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Livello Due. lunedì, il ventotto aprile. Quinta Lezione

Level Two. Monday, April 28, 2008. Fifth Lesson
-Compiti is at the bottom of this page

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-Gli argomenti: The topics.
What we did in class, and more!

-Warm-up: "Buongiorno...."
Di dov'è? - Where are you from?
Sono di qui. - I'm from here.
Che lavoro fa? - What is your job? (formal)
Qual è il suo lavoro? - What is your job? (formal)
Sono insegnante. - I am a teacher. (When you use the verb essere, you don't use the article)
Faccio l'insegnante. - I am a teacher. (With the verb fare, you do use the article.)
Come si trova qui? - How do you like it here? (lit: How do you find yourself here.)
Mi trovo benissimo! - I think it's wonderful! (lit: I find myself very well!)

-Buono, Bravo, Bello, Bene -
Buono is most often used to describe food and drink. La cena è buona. Il vino è buonissimo. Gli spaghetti sono buoni.
Buono is also used to describe people. It means "good", as in "good-hearted". Mia zia è buona.
Bravo is used to describe people. It means "able". Bravi studenti. Brava professoressa.
Bello (beautiful) can be a person, or the weather, or any thing: È un bel film. Che bella giornata! Fa bello. Che bella ragazza! È un bel posto.
Buono, Bravo, and Bello are all adjectives, and they all change their endings to agree with the nouns they modify, in gender and in number.

Bene (well) is an adverb: Sto bene. (I'm fine) Va bene. ("Things are going well": this means the same as the common English phrase "Good." or "Fine.") Bene. Molto bene. Benissimo. (Certainly. Right.) In other words, you can use "Bene" and its forms in almost any situation that's going well. Lui canta bene.
Bene does not change its ending to agree, because it modifies a verb. It can have its ending cut off, in set phrases such as, "Benvenuta, Laura!" "Bentornati, ragazzi!"

-Words to remember:
È il mio preferito. È la mia preferita. - It's my favorite.
Zinfandel è il mio vino preferito. - Zinfandel is my favorite wine.
Io e Mario andiamo in città. - Notice that in Italian, you always put "I" first in the sentence. "Mario and I are going to town."
la mia famiglia - my family
divertente - amusing, fun
in pensione - retired
la scuola primaria, la scuola elementare - elementary school
cattivo, cattiva - bad, naughty
la migliore dell'anno - the best (one) of the year. (We were speaking of the opera, feminine)
Vada! - Go! (formal "you" command)
Giri! - Turn! (formal "you" command)
Attraversi! - Cross! (formal "you" command)

-We went over your homework: possessives, modal verbs, prepositions.

- Using two verbs in a sentence with one subject. With the modal verbs (volere, potere, dovere), you can always conjugate the modal verb and use it directly before an infinitive.
Posso pagare? - May I pay?

click here for a two-way exercise we did in class (modal verbs)


With other verbs, you have to learn whether they:

don't need a preposition before the infinitive:
Preferisco cenare con voi. - I prefer to have dinner with you.

need the preposition "a" before the infinitive:
Comincio a studiare. - I am starting to study.

need the preposition "di" before the infinitive:
Penso di andare. - I'm thinking of going.

-Da: (This is not the verb dà (he gives), it is the preposition which means "from". The verb dà always has the accent mark to distinguish it from the preposition da.) In italian, to say you have been doing something that you are still doing, you use da plus the present indicative.
Da quanto tempo è in Italia, signora? Sono in Italia da un mese. - How long have you been in Italy? I've been in Italy for one month. (literally "From how much time are you in Italy? I'm in Italy from a month.")

-Expressions of time: da, per, fra / tra, fa, già

Da. Use da with the present tense, when you started something in the past and you're still doing it.

Da quanto tempo aspetta il treno? How long have you been waiting for the train?
Aspetto il treno da cinque minuti. I have been waiting for the train for five minutes.

Per.
Restiamo in Italia per tre settimane. - We are staying in Italy for three weeks.

