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Livello due. martedì, il tredici ottobre. Quarta Lezione.

Level two. Tuesday, October 13, 2008. Fourth lesson.


-compiti (homework) is at the bottom of this page.

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-Gli argomenti (the topics): What we did in class, and more.

-Warmup: Dialogue: "Mi trovo benissimo!"
Buongiorno.  Posso aiutarLa?
 Buongiorno.  No, grazie, sto bene.
Di dov’è?
 Sono americano (americana).
Sono di qui.  Come si trova qui?
 Mi trovo benissimo. È bellissimo qui.
 
 La gente è molto simpatica.
Si diverte?
 Mi diverto moltissimo.
Benissimo!  Buonviaggio.
 Grazie.  Ciao.

-Verb quiz. We conjugated dovere (to have to) and venire (to come)


-Two verbs in a sentence: In English, you would say:
"I forgot to tell you..."
"I'm waiting to go..."
"I'm learning to speak Italian."
"We're trying to leave tomorrow."
"They're learning to play the violin."
"She's helping her mother wash the cat."

In Italian, when you have two verbs in a sentence, you conjugate the first one, sometimes add a preposition, then use the infinitive of the second verb. The first verb determines whether or not you use a preposition, and which preposition to use:
Voglio andare. - I want to go. (volere doesn't require a preposition before the infinitive)
Comincio a lavorare. - I'm starting to work. (cominciare takes "a" before the infinitive)
Finisco di pranzare. - I'm finishing eating lunch. (finire takes "di" before the infinitive)
You will just need to memorize these. Also see page 190.
click here for some examples of two verbs in a sentence.


-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
_
usually, the preposition and the article are combined into a contraction:
a + il = al
Vado al ristorante. - I'm going to the restaurant.
_
da + il = dal
Il treno parte dal terzo binario. - The train leaves from the third track.
_
su + la = sulla
Il libro è sulla tavola. - The book is on the table.
_
in + l' = nell'
Vado nell'Italia del Sud. - I'm going to southern Italy.
_
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
_
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.
_
It is not a big mistake if you do not make this distinction in conversation.

-Preposizioni:
besides "from" , da plus a person's name or title can mean "at the place of".
Andiamo da Mario. - Let's go to Mario's place.
Devo andare dal dottore. - I have to go to the doctor's.

Combined prepositions: Which verbs require which prepositions. Which situations require an article.

Here are just a few of the many ways to use combined prepositions.

Andare can take a plus an article: I go to the...

  • Vado alla spiaggia. - (I go to the beach) or (I am going to the beach)
  • Vado all'albergo. - I'm going to the hotel.
  • Vado al cinema. - I'm going to the cinema.
  • Vado al parco. - I'm going to the park.
  • Vado alla stazione. - I'm going to the station.
  • Vado alle dieci. - I'm going at ten o'clock.
  • Vado a Firenze. (city doesn't take the article) - I'm going to Florence.

Entrare takes in , often with an article: I go into the...

  • Entro nel museo. - I'm going into the museum.
  • Entro nello stadio. - I'm going into the stadium.
  • Entro nell'ufficio. - I'm going into the office.
  • Entro nel negozio. - I'm going into the store.
  • Entro nella banca. - I'm going into the bank.

Venire can take da , often with an article: I'm coming from... (or) I come from...

  • Vengo dalla stazione. - I'm coming from the station.
  • Vengo dagli Stati Uniti. - I come from the United States. (or) I'm coming from the United States.
  • Vengo dall'Italia. - I come from Italy. (or) I'm coming from Italy.
  • Vengo dalla Francia. - I come from France. (or) I'm coming from France.
  • Vengo da Firenze. (city doesn't take the article) - I come from Florence. (or) I'm coming from Florence.

Remember, when you're going to a country, or you are in a country, the preposition is in
Vado in Italia.
Sono in Canada.
When you're going to a city, or you are in a city, the preposition is a
Vado a Roma.
Vado a Toronto.


