Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Consuelo: Buonasera a tutti.
Marco: Marco here. Upper intermediate season 1, Lesson #8. Who Knows Whether the Italian News Is Real?
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 passato remoto tense of essere and avere.
Consuelo: This conversation takes place at Claudia and Irene’s parents home.
Marco: And it’s between Irene, Davide and Claudia.
Consuelo: They will be speaking both informal and formal Italian.
Marco: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
(Sigla del Telegiornale)
Davide: Silenzio ragazze, per favore, vorrei ascoltare il TG.
Irene: Uffa, che noia!
Annunciatrice: Trovato cimitero di gladiatori romani a York, in Inghilterra. Gli esperti hanno constatato che gli scheletri appartengono a uomini giovani e robusti. Questi uomini hanno inoltre il muscolo del braccio destro più sviluppato, caratteristica tipica degli schiavi addestrati come gladiatori. In aggiunta sono stati riportati anche segni di morsi di grandi animali. La presenza di gladiatori a York è plausibile, perché questa città fu una delle più importanti colonie romane in Inghilterra. Le legioni infatti vi rimasero fino al quinto secolo dopo Cristo. La classe aristocratica del tempo ebbe sicuramente l'opportunità di essere intrattenuta assistendo ai giochi del circo nell'arena.
Davide: I gladiatori in Inghilterra... Chissà se andavano al pub a fine giornata?
Claudia e Irene: Ah, ah, ah.
Marco: Let’s here it slowly now.
(Sigla del Telegiornale)
Davide: Silenzio ragazze, per favore, vorrei ascoltare il TG.
Irene: Uffa, che noia!
Annunciatrice: Trovato cimitero di gladiatori romani a York, in Inghilterra. Gli esperti hanno constatato che gli scheletri appartengono a uomini giovani e robusti. Questi uomini hanno inoltre il muscolo del braccio destro più sviluppato, caratteristica tipica degli schiavi addestrati come gladiatori. In aggiunta sono stati riportati anche segni di morsi di grandi animali. La presenza di gladiatori a York è plausibile, perché questa città fu una delle più importanti colonie romane in Inghilterra. Le legioni infatti vi rimasero fino al quinto secolo dopo Cristo. La classe aristocratica del tempo ebbe sicuramente l'opportunità di essere intrattenuta assistendo ai giochi del circo nell'arena.
Davide: I gladiatori in Inghilterra... Chissà se andavano al pub a fine giornata?
Claudia e Irene: Ah, ah, ah.
Marco: And now, with the translation.
(Sigla del Telegiornale)
(Jingle for TV news)
Davide: Silenzio ragazze, per favore, vorrei ascoltare il TG.
Davide: Hey, girls, silence please, I'd like to hear the TV news.
Irene: Uffa, che noia!
Irene: Come on, so boring!
Annunciatrice: Trovato cimitero di gladiatori romani a York, in Inghilterra. Gli esperti hanno constatato che gli scheletri appartengono a uomini giovani e robusti. Questi uomini hanno inoltre il muscolo del braccio destro più sviluppato, caratteristica tipica degli schiavi addestrati come gladiatori. In aggiunta sono stati riportati anche segni di morsi di grandi animali. La presenza di gladiatori a York è plausibile, perché questa città fu una delle più importanti colonie romane in Inghilterra. Le legioni infatti vi rimasero fino al quinto secolo dopo Cristo. La classe aristocratica del tempo ebbe sicuramente l'opportunità di essere intrattenuta assistendo ai giochi del circo nell'arena.
Announcer: A cemetery for Roman gladiators has been discovered in York, England. The experts ascertained that the skeletons belong to young and strong men. These men also have the muscle of the right arm more developed, a typical feature of slaves trained as gladiators. Furthermore, marks from bites of large animals have been also discovered. The presence of gladiators in York is plausible, as this city was one of the most important Roman colonies in England. In fact, the legions remained here until the fifth century A.D. The aristocratic class of that time surely had the opportunity to be entertained by attending circus games in the arena.
Davide: I gladiatori in Inghilterra... Chissà se andavano al pub a fine giornata?
Davide: Gladiators in England... Who knows whether they were used to go to the pub at the end of the day?
Claudia e Irene: Ah, ah, ah.
Claudia and Irene: Ah, ah, ah.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Marco: Oh we are talking about gladiators here.
Consuelo: Si, i gladiatori.
Marco: Gladiatorial combat took place in the coliseum.
Consuelo: Il colosseo. I am pretty sure you saw that movie with Russell Crowe...
Marco: Of course I did. It was a great movie.
Consuelo: Yes I like that too.
Marco: Actually I have always been interested in the history of the Roman Empire.
Consuelo: Oh really? It’s very fascinating. When I go to home, I can feel that sense of solemnity and power that city had thousands of years ago.
Marco: All right, I know what you mean.
Consuelo: Hey listen, the news we heard in the dialogue is real news.
Marco: Yes I have heard about that.
Consuelo: That cemetery for Roman gladiators in New York is the most well preserved necropolis of gladiators in the world.
VOCAB LIST
Marco: Cool. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is
Consuelo: Cimitero.
Marco: Cemetery.
Consuelo: Cimitero. Cimitero
Marco: Next we have
Consuelo: Gladiatore.
Marco: Gladiator.
Consuelo: Gladiatore. Gladiatore
Marco: And next we have
Consuelo: Constatare.
Marco: To ascertain, to certify.
Consuelo: Constatare. Constatare
Marco: And next we have
Consuelo: Schiavo.
Marco: Slave.
Consuelo: Schiavo. Schiavo.
Marco: And the next word is
Consuelo: Addestrato.
Marco: Trained, practiced.
Consuelo: Addestrato. Addestrato.
Marco: And next we have
Consuelo: Colonia.
Marco: Colony.
Consuelo: Colonia. Colonia
Marco: And the next word is
Consuelo: Assistere.
Marco: To attend, assist, nurse, aid, help.
Consuelo: Assistere. Assistere.
Marco: And today’s last word is
Consuelo: Circo.
Marco: Circus.
Consuelo: Circo. Circo.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Marco: So Consuelo, what expression are we studying today?
Consuelo: The Italian expression “chissà se”
Marco: Who knows whether?
Consuelo: This expression is the combination of two words chi and sa.
Marco: Who and knows but it is written as only one word with a double S.
Consuelo: Italians use this expression very frequently.
Marco: As in English, it is appropriate to use when we are in doubt about something.
Consuelo: For example, chissà dove ho messo il mio portafoglio.
Marco: Who knows where I’ve put my wallet.
Consuelo: Chissà se il treno oggi è in orario.
Marco: Who knows whether the train is on time today? Sounds like a common problem in Italy.
Consuelo: Sure it is such a common matter that Italians started to make fun and jokes about that.
Marco: I see. Consuela, one more example please.
Consuelo: Okay. Chissà cosa starà facendo Mario?!
Marco: Who knows what Mario will be doing?! After chissà we used a passato prossimo, then a presente and now...
Consuelo: Starà facendo is futuro plus gerundio. We usually use it to express a hypothesis.
Marco: Grazie for this explanation.

