In this episode, you’ll learn about my favourite Italian word of all time, that isn’t even really a word, it’s more like a sound: Boh! But what does it mean?
Find out in episode #79 of five minute Italian
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Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie.
Matteo: And I’m Matteo. Ciao!
K: Sono contenta – I’m happy because today’s episode is all about my favourite word in Italian, boh! Listen to this very common conversation in our house and see if you can figure out the meaning:
M: Cosa mangiamo a pranzo?
K: Boh! Cosa mangiamo a cena?
M: Boh!
K: So the first sentence you heard was:
M: Cosa mangiamo a pranzo?
K: What shall we have for lunch? Literally:
M:
Cosa = what
Mangiamo = we eat
A = at
Pranzo = lunch
K: And the answer was:
M: Boh!
K: Which is an informal way of saying “I don’t know!”. The closest translation is probably “I dunno”. As a foreigner I find something really satisfying about this sound – you can shrug your shoulders in a very Italian way, make a face as if you don’t really mind and say “boh!”. What do you think, Matteo? Is it even a word?
M: No, it’s a sound – but Italians use it all the time. If you want to say “I don’t know” in a more formal way, you can say the phrase “Non lo so”. Which is literally:
Non = not
Lo = it
So = I know
But if you want to sound really Italian with your friends, try this one: “boh!”
K: So the first question was “cosa mangiamo a pranzo” (what shall we eat for lunch) and the answer was “boh!” Then quite predictably, the other conversation you heard that happens a lot in our house is:
M: Cosa mangiamo a cena?
Cosa = what
Mangiamo = we eat
A = at
Cena = dinner
K: And the answer:
M: Boh!
K: Boh! I dunno, boh!
Another example is:
M: Cosa guardiamo?
K: Boh!
K: Cosa guardiamo, means “what shall we watch”? And this is another conversation that happens a lot in our house. Literally:
M:
Cosa = what
Guardiamo = we watch
K: And the answer
M: Boh!
This word is also quite useful to start to understand some of the differences between English and Italian sounds. Because if we were to pronounce this word in English, we’d probably say something like “boh” – like the sound oh (o – h), but with a B in front. And there are two main differences.
M: The first is that in English, the B is a lot softer.
K: Yeah, in English, we’d say a little light “b”.
M: The Italian B is really strong.
K: Listen for example, in boh, bottiglia, banana. Can you say those words for us Matteo, with the strong b so that we get the native pronunciation?
M:
Boh = I dunno
Bottiglia = bottle
Banana = which is obviously, banana.
Practice saying them after Matteo, making the b nice and strong.
M: Boh… bottiglia … banana
K: Then the next difference is that in English, when we pronounce the oh, we often have two sounds like an “o” and a “u”. Oouuu. For example in the word “go” or “toe”. Italians don’t do this.
M: Listen, for example, to the word “boh”. It’s just one long strong sound. Boh.
K: Let’s listen to some more examples:
M: Quattro
K: Which is the number four. Listen to the last sound – it’s not quattro, with an ou sound as we’d have in English, it’s just one long o sound.
M: Quattro.
K: Another example is:
M: Mano, which means “hand”.
K: Listen carefully again to the last letter:
M: Ma – no. Mano.
K: Now listen to Matteo again, and try to practice making the same sound:
M: Boh, quattro, mano.
K: That’s it for today, if you’d like to see all this stuff written down, on our website you’ll find the transcripts for this episode and other bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards to help you remember the phrases. Go to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 79. You can also practice chatting Italian with us in our facebook group, you can find the link in the show notes.
See you next time, or as we say in Italian
Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
What does casino mean in Italian? It might not be what you think
Have you ever heard the word “magari” and wondered what it meant? The confusion can come from the fact that it actually has 2 very different meanings. Once you know them, it’s simple.
And if this word is new to you, it’s well worth learning because Italians use it all the time.
Learn more in episode #78 of five minute Italian
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: What does “magari” mean?
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie.
Matteo: And I’m Matteo. Ciao!
K: In today’s episode, we’re talking about a word that Italians use all the time: “magari”. I remember when I first came to Italy, I found this word very confusing because I heard Italians using it all the time, but I couldn’t pin it down to one thing. Then when I asked Italians what it meant, they had a hard time too, so it became this mystical word which felt very difficult to translate.
Since then, I’ve realised that the reason it can seem so complicated is that it actually has two quite different meanings. When you learn them separately,, it’s fairly straight forward. Let’s give you some examples, and see if you can work it out.
M: Cosa fai stasera?
K: Magari esco con le amiche.
