Ask to her! Listen me! Sounds a bit funny in English, doesn’t it? But that’s how they say it in Italian. Learn more expressions like this, and how to use them correctly in episode 59 of five minute Italian.
To help you remember what you learnt in today's lesson, below you'll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first...
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Today's Italian words
Tua mamma impara l’italiano, vero? = Your mum is learning Italian, right?
Tua mamma = your mum
Impara = learns
L’italiano = the italian
Vero = true
Le dai una mano? = Do you give her a hand?
Le = to her
Dai = You give
Una mano = a hand.
Si, a volte = Yes sometimes.
Che cosa fai? = What do you do?
Le chiedo: “che cosa fai oggi” = I ask her “what are you doing today”
E scambiamo un paio di parole in italiano = And we exchange a few words in Italian.
Le = to her
Chiedo = I ask
Che cosa = what
Fai = you do
Oggi = today
E = and
Scambiamo = we exchange
Un paio = a pair
Di = of
Parole = words
In italiano = in Italian.
Le chiedo = I ask her (literally = to her, I ask)
Gli chiedo = I ask him (literally = to him, I ask)
Poi, le insegno un po’ di grammatica = Then, I teach her a little grammar.
Le = to her
Insegno = I teach
Un po’ = a bit
Di = of
Grammatica = grammar
Le insegno = I teach her (literally = to her, I teach)
Gli insegno = I teach him (literally = to him, I teach)
Come studia l’italiano? How does she study Italian?
Di solito ascolta un CD e 5 minute Italian ovviamente! = Usually she listens to a CD and 5 minute Italian obviously!
Di solito = usually
Ascolta = she listens
Un CD = a CD
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Transcript
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie.
M: And I’m Matteo
K: In the last couple of episodes, we’ve been learning how to say “to her” and “to him” But Italian can be sneaky sometimes - there are some situations where we use “to him” and “to her”, where we wouldn’t in English. And vice versa. In today’s episode, you’ll learn about these differences. Remember you can see the words written down and get bonus materials for this episode, including a quiz and flashcards, by going to our website joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scrolling down to episode #59.
M: For now, ascoltiamo la conversazione.
K: Let’s listen to the conversation.
M: Katie, tua mamma impara l’italiano, vero?
K: Si.
M: Le dai una mano?
K: A volte si!
M: Che cosa fai?
K: Le chiedo: “che cosa fai oggi” e scambiamo un paio di parole in italiano. Poi le insegno un po’ di grammatica.
M: Come studia l’italiano?
K: Di solito ascolta un CD. E 5 minute Italian ovviamente!
K: Matteo asked:
M: Tua mamma impara l’italiano, vero?
K: Your mum is learning Italian, right?
M:
Tua mamma = your mum
Impara = learns
L’italiano = the italian
Vero = true
K: This “Vero?” (true) is often used in Italian to say right? vero? Then Matteo asked:
M: Le dai una mano?
K: Do you give her a hand?
M:
Le = to her
Dai = You give
Una mano = a hand.
K: I replied:
M: Si, a volte.
K: Yes sometimes. Then Matteo asked:
M: Che cosa fai?
K: What do you do? I replied:
M: Le chiedo: “che cosa fai oggi”
K: I ask her “what are you doing today”
M: E scambiamo un paio di parole in italiano.
K: And we exchange a few words in Italian.
M:
Le = to her
Chiedo = I ask
Che cosa = what
Fai = you do
Oggi = today
E = and
Scambiamo = we exchange
Un paio = a pair
Di = of
Parole = words
In italiano = in Italian.
K: So I ask my mum “what are you doing today” in Italian (che cosa fai oggi). Here’s an example of a word that’s a bit different in Italian. In Italian, we don’t say “ask her” we say “ask to her”. “To her” is ”le”, and that Italians say it backwards “to her, I ask”.
M: Le chiedo.
K: And it’s the same for men. “To him” is “gli”. So I ask him (to him) would be?
M: Gli chiedo.
K: Then I said:
M: Poi, le insegno un po’ di grammatica.
K: Then, I teach her a little grammar.
M:
Le = to her
Insegno = I teach
Un po’ = a bit
Di = of
Grammatica = grammar
K: And here we can see that in Italian, we use insegnare (to teach) with “le”. To her, I teach.
M: Le insegno.
K: And the same with “to him”, “gli”
M: Gli insegno.
K: Next, you heard:
M: Come studia l’italiano?
K: How does she study Italian? I replied:
M: Di solito ascolta un CD e 5 minute Italian ovviamente!
K: Usually she listens to a CD and 5 minute Italian obviously! Let’s zoom in on the first bit.
M:
Di solito = usually
Ascolta = she listens
Un CD = a CD
K: In Italian, we don’t “listen TO something”, we “listen something”. So we don’t say “ascoltare a” (listen to), like in English. We just say “ascolta” + the thing.
K: Another example of this is when Matteo says “ascoltiamo la conversazione” at the beginning. Literally: Let’s listen the conversation (without to).
M: So, Ascoltiamo la conversazione?
K: Si!
M: Katie, tua mamma impara l’italiano, vero?
K: Si.
M: Le dai una mano?
K: A volte si!
M: Che cosa fai?
K: Le chiedo: “che cosa fai oggi” e scambiamo un paio di parole in italiano. Poi le insegno un po’ di grammatica.
M: Come studia l’italiano?
K: Di solito ascolta un CD. E 5 minute Italian ovviamente!
Remember you can get bonus materials for today’s lesson by heading over to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scrolling down to episode 59.
That’s it from us for today, and for duemila diciotto! (2018) We’ll be back in gennaio with some more episodes of 5 minute Italian. Buone feste, happy holidays. See you next time, or as we say in Italian
M: Alla prossima!
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