Lesson focus
Consuelo: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point.
Marco: In today’s lesson, we focus on the passato remoto tense of essere and avere.
Consuelo: We heard these verbs at the passato prossimo tense when the announcer spoke.
Marco: I caught one in the sentence: questa città fu una delle più importanti colonie romane in Inghilterra.
Consuelo: Great. Good job. Questa città fu meaning the city was.
Marco: Let’s listen to the conjugation of essere at the passato remoto tense.
Consuelo: Io fui,
Marco: I was.
Consuelo: Tu fosti,
Marco: You were.
Consuelo: Lui/lei fu,
Marco: He/she/it was.
Consuelo: Noi fummo,
Marco: We were.
Consuelo: Voi foste,
Marco: You were.
Consuelo: Loro furono,
Marco: They were.
Consuelo: The announcer also used the verb avere at passato remoto when she says: the aristocratic class of that time surely had the opportunity to be entertained by attending circus games in the arena.
Marco: La classe aristocratica ebbe. The Aristocratic class had.
Consuelo: Let’s see the conjugation for this verb.
Marco: Please listen.
Consuelo: Io ebbi,
Marco: I had.
Consuelo: Tu avesti,
Marco: You had.
Consuelo: Lui/lei ebbe,
Marco: He/she/it had.
Consuelo: Noi avemmo,
Marco: We had.
Consuelo: Voi aveste,
Marco: You had.
Consuelo: Loro ebbero,
Marco: They had.
Consuelo: Well now let’s take a brief quiz. I will give you some hints about famous historical characters and you have to guess who they are.
Marco: Okay sounds fun.
Consuelo: Fu genovese ma scoprì l’America con l’aiuto della Spagna.
Marco: He was from Geneva but he discovered America with the help of Spain. This is very easy Cristoforo Columbo.
Consuelo: Si, bravo. Next: fu un inventore che inventò la radio.
Marco: He was an inventor who invented the radio. I know it. He was Guglielmo Marconi.
Consuelo: Esatto. Now I will tell you the last one. Fu un musicista, scrisse tante opere ed ebbe un enorme successo. Una delle più famose è Aida.
Marco: Okay hold on a second. He was a musician. He wrote many operas and he had great success. One of the most famous is Aida.
Consuelo: You can’t hesitate. We are talking about Aida!
Marco: Ah si, Giuseppe Verdi.
Consuelo: Yes. E bravo Marco.

Outro
Marco: That just about does it for today.
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Marco: Arrivederci.
Consuelo: Ciao.

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