K: Again, Matteo asked:
M: Cosa fai stasera?
K: What are you doing this evening? Word for word:
M:
Cosa = what
Fai = you do
Stasera = this evening
K: And I said: Magari esco con le amiche. Magari I’m going out with friends. What do you think magari means here? Magari esco con le amiche. Magari I’m going out with friends. Can you guess? It means “maybe”. So here’s that whole sentence again:
M:
Magari = maybe
Esco = I go out
Con = with
Le amiche = the female friends.
K: So that’s the first and most common meaning of the word “magari”. It means maybe. You might have also heard “forse”. In this situation, they’re interchangeable. So you could say “magari esco con le amiche” or “forse esco con le amiche”. Let’s hear some more examples:
M: Ho mal di testa
K: Magari è perché hai bevuto troppo whiskey ieri sera
So Matteo said:
M: Ho mal di testa
K: I have a headache. Literally:
M:
Ho = I have
Mal = bad
Di = of
Testa = head
K: So that’s the rather cute way Italians say headache “mal di testa”. Then you heard:
M: Magari è perché hai bevuto troppo whiskey ieri sera
K: Maybe it’s because you drank too much whiskey last night
M:
Magari = maybe
È = it is
Perché = because
Hai = you have
Bevuto = drunk
Troppo = too much
Whiskey = Whiskey
Ieri = yesterday
Sera = evening
K: Just like in English, sometimes “maybe” or in Italian “magari” is an informal way to say “preferably”.
M: Chiamami domani, magari non troppo presto.
K: Call me tomorrow, preferably not too early. Literally:
M:
Chiamami = call me
Domani = tomorrow
Magari = maybe, preferably
Non = not
Troppo = too
Presto = early
Sometimes it’s a bit like saying maybe we should, or maybe we shouldn’t. For example:
M: Magari non bere così tanto whiskey la prossima volta
K: Maybe don’t drink so much whiskey next time (maybe you shouldn’t drink so much whiskey next time)
M:
Magari = maybe
Non bere = don’t drink
Così tanto = so much
Whiskey = Whiskey
La prossima = the next
Volta = time
K: So the first meaning is “maybe”. Let’s move on to the second, less common meaning. Listen to the dialogue and see if you can work it out.
M: Sabato vinceremo la lotteria
K: Magari!
K: Matteo said “Sabato vinceremo la lotteria.” On Saturday, we’ll win the lottery.
M:
Sabato = Saturday
Vinceremo = we’ll win
la lotteria = the lottery
And I rather incredulously said “Magari”. What do you think it means in this situation? The closest translation is “if only” “I wish” or as we say in British English: “chance would be a fine thing!”. So we use it for something that we would love to happen, but we think is pretty unlikely. Here are some more examples:
M: Oggi è venerdì?
K: Magari! È solo giovedì.
K: So Matteo said: “oggi è venerdì”? Is it Friday?
M:
Oggi = today
È = is
Venerdì = Friday
K: Then I said “Magari”, which in this case is like “if only” ,“I wish”. Because today is only Thursday:
M:
Magari = I wish!
È = it’s
Solo = only
Giovedì = Thursday
K: Time for a quick recap – The word magari has two main meanings. The first one is “maybe” and the second one is “I wish” and “if only”
If you’re like me and you find it useful to see all this stuff written down, on our website you’ll find the transcripts and other bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards to help you remember the phrases from today’s lesson. Go to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 78. You can also practice chatting Italian with us in our facebook group, you can find the link in the show notes.
See you next time, or as we say in Italian
Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Fare: the magic verb that will help you sound more Italian
How to say I love you in Italian (and avoid an embarrassing mistake)
What does casino mean in Italian? It might not be what you think
This week, we’ve got a special guest back with us, Italian Stefano. He speaks loads of languages, so he’s going to give us his tips on how to speak Italian this year.
Learn more in episode #77 of five minute Italian
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to practice speaking Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Please note that this is not a word for word transcript – in the podcast you’ll get lots more practical tips on how to apply these ideas to your Italian study sessions.
Per imparare a parlare l’italiano, bisogna usarlo! Ecco tre suggerimenti su come fare.
Per fare pratica…
Numero 1: Si può parlare da soli.
Numero 2: Si possono cercare persone con cui parlare di persona, oppure online
Numero 3: Si può viaggiare.
K: So the first line was:
S: Per imparare a parlare l’italiano, bisogna usarlo!
K: To learn to speak Italian, you need to use it!
S:
Per = in order to
Imparare = learn
A = to
Parlare = speak
L’italiano = Italian
Bisogna = you need to, lit. it’s necessary to
Usarlo = use it
K: Next
S: Ecco tre suggerimenti su come fare.
