on. |
| Consuelo: Mettersi. Mettersi. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Stivale. |
| Marco: Boot. |
| Consuelo: Stivale. Stivale. |
| Marco: The next word is |
| Consuelo: Inutile. |
| Marco: Unnecessary, useless. |
| Consuelo: Inutile. Inutile. |
| Marco: And next we have |
| Consuelo: Stasera. |
| Marco: Tonight. |
| Consuelo: Stasera. Stasera. |
| Marco: And today’s last word is |
| Consuelo: Qui. |
| Marco: Here. |
| Consuelo: Qui. Qui. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Marco: Consuelo, what expression are we studying today? |
| Consuelo: The Italian expression “basta che”. |
| Marco: As long as, provided that. |
| Consuelo: The word basta is used in Italian with many different meanings. |
| Marco: But in this case, when it is combined with che it is commonly translated into as long as. |
| Consuelo: Basta che is usually followed by a congiuntivo. |
| Marco: The subjunctive mood. Let’s hear an example using basta che plus congiuntivo. |
| Consuelo: Sure referring to voi: bene, potete giocare qui, basta che non rompiate niente. |
| Marco: Meaning: well, you can play here as long as you don’t break anything. This phrase can probably be said to a bunch of kids. |
| Consuelo: That’s exactly what I was thinking. So rompiate is the subjunctive for the verb rompere, meaning to break inflected to its voi form. |
| Marco: Sometimes the congiuntivo can be confused with the indicativo presente, the present tense. |
| Consuelo: That’s true. Let’s take for example the phrase: Hey Marco, allora quando partiamo? meaning, hey Marco, when do we leave? |
| Marco: I can answer by saying: non lo so, ma basta che andiamo in vacanza. Meaning I don’t know as long as we go on holiday. |
| Consuelo: Here the subjunctive of the verb andare, meaning to go, has the same form as the present tense: noi andiamo. |
| Marco: It happens also in the dialogue when Filippo says basta che ti sbrighi. |
| Consuelo: Che tu ti sbrighi is subjunctive. And here again, we have the same form of the present tense, but if it was referred to voi, the right verb to use should have been |
| Marco: Basta che vi sbrighiate. |
| Consuelo: Perfetto Marco. Basta che vi sbrighiate. Not to be confused with basta che vi sbrigate, at the present indicative. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Consuelo: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Marco: In today’s lesson, we will focus on the preposition Di, meaning of. |
| Consuelo: With this lesson, we are starting a series of lessons that will analyze Italian proper prepositions. |
| Marco: Wait a minute! What are proper prepositions? |
| Consuelo: Italian proper prepositions can be simple. Di, A, Da, In, Con, Su, Per, Tra and Fra, or articulated. |
| Marco: They are articulated when... |
| Consuelo: When the preposition is followed by a definite article. The preposition contracts to form one word, as in Del, Al, Nel and Sul. |
| Marco: In the case of the preposition Di, meaning of, the articulated forms are |
| Consuelo: Del, Dello, Dell with apostrophe, Dei, Degli, Della and Delle. |
| Marco: The most challenging part is to understand when to use this common preposition. |
| Consuelo: We now will give you a list of all the cases when the preposition Di is used. |
| Marco: Okay listeners, let’s start. |
| Consuelo: Di is used to indicate possession: la figlia di Maria. |
| Marco: Maria’s daughter. Or la giacca di Consuelo. |
| Consuelo: Ah, Consuelo’s jacket. |
| Marco: Di is also used as specified in material. For example, a wool sweater is |
| Consuelo: Un maglione di lana. |
| Marco: To specify the measure. |
| Consuelo: Una montagna di 1500 metri. |
| Marco: A mountain of 1500 meters. |
| Consuelo: Di is used to indicate the origin of something or someone. Una persona di Parigi. |
| Marco: A person from Paris. |
| Consuelo: Sono di Genova. |
| Marco: I am from Geneva. |
| Consuelo: With Di, we can also indicate the quality: un uomo di cultura. |
| Marco: A man of culture. |
| Consuelo: Una cantante di talento. |
| Marco: A talented singer. |
| Consuelo: Furthermore, Di sometimes gives an emphatic value to the phrase, as in quello stupido del tuo amico. |
| Marco: That fool of your friend. Haha! Pretty angry here. |
| Consuelo: Sometimes Di has a modal value. |
| Marco: Ah yes, in this case replacing adverbs ending in -mente. For example |
| Consuelo: In the dialogue, we heard di brutto. |
| Marco: Like crazy, mad, tons. For example, piove di brutto, meaning it’s raining like crazy. |
| Consuelo: Di continuo is |
| Marco: Continuously. |
| Consuelo: Di corsa |
| Marco: Quickly. |
| Consuelo: And di moda |
| Marco: In fashion or fashionable. |
| Consuelo: When we use Di to indicate causal value, we can form some phrases like morire di noia |
| Marco: Die of boredom. |
| Consuelo: Bruciare di passione |
| Marco: Burn for passion. |
| Consuelo: Unto di olio |
| Marco: Greasy because of oil. |
Outro |
| Consuelo: Okay this does it for the grammar. |
| Marco: We will wait for you in our next lesson. |
| Consuelo: Because we will continue studying other ways to use Di. |
| Marco: That just about does it for today. |
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| Marco: Ciao. |
| Consuelo: Ciao a tutti. |
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