In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to get around Italy on public transport, using only Italian. And you’ll practice using all those handy words and phrases for travel you’ve been learning over the last 3 lessons.
To help you remember what you learnt in today's lesson, below you'll find bonus materials like word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first...
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Bonus Materials
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today's episode.
Today's Italian words
Si può comprare un biglietto per Capri qui? = Is it possible (literally “can one”) buy a ticket for Capri here?
qui/qua = here (interchangeable)
Quanto costa un biglietto per Capri? = how much does a ticket to Capri cost? (literally = how much costs a ticket for Capri?)
Quanto tempo ci mette? = How long does it take?
A che ora torna l’ultima? = What time does the last one come back? (literally = what time returns the last one?)
Take the Quiz!
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to get around Italy on public transport
Italian flashcards
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
- Download the flashcards: Travel around Italy on trains, trams, buses and boats!
- Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial.
Transcript
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to get around Italy on public transport, using only Italian. And you’ll practice using all the handy words and phrases for travel we’ve been learning over the last 3 lessons. Find out more, in episode 33 of 5 minute Italian.
Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 minute Italian, hi everyone and welcome to 5 minute Italian. I’m Katie…
Matteo: And I’m Matteo. Ciao.
K: Today, we’re going to review the words and phrases we’ve learnt over the last 3 lessons, to help us get around Italy on public transport. Today we’re going to use the example of a boat, but these are phrases that will be useful in any kind of transport. So let’s get started.
M: Cominciamo.
K: Let’s imagine you’re in Naples. And you want to get the boat over to Capri. You’re at the port and you see loads of ticket counters, and you’re not sure which is the right one. You go up to one of the kiosks and you want to ask, “is it possible to buy a ticket to Capri here?”. Remember in Italian, to ask if something is possible, they often speak like the queen of England, that is, they literally say, can one buy a ticket. Can you remember how to say “can one”?
M: Si può?
K: And can you remember how do you say buy a ticket?
M: Comprare un biglietto.
K: What about “to Capri”? Last week we learnt that Italians use the word per (which means for) instead of the word “to” when they talk about a destination. We learnt the phrase “un biglietto per Bologna”, literally, a ticket for Bologna. So how would you say “a ticket for Capri”?
M: Un biglietto per Capri.
K: And finally, can you remember how to say “here”?
M: Qui. You can also say qua. Qui and qua are interchangeable - they both mean “here”.
K: So let’s put that all together. How would you say “is it possible to buy a ticket to Capri here” literally: “can one buy a ticket for Capri here”
M: Si può comprare un biglietto per Capri qui?
You can also say: Si può comprare un biglietto per Capri qua?
K: And how would you say “how much does a ticket for Capri cost?
M: Quanto costa un biglietto per Capri?
K: And how would you ask: “when does it leave?” Italians would literally say “when does it part?”
M: Quando parte?
K: The person behind the counter says: "at quarter past 10". Can you remember how to say that in Italian? Remember that Italians literally say “at the ten and a quarter”.
M: Alle dieci e un quarto
K: Now you want to know how long it takes. Can you remember how to say “how long does it take” in Italian?
M: Quanto tempo ci mette?
K: Let’s imagine it takes 40 minutes. How would you say that?
M: Quaranta minuti.
K: Now there’s another very important question. If we’re doing a little day trip on a train, bus or boat, we’ll need to to find out when the last one comes back, so we don’t get stuck there. To come back, Italians often use the word torna, which means "return". In fact, to ask this question, Italians would literally say “what time returns the last one?”. So let’s start with the first part. Can you remember how to ask what time? Literally “at what hour”
M: A che ora.
K: Then let’s add the next word “return”
M: A che ora torna
K: To say “the last,” we say l’ultima. In this case, ultima finishes with an “a” because we’re talking about a feminine noun la barca. But if we were talking about a masculine word, like "train" (treno) or bus (autobus), we’d say l’ultimo. So how would we ask when does the last one come back - literally “when returns the last one”, talking about a boat?
M: A che ora torna l’ultima?
K: Now let’s be really specific, so we know we’re talking about the right direction. So let’s add “for Naples” at the end.
M: A che ora torna l’ultima per Napoli?
K: That’s it for today, if you feel like you need a little more practice with these phrases, you can go back and review episodes 29 - 32.
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following the link below. Grazie, and ciao for now, see you next time, or as we say in Italian, alla prossima!
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