K:
Ecco = here are
Tre = three
suggerimenti = suggestions
Su = about
Come = how
Fare = to do it (lit. to do)
S: Per fare pratica…
K: To practice
S:
Per = in order to
Fare = to do
Pratica = practice
K: Now let’s get into the tips. The first suggestion was:
S: Si può parlare da soli
K: You can speak to yourself. Now let’s look at the literal translation, because there’s something interesting in there
S:
Si può = one can
Parlare = speak
Da soli = alone
K: So we can see that sometimes, to say “to yourself” in Italian, you can simply say “alone”. But perhaps more interesting here is the “si può”, which literally means “one can”. This structure sounds very antiquated in English, a little like how the queen speaks, but Italians use this “one can” all the time, so it’s important to get used to it.
K: Then numero due was:
S: Si possono cercare persone con cui parlare di persona, oppure online
K: You can look for people to speak to in person, or online. Here’s another example of how Italian uses these more antiquated structures, because we get this “with whom” in the middle. It’s literally:
S:
Si possono = one can, for when the thing is plural (more on this soon)
Cercare = look for
Persone = people
Con = with
Cui = whom
Parlare = to speak
Di persona = in person
Oppure = or
Online = which is of course, online.
K: This time, instead of “si può”, we have “si possono”. Why is that?
S: Basically because the thing that follows is a plural noun. For example:
In Italia, si può mangiare la pizza
In Italia, si possono mangiare gli spaghetti (in Italian, gli spaghetti is plural).
K: And the last one, numero tre…
S: Si può viaggiare.
K. You can travel. Literally one can travel. So here again, we see this “si può”
S: To make the negative, you can also add “non”.
Non si può = you can’t (lit. one can’t)
K: And being in the country can be really helpful, but there are loads of pitfalls. Some that I’ve had are: feeling shy or a bit silly or childlike, or maybe even like you’re putting a burden on the other person because the conversation is really slow. And of course the fact that everyone speaks English to you. One way to mitigate these problems that I’ve found useful in the past is to simply say “can we speak Italian, I’d like to learn”. That way you immediately get people on your side, lots of people will be happy to hear that you’re learning Italian and also happy to help. Obviously, if you ask in Italian, it’s even better:
S: Possiamo parlare in italiano? Vorrei imparare!
Possiamo = can we
Parlare = to speak
In = in
Italiano = italian
Vorrei = I’d like
Imparare = to learn
That’s it for today, I hope you found this episode useful and these ideas will help you make some progress in speaking Italian this year. Grazie Stefano!
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How to learn Italian: tips from an Italian teacher who speaks 10 languages
Do you know how to say “it makes sense” in Italian? It’s one of those phrases that you need to be a little bit careful with because it’s easy to end up saying something totally different by accident!
Learn more in episode #76 of five minute Italian
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say “it makes sense” in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
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Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie.
Matteo: And I’m Matteo. Ciao!
K: Recently we’ve been looking at ways to agree in Italian. It’s really handy to have these little phrases in your Italian toolkit because they help you keep the conversation going smoothly.
M: Today we’re going to learn how to say “it makes sense”
K: And you have to be a bit careful with this one because one little slip and you could end up saying something totally different!
M: To learn how to say it, let’s start by listening to a phrase Katie often says when she’s trying to file her taxes in Italy:
M: Ma non ha senso!
K: But it doesn’t make sense! When you’re navigating the Italian tax system, the struggle is real. Word for word, that’s:
Non = used to make a sentence negative
Ha = has
Senso = sense
K: We know that to make a sentence negative, we add “non” to the beginning. So let’s zoom in on the last part. To say “it makes sense” we say “ha senso”. Which is literally “it has sense”. So if you’re agreeing with someone, you can say:
M: Sì sì sì, ha senso, ha senso.
K: Italians like to repeat for emphasis so we get yes yes yes, it makes sense, it makes sense. Ha = it has, senso = sense. Now, it’s important to remember to use “have” and not just translate the phrase directly, as this can lead you down the wrong path. Do you know how to say “it does” or “it makes” in Italian?
M: Remember that do and make are the same in Italian – we say “fare”. To say “it makes”, we say “fa”.
K: And we don’t want to say this, because the expression “fa senso” exists in Italian, but it actually means “it’s gross” or “it makes me cringe”. For example, you can say:
M: Il sangue mi fa senso
K: Il sangue is “blood”, so if you say “il sangue mi fa senso” you’re saying “blood makes me cringe”. Another example is, if you’re vegetarian, you could say:
M: La carne mi fa senso
K: Which means something like “meat makes me cringe” or “I find meat gross or disgusting”.