-verbs which take a preposition in English, but not in Italian:
Cerchiamo Mario. - We're looking for Mario.
Luisa aspetta il treno. - Luisa is waiting for the train
Ascolto la musica. - I'm listening to the music.
(more listed on page 79)

-verbs which don't take a preposition in English, but which do in Italian:
Gioco a calcio. - I play soccer.
Entro nell'albergo. - I'm entering the hotel.
(more listed on pages 80, 99, 100)


- Passato prossimo. This compound past tense translates several different English past tenses. For example:
"Ho studiato la lezione". - can mean:
1. I studied the lesson.
2. I did study the lesson.
3. I have studied the lesson.

Ho bevuto il caffè. (irregular past participle)
Ho mangiato la mela.
Tu hai visto il film. (irregular past participle)
Loro hanno preso la metropolitana. (irregular past participle)
.
To say something in the past with a transitive verb, conjugate the verb avere, and add the past participle.

Regular past participles:
-are__ -ato ___parlato, cercato, mangiato, pagato, portato...
-ere__-uto ___creduto, venduto, cresciuto...
-ire__-ito ____finito, sentito, capito,...

There are also many irregular past participles which you will need to memorize. See page 216 for a few of them.

- Sentence building exercise, passato prossimo: We used the notecards to construct sentences: "ho" "noleggiato" "la" "macchina".


- "Strega commanda color..." We played this game of tag.

- "Penso a..." (I'm thinking of...) We played this game of describing a person, place, or thing.

-Parole da ricordare (Words to remember)

andare a trovare - to go visit someone
venire a trovare - to come visit someone
avere ragione - to be right (a person)
avere torto - to be wrong (a person)
è giusto - it's right
è sbagliato - it's wrong
Aiutatemi! - Help me! (you, plural)
raccontare - to tell a story, to relate
morto/a/i/e - dead
vivo/a/i/e - alive
un pasto - a meal
una pasta - a pastry, a pasta, a dough
soldi - (plural) money
denaro - (singular) money
noleggiare - to rent (car, bicycle, DVD...)
affittare - to rent (house, apartment, villa, castello...)
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-Handouts. These are the handouts for this week:
12. (pink) Preposizioni
13. (green) "Quanto costa?" dialogues.
14. (yellow) Reading
15. (ivory) Oggi, ieri. (passato prossimo with avere)
Click here for the complete list of the handouts you should have this term.
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-Compiti
1. verbs. Page 79, 80. Read this, and read about pensare. Do the exercises in Practice Set 22.

2.passato prossimo: (ivory handout) You have two weeks to do the four sides of this handout. Some of these verbs are irregular in the present tense, and some have irregular past participles. Everyone should have a Verb Book (The Big Green Book of Italian Verbs, or 501 Italian Verbs, or you can look online at WordReference.com)

3. passato prossimo. Read, starting at the bottom of Page 213 in the book. Do Practice Sets 83 and 84.

4. Prepositions. Read (carefully), starting at page 159. Do Practice Set 57.

5. Preposizioni. (pink handout) Write ten original sentences based on side 1, and two more sentences based on side 2, on a piece of paper to hand in. You can get creative if you like. You could make the sentences into a story. On side 2, the very last section is called "Il Partitivo". We'll study that next week.
I also want you to finish the chart: "Le Preposizioni Articolate".

6. Reading:(yellow handout) Read the handout, and see if you can answer the questions.

7. "Quanto costa?" dialogues. I don't think that everyone had time to arrange who will be in which dialogues next week. So I'm going to assign you your roles:
1. Lucia: MaryLynn
Bigliettaia: Cyndie
2. Lucia: Sharon
Negoziante: Diana
3. Paola: Keiko
Agente: Michelle
4. Marco: Mary
Tabaccaia: Cyndie

Preview for next week: Read the purple handout from last week: "Scusi, c'è un bagno qui?" We'll use this two-way translation as the warm-up in class next week.
MaryLynn will present body parts vocabolario for next week.