Lezione Numero Uno/Lesson Number One
Watch a video:
Lesson 1, Part 1: Langauge Instruction
Short Dialogue
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH | |
|---|---|---|
| Ciao, (io) mi chiamo Paola. | Hello, I am called (literally “I call myself”) Paola | |
| (Tu) come ti chiami (informal)? | What’s your name (literally “How do you call yourself”)? | |
| Piacere! | Nice to meet you! (Literally “pleasure”) | |
| Ciao! | Informal hello and goodbye. | |
| Notice that in Italian in most contexts you can omit the subject to a sentence (io, tu above). | ||
Listen to this short dialogue:
Le Vocali/Vowels
A-E-I-O-U
We use grave and acute accents, although in handwriting it mostly makes no difference. Most words have grave (or open) accents (e.g. caffè).
Acute (or closed) accents (e.g. perché) are less common. I (and many many Italians) pronounce acute accents open, but it is not approved by the Accademia della Crusca (literally The Academy of the Bran), a society of scholars and linguists that was founded around 1582–1583 with the goal of developing and protecting the pure Italian language. The name comes from the process of sifting the best flour from the lower quality bran.
Seven basic vowel sounds:
- A È E I
- A Ò O U
Accenti/Accents
Accents at the end of a word are important! Here are a few examples:
- Papa (the Pope) vs. papà (dad)
- pero (pear tree) vs però (but/however)
Consonanti/Consonants
Concerning consonants, in Italian we have single and double consonants (doppie).
| SINGLE CONSONANT | DOUBLE CONSONANTs |
|---|---|
| Rosa (pink/rose) | Rossa (red) |
| Tono (tone) | Tonno (tuna) |
| Belo (bleat) | Bello (beautiful) |
| Il Papa (m) (Pope) | La Pappa (f) (a cute way to say food, e.g. when talking to babies. Expression also used to deplore pureed food that doesn’t look very tasty.) |
| La nona (f) (the ninth) | La nonna (the grandma) |
Listen to the vowels, accents, and consonants:
The Verb Cucinare/To Cook
We got hungry fast, hence it was time to cook (cucinARE).
INDICATIVO PRESENTE (I cook, you cook, s/he cooks…)
(Io) cucino.
(Tu) cucini.
(Lui/Lei)(Egli/Essa…not much used) cucina.
(Noi) cuciniamo.
(Voi) cucinate.
(Loro)(Essi..not much used) cucinano.
Listen to the conjugation of cucinare:
Compiti/Assignments
Use this audio file for task #3 in the assignments.
Use this audio file for task #4 in the assignments.