And here, you can see how it’s very easy to make this mistake in Italian. You don’t want to say to someone “la tua idea fa senso”, which would mean… I find your idea disgusting.
If you want to agree with someone and say “your idea makes sense” you actually have to say “your idea has sense”
M: La tua idea ha senso.
K: So to say “it makes sense” we say “ha senso”.
K: For a quick review, can you remember the other ways to agree in Italian? We had “I agree” which is literally “I am of accord”
M: Sono d’accordo
K: And we also looked at “you’re right”, literally “you have reason”
M: Hai ragione
K: If you’re like me and you find it useful to see all this stuff written down, on our website you’ll find the transcripts and other bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards to help you remember the phrases from today’s lesson. Go to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 76. You can also practice chatting Italian with us in our facebook group, you can find the link in the show notes.
See you next time, or as we say in Italian
Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Do you know how to say “you’re right” in Italian?
As we started talking about last week, Italian has some funny expressions with “have”. In this lesson, you’ll learn a really important one: to be right, or literally, to “have reason”.
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say “you’re right” in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
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Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao!
K: Last week, we started talking about some funny expressions with “have” in Italian. For example, in Italian, we don’t say “I am hungry”. We say “I have hunger”.
M: Ho fame
And I don’t say “I am my age” for example, I am thirty-six, I say I “have” my age: Ho trenta-sei anni
K: In this episode, we’re going to look at another really useful phrase that follows the same logic.
K: Let’s listen to a mini conversation that happens often in our house…
Hai ragione
M: Lo so, ho sempre ragione
Whenever I say to Matteo “you’re right” (hai ragione) he always likes to reply with:
M: “I know, I’m always right”.
K: That’s why I try not to say it that often. To say you’re right, Italians literally say “you have reason”.
M: Hai ragione
K: Word for word, that’s:
M:
Hai = you have
Ragione = reason
K: So thats you have, “hai” spelt h, a, i, but the h is silent.
M: Hai
K: Then ragione, spelt r-a-g-i-o-n-e
M: Ragione
K: Let’s break down the reply too:
M:
Lo so = I know
Ho = I have
Sempre = always
Ragione = reason
K: So to say “I’m right” we say “I have reason”
M: Ho ragione
K: That’s I have, spelt h-o, but the h is silent.
K: And to say “you’re right”, we say “you have reason”
M: Hai ragione
K: How would we say it for other people? If you know the forms of have (avere), it’s simple. If you don’t, no problem, we’ll do a quick review. How do we say “he or she has” in Italian?
M: Ha
K: Spelt h – a, but the h is silent. So how would you say “he’s right” or “she’s right” literally he or she has reason?
M: Ha ragione
K: And how do we say “we have”?
M: Abbiamo
K: Spelt a-b-b-i-a-m-o. We’re right, or we have reason?
M: Abbiamo ragione
K: In Italian, we have a “you plural” form, which we use when we’re speaking to two or more people, a bit like saying “you both” or “you all” or even “y’all” or youse, if you have that form in your dialect. You have in the plural would be:
M: Avete
K: Spelt a – v- e- t- e. You all/both are right?
M: Avete ragione
K: Finally, they have?
M: Hanno
K: Spelt h-a-n-n-o but the h is silent. They’re right?
M: Hanno ragione
K: Now we have a little favour to ask – if you’re enjoying these podcasts, please head over to itunes and write us nice review as this helps us reach more students. To do this, you can click on the link in the show notes, listen on apple podcasts, then when it opens up itunes, click on “write a review” and you should be good to go.
Grazie to everyone who’s been in touch via reviews or emails – we really do love to hear from you, it makes our day!
If you’re like me and you find it useful to see all this stuff written down, on our website you’ll find the transcripts and other bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards to help you remember the phrases from today’s lesson. Go to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 75.
See you next time, or as we say in Italian
Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Do you have hunger?
Languages don’t always express things in the same way, and this little phrase is a great example.
Italians aren’t hungry, they have hunger.
Learn more expressions with “have” in episode 74 of 5 Minute Italian.
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say I’m hungry
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao! Let’s listen to a conversation we have almost every day.
K: Matteo, ho fame.
M: Hai sempre fame.
K: Sì, ma adesso ho molta fame.
M: Anch’io ho fame. Allora mangiamo qualcosa?