Fra / tra. (can mean "between" when refering to position) When used with time, these mean "in":
Quando arriva il treno? Il treno arriva fra quindici minuti. The train will arrive in fifteen minutes.
It can also mean "between" (time): Arriva fra le due e le tre. - He's arriving between two and three.

These next two, "fa" and "già" we didn't cover in class, but here they are:

Fa. means "ago"
Il treno è arrivato cinque minuti fa. The train arrived fifteen minutes ago. (This is the past tense).

Già. means "already"
Il treno è già arrivato. The train has already arrived. (This is also the past tense.)

-Preposizioni:
Often, when you use the prepositions di, a, da, in, and su they will be followed by an object which needs an article:
to the restaurant
from the track
on the table
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usually, the preposition and the article are combined into a contraction:
a + il = al
Vado al ristorante. - I'm going to the restaurant.
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da + il = dal
Il treno parte dal terzo binario. - The train leaves from the third track.
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su + la = sulla
Il libro è sulla tavola. - The book is on the table.
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in + l' = nell'
Vado nell'Italia del Sud. - I'm going to southern Italy.
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Exceptions: there are many common set phrases which do not take a combined preposition + article! Mostly with in and a.
Here are some common ones:
Sono in centro. - I'm downtown. "...in centro" is a set phrase. You just have to memorize it.
Vado in montagna. - I'm going to the mountains. "...in montagna" is a set phrase.
...in cucina - in the kitchen
...in sala da pranzo - in the dining room (and other rooms of the house)
...in biblioteca - to/in the library
...in banca - to/in the bank
...in farmacia - to/in the pharmacy
...in campagna - in the countryside
...in chiesa - to/in the church
...in piazza - to/in the piazza
...in ufficio - to/in the office
...in città - to/in the city
...a casa - to/in the house
...a letto - to/in bed
...a teatro - to/in the theater
...a cena - to dinner
...a scuola - to/in school
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Attenzione: if you make your sentence more specific, you will use the combined article:
Vado in biblioteca.
Vado nella biblioteca comunale.
Sono in ufficio.
Sono nell'ufficio del direttore.
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It is not a big mistake if you do not make this distinction in conversation.

-Dove. We practiced asking for and giving directions on the map.

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-Compiti. (homework)
1. Modal verbs, and two verbs in a sentence. Page 190 and 191, Practice Set 69. Sentence number 16 has the word"ci" in it, meaning "there". We haven't studied that yet, don't worry about it.

2. Two verbs in a sentence: click here for another exercise on this topic. (answers included)

3. Le preposizioni articolate. (white handout from this week's class). Fill in the chart "Completate la tabella".
On the other side of the handout, "Osservate alcune frasi..." read this, and maybe hang it up somewhere so you can practice making up sentences from this chart and saying them out loud. (Picture yourself in the situation) Examples:
Vado in vacanza.
Sono a teatro.
Vado al cinema.
Sono da un'amico.
Vengo in aereo.
Vengo a Pisa....

4. Prepositions combined with the article. Read pages 159, 160 161. Do Practice Set 57.

5. Prepositions combined with the article. Translate these eight sentences into Italian (use the preposition "a" combined with the article for all of them). Choose from: al, ai, allo, all', agli, alla, alle. (See page 159).
(example) I'm going to the station. Vado alla stazione.

a. We're going to the opera.
b. They're going at eight o'clock.
c. There's a kitchen on the ground floor. (il pianterreno)
d. They are at the beach. (la spiaggia)
e. I give the book to the student. (dare a)
f. I give the books to the students. (dare a)
g. I answer the ladies. (rispondere a) (le signore)
h. She is phoning the boys. (telefonare a)
click here for the answers

6."Da" "tra / fra" Practice Set 53. Page 149 and 150.

7. (optional) Read the two dialogs "At the airport" on page 121 and "Che ora è?" on page 127.

Preview for next week. We will be studying the "present progressive" tense, which you can look at on pages 181, 182 for a preview.
Preview: Useful words. Page 148, 149. Look at Practice Set 51. Next week in class, you can tell me how many of these words were new to you.