K: In that little conversation, you heard the expression “ho fame”, which means “I’m hungry”. Literally, it’s:
M:
Ho = I have (spelt h o, but the h is silent)
Fame = hunger
K: So Italians don’t say “I’m hungry”, they say “I have hunger”. Ho fame. Next you heard:
M: Hai sempre fame
K: You’re always hungry. Literally:
M:
Hai = you have (spelt h-a-i, but the h is silent)
sempre = always
fame = hunger
So following the pattern, to say “you’re hungry” we say “you have hunger” hai fame. Then you heard:
M: Sì, ma adesso ho molta fame
K: Which means “yes, but now I’m really hungry”. Literally:
Sì = yes
Ma = but
Adesso = now
Ho = I have
Molta = lots of
Fame = hunger
K: So because in Italian, we say “I have hunger”, to say “I’m really hungry”, we literally say “ho molta fame”. We say molta with an a at the end, because fame (hunger) is a feminine noun, la fame. Next you heard:
M: Anch’io ho fame
K: I’m hungry too. Literally:
M:
Anch’io = also I
Ho = I have
Fame = hunger
M: Allora mangiamo qualcosa?
K: So shall we eat something?
M:
Allora = so/well/then (depending on the context)
Mangiamo = we eat/let’s eat
Qualcosa = something
K: So we know how to say “I’m hungry”, literally “I have hunger”
M: Ho fame
K: And “you’re hungry”. Literally “you have hunger”.
M: Hai fame
K: What about the other people. How do you say “he/she has”
M: Ha
K: Spelt (h – a) but the h is silent. We’ve got lots of silent letters in this episode, so if you want to see it all written down you can head over to our website, we’ll give you the details at the end. So He/she has is “ha”. How would you say “he or she is hungry” (has hunger)
M: Ha fame.
K: And how do you say “we have”?
M: Abbiamo
K: We’re hungry (we have hunger)
M: Abbiamo fame
K: Now Italian has a plural you for speaking to more than one person. How do you say “you plural have”
M: Avete
K: Imagine you’re with a group of people. How would you ask “are you hungry” literally: you have hunger?
M: Avete fame?
K: Finally they have.
M: Hanno
K: Spelt h-a-n-n-o. The h is always silent in Italian: hanno. They’re hungry (they have hunger)
M: Hanno fame.
K: Interestingly, there are a few other expressions that have the same structure in Italian. For example, to say “I’m patient”, we literally say “I have patience”
M: Ho pazienza
K: To say “I’m afraid”, we say “I have fear”
M: Ho paura
K: Then, you may have come across this one before. To talk about ages, I don’t say “I am 33”, but rather “I have 33 years”
M: Ho trentatre anni
K: That’s for me, I have thirty three years: ho trentatre anni. And then I can ask Matteo: Quanti anni hai? Let’s break that down:
M:
Quanti = how many
Anni = years
Hai = you have
Quanti anni hai? = how many years do you have (how old are you).
K: So Matteo, quanti anni hai?
M: Ho 36 anni
K: Did you get that? He said “ho” (I have) trentasei anni (36 years)
K: If you enjoyed this episode, per favore, head over to itunes and give us a nice review – it’s really important as this helps other people find these Italian lessons too. Grazie in advance.
And as we mentioned before, we had a lot of silent letters in this one, so to see the words and expressions from today’s lesson head over to our website joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 74. You’ll also get bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards. And you can join our Facebook group by going to facebook.com/groups/5.minute.italian/, where you’ll find our fab community who practises chatting in Italian together.
Ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Fare: the magic little word that will help you sound more Italian
Do you agree?
Italians have a funny way of saying this – but there’s an easy way to remember it. Find out more in episode 73 of 5 Minute Italian.
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say I agree in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao!
K: And in today’s lesson, you’ll learn one of those really useful little phrases that you’ll find yourself saying all the time “I agree”. It’s different compared to in English, but it’s similar enough to be able to remember quite easily.
M: Sono d’accordo. Sei d’accordo?
K: Sì, sono d’accordo. Sei d’accordo?
M: No, non sono d’accordo.
K: In that silly little conversation, you heard lots of examples of how to say “I agree”. To say “I agree” in Italian, we say:
M: Sono d’accordo.
K: Let’s break it down. The first word of this expression is “sono”. Which means “I am”.
M: Sono.
K: Then we’ve got the next part of the phrase:
M: d’accordo
K: Which is a d followed by an apostrophe. D – apostrophe – accordo. Di means “of” and accordo means accord. So taken together, it means “of accord”
M: Let’s listen to the phrase again: Sono d’accordo
K: Sono = I am; D’accordo = of accord. So Italians literally say “I am of accord”.
M: So the next time you want to say “I agree” in Italian, just think “I am of accord”. Sono d’accordo.
K: And there are a couple of interesting little things to say about this phrase. The first is the d apostrophe.
M: This happens because when you have the word “di” before a vowel, you can change the i into an apostrophe.
K: And if you’re thinking right about now that it would be nice to see this written down, you’ll find the transcript by going to our website, you’ll find details at the end of the episode.
M: So the rule is: when you have di before a vowel, like the a in accordo, you can use d apostrophe if you like. In most cases it’s optional, but when you have fixed phrases like “d’accordo”, the d apostrophe is the standard form.
K: The second thing is that normally when you say “sono” as in “I am”, the describing word that comes after has to agree with the gender of the person.
M: For example, an American man would say “sono Americano”, while a woman would say “sono AmericanA”.
K: But this doesn’t happen with this phrase. Because we have the “di” in the middle. So I’m not assigning a quality to myself, like with a nationality. I’m talking about a thing – a bit like saying “I’m of the opinion.” So we know how to say “I agree” or “I am of accord” which is:
M: Sono d’accordo.
K: How would you say “I don’t agree”?
M: Non sono d’accordo.
K: And there are all the other people as well, so you agree. All you need to do is change the first word. In the first one, we have “I am d’accordo”, which is “sono d’accordo”. How would you say “you are”
M: Sei
K: So you agree (literally, you are of accord)
M: Sei d’accordo.
K: And you can ask this as a question, like you heard at the beginning:
M: Sei d’accordo?
M: How do you say “he/she is”
M: è
K: So he or she agrees would be:
M: è d’accordo
K: And how do you say “we are”?
M: Siamo.
K: We agree:
M: Siamo d’accordo.
K: Then in Italian we’ve got the you plural, which is a bit like saying “you all” or “you both are”. Do you know how to say this in Italian?
M: Siete
K: You all/both agree
M: Siete d’accordo
K: And finally “they are” which is handy because it’s exactly the same as “I am”:
M: Sono
K: They agree
M: Sono d’accordo.
K: To make sure you remember how to say “I agree” in Italian, head over to our website joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 73. You’ll see all of this written down and get bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards. And you can join our Facebook group by going to facebook.com/groups/5.minute.italian/, where you’ll find our fab community who practises chatting in Italian together.
Ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Do you know the difference between eggs and grapes in Italian?
It should be simple, but it’s easy to mix them up.
Learn how to differentiate these words (and avoid making an embarrassing mistake) in episode 72 of 5 minute Italian.
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Eggs or grapes?
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao!
Katie: And in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about two words which sound similar in Italian: eggs and grapes. It’s kind of cruel, because they’re very easy to get mixed up, but as you can imagine, it can sound quite silly! Let’s get started.
M: Cominciamo.
K: Do you know how to say “egg” in Italian?
M: Uovo
K: That’s 3 syllables: oooo – wo – vo. oooo – wo – vo. (uovo). Now in Italian, the plural of eggs is a bit crazy – it doesn’t follow the rules at all.
M: In the singular, “uovo” is masculine. Un uovo.
K: If you want to see this written down, you can get the transcript by going to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scrolling down to this episode. So in the singular, egg is masculine. L’uovo. What happens in the plural?
M: It becomes feminine. But there is something else strange. The last letter changes to “a”. So we get due uova.
K: Don’t stress too much about the logic of this, because it’s very irregular. Just remember that to say one egg, we say “un uovo” and to say “two eggs” we say “due uova”. And this is where the confusion with grapes comes in. How do we say “grapes” in Italian Matteo?
M: Uva
K: That’s two syllables: oooo – vaaa. oooo – vaaa. And the interesting thing about grapes is that they’re not plural in Italian. They’re treated like one thing. A bit like how we say rice or pasta, even though they’re made up of lots of little pieces, we don’t say rices, or pastas. In Italian, grapes are like that – they’re treated like one mass. Uva. Next, we almost always say “the” in Italian, so we’d say “the grapes” rather than just “grapes”. Uva starts with a vowel. To say “the” before a word which starts with a vowel, we say “l” plus apostrophe. L’. So to say the grapes, we get:
M: L’uva.
K: Now let’s learn a little trick to differentiate: uovo (egg) uova (eggs) and uva (grapes). It’s a little bit silly, but the sillier something is, the more memorable it is, so let’s give it a go.
Uovo and uova (egg and eggs) start with a wo sound. So you can imagine a chicken laying a huge egg. You look at the giant egg, and you say “woooahhh!”
Next, let’s imagine grapes. Uva. Grapes are fancy, you can imagine all these fancy pictures of Romans being fed grapes. You see someone being fed grapes, and you could say “ooooh fancy”. And that will remind you that the first sound for grapes is “ooooo”. Uva.
M: Let’s hear the words one more time.
K: How do you say “egg”? Imagine seeing a huge chicken egg.
M: Uovo.
K: Eggs?
M: Uova. With an -a. Uova.
K: How do you say grapes. Imagine looking at a painting of someone being fed grapes. Oooh fancy.
M: Uva.
K: To make sure you remember the difference between “grapes” and “eggs” head over to our website joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 72. You’ll see all of this written down and get bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards. And you can join our Facebook group by going to facebook.com/groups/5.minute.italian/, where you’ll find our fab community who practises chatting in Italian together.
Ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Did you know? Italian has two different words for jealous: geloso and invidioso.
But watch out, because they’re not interchangeable.
Find out the difference in episode 71 of 5 minute Italian.
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
Sono geloso = I’m jealous (a man talking about “love” jealousy)
Sono gelosa = I’m jealous (a woman talking about “love” jealousy)
Sono invidioso = I’m jealous (a man talking about “I want what you have” jealousy)
Sono invidiosa = I’m jealous (a woman talking about “I want what you have” jealousy)
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Geloso vs. invidioso: How to say jealous in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao!
K: This week’s episode is dedicated to Kathy Coventry, Vahagn, Lisa, Joe, and Susanna, who came along to our immersion in Florence, and were all part of an interesting conversation we had about the word “jealous” in Italian.
One evening, a few students climbed up to the top of the dome on the cathedral in Florence with our teacher Stefano, while others came for pre-dinner drinks with me. Sitting in a caffè having a beer with Joe, Lisa and Susanna, when we got a message on the whatsapp group from the students who had climbed up, with a picture of the beautiful views they could see of sunset over the rooftops in Florence. We were chatting in Italian, and Lisa wanted to joke and say “to make us jealous”.
Come si dice “jealous” in Italian? How do you say “jealous” in Italian? This started an interesting conversation about how there are actually two words. So what are they and how are they different?
M: In Italian, we have two different kinds of jealousy. The first is how you feel when you are in love. If you are worried your boyfriend or girlfriend, your husband or wife is attracted to someone else, we use “geloso”.
So for example, if I was paranoid, and worried that Katie was in love with another man, I’d say “sono geloso”.
K: Sono geloso. That means “I’m jealous” in the romantic sense. Matteo would say “sono geloso” because he’s a man. But I’m a woman. So let’s imagine now I’m all paranoid and worried that Matteo is in love with another woman. How would I say “I’m jealous” as a woman?
I would say “sono gelosa” with an “a” at the end.
M: Next, we have the other kind of jealousy, which is when you want what someone else has. This is “invidioso”. It’s similar to the English word “envious”.
K: So let’s imagine that Matteo is jealous because a friend has got a promotion that he wanted. How would he say “I’m jealous”?
M: Sono invidioso.
K: Now imagine that I’m jealous because my friend has just won the lottery. How would I say “I’m jealous” as a woman?
Sono invidiosa.
So the take home message of today’s episode is, if you’re talking about romantic jealousy, say “geloso” or “gelosa”. And if you’re talking about “I want want what you have” jealousy, use “invidioso” or “invidiosa”.
And the end, after chatting about the differences between geloso and invidioso, we decided to reply with a picture of us drinking beer and wine in a little caffè, to make them invidiosi too.
To make sure you remember the difference between “geloso” and “invidioso” head over to our website joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to episode 71. You’ll see all of this written down and get bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards. And you can join our Facebook group by going to facebook.com/groups/5.minute.italian/, where we have a lovely community who practises chatting in Italian together.
Ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
How to say sorry in Italian: the difference between “scusa” and “mi dispiace”
How to say “I love you” in Italian (and avoid an embarrassing mistake!)
Molto, molti, molta, molte… what’s the difference? And when should you use them? Find out in episode 70 of 5 minute Italian.
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
Molto = very/lots of
Molto grande = very big
Molto felice = very happy
Molto vecchio = very old
Molto veloce = very fast
Molto difficile = very difficult
Molto cibo = lots of food
Molti pomodori = lots of tomatoes
Molta pioggia = lots of rain
Molte banane = lots of bananas
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: When to use molto (and when to use molti, molta and molte).
Flashcards.
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcards
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao!
K: This week’s episode is dedicated to Cathy, Cheryl and Rick, who came along to our immersion in Florence last week. As we were sitting eating breakfast on the terrace, an interesting question came up. Which was: in Italian, you have “molto”, “molti” “molta”, and “molte”. When do you use “molto” and when do you use the others?
This was a great question, and a question that I think many people wonder about, so today, we’re going to clear up some of the mystery around “molto”.
M: Molto can mean “very”, as in “molto bello” (very beautiful). But it can also mean “a lot” as in “molto cibo” (lots of food).
K: And therein lies the difference. When “molto” means “very”, as in “molto bello”, it’s a describing word. We can also have examples like:
M:
Molto grande = very big
Molto felice = very happy
K: When we use “molto” as a describing word, it never changes, we always have “molto”. It can never be molta, molti or molte. Here are some more examples:
M:
Molto vecchio = very old
Molto veloce = very fast
Molto difficile = very difficult
K: So that was the first kind of “molto” that never changes. Now let’s move onto the second kind, that can change. We know that we can also use “molto” to mean “a lot” as in “molto cibo”. In this case, we’re talking about quantity. Lots of food. And when we use molto to talk about quantities, it has to change to agree with the thing you’re talking about. For example:
M:
Molto cibo = lots of food
Molti pomodori = lots of tomatoes
Molta pioggia = lots of rain
Molte banane = lots of bananas
K: Let’s break that down quickly:
M: Molto cibo = lots of food
K: cibo is a masculine singular, so we say “molto”.
M: Molti pomodori = lots of tomatoes
K: Pomodori is a masculine plural, so we say “molti”
M: Molta pioggia = lots of rain
K: Pioggia (rain) is a feminine singular, so we use “molta”
M: Molte banane = lots of bananas
K: Banane is a feminine plural, so we way “molte”.
K: The message to remember from today’s episode is: if you use molto to describe something, like “molto bello” it never changes, while if you’re using it for quantities, or to count something, like “molte banane” (lots of bananas), it should agree with the gender and number of the word you’re describing, in this case “molte” for “le banane”.
That’s it for today, I hope you found that useful, and if you’d like to see all this stuff written down, remember you can see all the words and phrases from today’s lesson by going to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scrolling down to episode 70. You’ll also find bonus materials like flashcards and a quiz to help you remember what you learnt. You can also practice chatting with us in Italian in our Facebook group, by going to facebook.com/groups/5.minute.italian. You’ll also find the links in the show notes.
Ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
To get more 5 minute Italian, including lessons delivered to your inbox, access to the private Facebook group and invites to speaking workshops, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
#64: How to say “the” in Italian: the basics
#26: Dove sono le banane? How to ask for things in supermarkets
In this episode, you’ll learn about my favourite Italian word of all time, that isn’t even really a word, it’s more like a sound: Boh! But what does it mean? Find out in episode #79 of five minute Italian Become a 5-minute Italian member (it’s free!)
Have you ever heard the word “magari” and wondered what it meant? The confusion can come from the fact that it actually has 2 very different meanings. Once you know them, it’s simple. And if this word is new to you, it’s well worth learning
This week, we’ve got a special guest back with us, Italian Stefano. He speaks loads of languages, so he’s going to give us his tips on how to speak Italian this year. Learn more in episode #77 of five minute Italian Become a 5-minute Italian member
Do you know how to say “it makes sense” in Italian? It’s one of those phrases that you need to be a little bit careful with because it’s easy to end up saying something totally different by accident! Learn more in episode #76 of five
Do you know how to say “you’re right” in Italian? As we started talking about last week, Italian has some funny expressions with “have”. In this lesson, you’ll learn a really important one: to be right, or literally, to “have reason”. Become a 5-minute Italian member
Do you have hunger? Languages don’t always express things in the same way, and this little phrase is a great example. Italians aren’t hungry, they have hunger. Learn more expressions with “have” in episode 74 of 5 Minute Italian. Become a 5-minute Italian member (it’s free!)
Do you agree? Italians have a funny way of saying this – but there’s an easy way to remember it. Find out more in episode 73 of 5 Minute Italian. Become a 5-minute Italian member (it’s free!) Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the
Do you know the difference between eggs and grapes in Italian? It should be simple, but it’s easy to mix them up. Learn how to differentiate these words (and avoid making an embarrassing mistake) in episode 72 of 5 minute Italian. Become a 5-minute Italian member
Did you know? Italian has two different words for jealous: geloso and invidioso. But watch out, because they’re not interchangeable. Find out the difference in episode 71 of 5 minute Italian. Become a 5-minute Italian member (it’s free!) Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining
Molto, molti, molta, molte… what’s the difference? And when should you use them? Find out in episode 70 of 5 minute Italian. Become a 5-minute Italian member (it’s free!) Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll