Do you know how to say “I miss you” in Italian?
It’s a bit backwards compared to English!
But once you get into the Italian frame of mind, it’s easy to learn.
Learn how Italians say “I miss you” in episode 49 of of 5 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…
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.
Remember what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Che cosa ti manca di Napoli? = What do you miss about Naples?
Che cosa = what
ti manca = from you
manca = it misses
di = about
Napoli = Naples
Mi manca la mia famiglia, il mare, e la pizza napoletana naturalmente = I miss my family, the sea and Neapolitan pizza obviously.
Mi = from me
manca = it misses
la mia famiglia = my family
il mare = the sea
e = and
la pizza napoletana = Neapolitan pizza
Naturalmente = of course.
E tu Katie? Che cosa ti manca dell’inghilterra? = And you Katie? What do you miss about England?
Mi manca la famiglia, gli amici, e la colazione inglese = I miss my family, friends and English breakfast.
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 miss you” in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
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.
K: And in today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to use the verb “miss” (as in “I miss you”) in Italian.
M: First, ascoltiamo la conversazione, let’s listen to the conversation, then we’ll go through it step by step.
K: Matteo, che cosa ti manca di Napoli?
M: Mi manca la mia famiglia, il mare, e la pizza napoletana naturalmente.
M: E tu Katie? Che cosa ti manca dell’inghilterra?
K: Mi manca la famiglia, gli amici, e la colazione inglese.
K: So you heard:
M: Che cosa ti manca di Napoli?
K: What do you miss about Naples?
M: I live in Milan now, but I’m originally from Naples, so Katie was asking me what I miss about my home city.
M:
K: The important bit for us today is the word manca, which means “it misses”. It comes from the -are verb mancare “to miss”.
Manca “it misses” is another example of how Italians sometimes speak backwards compared to English. Instead of saying you miss it, the idea is expressed backwards, it is missing from you, or literally, from you (ti), it misses (manca). “Ti manca”.
M: Italians don’t say “I miss it”, or “you miss it”, they say “from me, it misses” (mi mancha) or “from you, it misses” ti manca.
K: To use this word correctly, it’s essential to get this logic: in Italian, we don’t say “I miss something”, but rather, I talk about an object or person that’s missing from me.
It’s quite romantic if you think about it!
Next, you heard Matteo say:
M: Mi manca la mia famiglia, il mare, e la pizza napoletana naturalmente.
K: I miss my family, the sea, and Neapolitan pizza, of course.
M:
K: Naturalmente, literally means “naturally”, but it’s often used in Italian to mean “of course” or “obviously”.
M: Naples is the birthplace of pizza. I like pizza everywhere, but it’s never quite as good as in Naples, so that’s something I really miss.
K: And here again to express the concept “I miss” you heard mi manca, literally “from me it misses”. To say “I miss my family” you heard: mi manca la famiglia. Literally, “from me”, it misses my family. Next, Matteo asked:
M: E tu Katie? Che cosa ti manca dell’inghilterra?
K: And you Katie, what do you miss about England? And you heard me answer:
M: Mi manca la mia famiglia, i miei amici, e la colazione inglese.
K: I miss my family, my friends, and English breakfasts! So we know that in Italian, to say I miss something, we say mi manca (something is missing from me).
M: How would you say “I miss you”? in Italian? Can you guess?
K: We’d say “you are missing from me”. Literally: “from me, you miss”. “From me” is mi. Mancare is a regular –are verb, so how would you say “you miss”?
M: Manchi
K: To say “I miss you”? or literally “from me, you miss?”, we’d say:
M: Mi manchi.
K: And if you need a little help with -are verbs, you might find episode #44 helpful.
That’s it from us for today. Remember that when it comes to learning Italian, practice makes perfect. To help you remember what you learnt today, you’ll find bonus materials including a quiz and vocabulary flashcards – head over to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to this episode. Or follow the link in the show notes to go straight there. You can also practice your Italian by chatting with us in the 5-minute Italian facebook group – you’ll find the link for that in the show notes too. Ciao for now, 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.
Can you remember how to say “sorry” in Italian?
Last week, we learnt the phrase mi dispiace.
But it turns out, there’s another way to say sorry in Italian, which requires a bit of explanation because there’s a crazy rule you’ll need to follow in order to use it correctly.
In this week’s lesson, find out the difference between “mi dispiace” and “scusa”, and learn how to use them correctly, so you can say sorry like an Italian.
To help you remember the words and phrases from today’s lesson, you’ll find bonus materials below including a word list, quiz and flashcards. But first…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Quando dici “scusa”? = When do you say “excuse me”?
Quando = when
Dici = you say
Scusa = sorry or excuse me
Quando spingo qualcuno per sbaglio = when I push someone by accident
Quando = when
Spingo = I push
Qualcuno = someone
Per sbaglio = by accident
Oppure se faccio un rutto = or if I do a burp
Oppure = or
Se = if
Faccio = I do/make
Un rutto = a burp
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: #48: How to say sorry in Italian: mi dispiace vs. scusa
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
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.
K: Last week, we learnt how to say sorry in Italian. Can you remember how?
M: Mi dispiace.
K: In today’s lesson, we’ll continue the conversation, so you can learn another way to say sorry in Italian.
M: First, ascoltiamo la conversazione, let’s listen to the conversation, then we’ll go through it step by step.
K: Matteo, quando dici “mi dispiace” di solito?
M: Quando non ho moneta. Oppure quando qualcuno mi racconta un accaduto triste.
K: Quando dici “scusa”?
M: Quando spingo qualcuno per sbaglio. Oppure se faccio un rutto.
K: So we continued with the conversation from last week, where Matteo explained that he says mi dispiace when he doesn’t have change, or to express sympathy for someone. Then, I asked:
M: Quando dici “scusa”?
K: When do you say scusa?
M:
K: He answered:
M: Quando spingo qualcuno per sbaglio.
K: When I push someone by accident.
M:
K: As well as mi dispiace, Italians have another word for sorry, which is scusa. What’s the difference?
M: In many situations, they’re interchangeable. But there are a few situations where they’re not.
K: For example, if you push someone, bump into someone, or step on their toe, Italians use scusa. It’s like a “knee-jerk” version of sorry. That word that quickly pops out of your mouth when you get in someone’s personal space, and you’re like “oops sorry!”
M: Yep, we’d normally use scusa, not mi dispiace in those kinds of situations. However, in longer situations, you can use mi dispiace and scusa interchangeably.
K: Using the example from last week, if your friend asks you if there’s any coffee in the pot but you’ve already drunk it all, you can either say:
M: scusa.
K: or
M: mi dispiace.
K: But there’s another situation where you’d only use scusa. Let’s listen to the other example Matteo gave.
M: Oppure se faccio un rutto
K: Oppure se faccio un rutto = “or if I do a burp”. A lovely example, which, school-boy humour aside, shows another important meaning of the word scusa.
M: In Italian, scusa has 2 meanings. The first is an apology, for example, if you stand on someone’s toe, or you “accidentally” eat the last biscuit.
K: And the second is “excuse me”. Which you might say, for example, after you do a burp:
M: Scusa
K: Or if you want to get someone’s attention, maybe to ask directions, or to ask for the bill:
M: Scusa
K: Interestingly, when my Italian students want to grab my attention, they often put their hand up and say sorry, because being as Italian only has one word for “sorry” and “excuse me”, they get confused about when to use which.
So if you want to say either “sorry” or “excuse me” in Italian, you can say “scusa”. Now comes the tricky bit. There are actually 3 versions of the word “scusa”.
M: “Scusa” is the informal version, that you can use when speaking to friends, or young-ish people in relaxed social situations.
K: With older people, or in more formal situations such as at the hotel reception or in a fancy restaurant, you can use the formal version, scusi.
M: Finally, if you’re speaking to a group of people, we use the “plural” you: Scusate.
K: This drove me mad when I first moved to Italy, because scusa is the quick sorry, the word you use if you bump into someone or stand on their toe. And I thought, how am I supposed to decide if it’s a young person, an older person or a group, and pick the right version, all in the split second after I’ve stood on their toe? It took me a lot of practice before I got it right.
M: But in reality, as long as you make an effort to say scusa, scusi, or scusate, most people will understand that you’re learning and they won’t mind if you use the wrong one.
K: And with practice, it becomes automatic over time.
K: Finally, sometimes you may hear the word: scusami, which is the same as scusa, it just adds emphasis. For example, if someone finishes off the last biscotto, you might hear a nice, long drawn out:
M: Scusami!
K: That’s it from us, remember that when it comes to languages, practice makes perfect, so to practice what you learnt today, you can find bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards by heading over to our website – www.joyoflanguages/italianpodcast and scrolling down to this episode. Alternatively, click on the link in the show notes to go straight there. And remember, if you’d like to get these lessons delivered to your inbox and get invites to free speaking workshops, sign up to the mailing list, you’ll also find that link in the show notes.
Ciao for now, 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.
Sorry!
We owe you a little apology, so we thought: what better way to say sorry, than with a lesson on how to say sorry in Italian?
Find out why we’d like to say sorry and learn how Italians say sorry to each other in this episode of 5 minute Italian.
Psst – If you caught the last lesson on how to say “I like” in Italian, you’ll notice an interesting similarity!
To make sure you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Quando dici “mi dispiace” di solito? = When do you normally say sorry?
Quando = when
Dici = you say
Mi dispiace = I’m sorry (literally, “it displeases me” or “to me, it displeases”)
Di solito = usually
Quando non ho moneta = when I don’t have change
Quando = when
Non ho = I don’t have
Moneta = change
Oppure quando qualcuno mi racconta un accaduto triste = or when someone tells me about a sad event.
Oppure = or
Quando = when
Qualcuno = someone
Mi racconta = tells me
Un accaduto = an event/occurance
Triste = sad
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 sorry in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
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.
K: In today’s lesson, you’ll be learning how to say sorry in Italian.
M: This theme is very timely because we’d like to start by saying sorry!
K: Yes, we’re sorry we haven’t been publishing regular episodes recently, that’s because we’ve been busy renovating our new apartment in Milan. The good news is, we’ve now moved in and we’ve got a guest room, which we’ll soon be renting out to you guys to come and learn Italian with us for a few days here in Italy. If you’d like to know more about that, sign up to our mailing list and we’ll send you an email with the details as soon as we’ve got everything up and running. You’ll find the link is in the show notes.
For now, let’s move on to today’s lesson.
M: First, ascoltiamo la conversazione, let’s listen to the conversation, then we’ll go through it step by step.
K: Matteo, quando dici mi dispiace di solito?
M: Quando non ho moneta. Oppure quando qualcuno mi racconta un accaduto triste.
K: So you just heard:
M: Quando dici “mi dispiace” di solito?
K: When do you usually say sorry, or “mi dispiace”? Literally:
M:
K: In Italian, to say sorry, we say mi dispiace. The literal translation is something like: “it displeases me”, or word for word: “to me, it displeases”. And you might notice that it’s actually the negative version of a phrase we learnt last week: mi piace, which means I like, and can be literally translated as “it pleases me” or “to me, it pleases”
So let’s hear Matteo’s answer: when do you say sorry?
M: Quando non ho moneta.
K: Quando non ho moneta. “moneta” literally means “coin”, but it also means “change”, as in “I haven’t got any change to pay for the parking meter. So what do you think “quando non ho moneta” means?
…
“When I don’t have change”.
M:
K: Matteo uses mi dispiace I’m sorry, in situations when he doesn’t have change. For example, if he only has a 20 euro note to pay for a 1 euro coffee.
Here are some other examples of situations in which you’d use mi dispiace in Italian:
When your friend asks you if there’s any coffee left, but you’ve already drank it all
M: Mi dispiace
K: When your teacher asks if you’ve done your homework, but you haven’t.
M: Mi dispiace
K: If someone stops you in the street and asks you for directions, but you can’t help them.
M: Mi dispiace
K: Next, let’s hear the other kind of situation Matteo mentioned:
M: Oppure quando qualcuno mi racconta un accaduto triste.
K: Or when someone tells me about a sad event. Literally:
M:
K: If someone tells you about something bad that happened to them, for example, if they lost their job, or their dog died, and you want to express sympathy, you can say mi dispiace, “I’m sorry”, much the same as you would in English.
M: Italians actually have another way to say sorry, “scusa”, which is sometimes, but not always interchangeable with mi dispiace. Next week, we’ll talk about when to use mi dispiace and when to use scusa, so you’ll be able to say sorry in Italian like a local.
K: That’s it from us for today, to practice what you learnt, you can find transcripts from today’s show, as well as bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards by going to our website – www.joyoflanguages/italianpodcast and scrolling down to episode 47. Alternatively, click on the link in the show notes to go straight there. And remember, if you like the idea of learning Italian with us for a few days in Milan, sign up to the mailing list in the show notes and we’ll send you through an email with the details as soon as everything’s ready.
Ciao for now, 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.
Ever felt confused about how to say “I like…” in Italian?
It’s completely different to how we say it in English!
But once you learn how to think like an Italian, it suddenly becomes much easier. Find out how in episode #46 of 5 Minute Italian.
To make sure you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Che cosa ti piace dell’estate? = what do you like about summer?
Che cosa = what
Ti piace = you like (it pleases you – literally: to you, it pleases)
Dell’ = about the
Estate = summer
Mi piace il sole = I like the sun
Il sole = the sun
Mi piace = I like (it pleases me – literally: to me, it pleases)
Mi piace andare al mare = I like going to the seaside
E tu? = and you?
Mi piace mangiare il gelato = I like eating ice-cream
Mi piacciono le feste all’aperto = I like outdoor parties
Le feste all’aperto = outdoor parties (literally: parties at the outside)
Mi piacciono = I like them (they please me – literally: to me, they please)
C’è qualcosa che non ti piace? = is there something you don’t like?
Non mi piacciono le zanzare! = I don’t like mosquitoes
Non mi piacciono = I don’t like them (to me, they don’t please – literally: not, to me, they please)
Le zanzare = (the) mosquitoes
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Mi piace! How to say “I like” in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
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.
K: And in today’s lesson, you’ll learn the easy way to use the verb “like” (as in I like something) correctly in Italian. First, ascoltiamo la conversazione in italiano “let’s listen to the conversation in Italian”, then, we’ll look at the details and how to use the verb like.
K: Che cosa ti piace dell’estate?
M: Mi piace il sole, e mi piace andare al mare. E tu?
K: Mi piace mangiare il gelato, e mi piacciono le feste all’aperto.
M: C’è qualcosa che non ti piace?
K: Non mi piacciono le zanzare!
K: So the first sentence you heard was:
M: Che cosa ti piace dell’estate?
K: What do you like about summer? Che cosa = what; ti piace = you like; dell’ = about the estate = summer. Let’s look in detail at this ti piace “you like” in more detail. Italians don’t say “you like” in the same way we do in English. Instead, to say “you like” in Italian, we say “it pleases you”. The ti in ti piace literally means “to you” and piace means “it pleases”.
M: So we get Che cosa ti piace dell’estate? Literally, what pleases you about summer?
K: Then you heard Matteo reply:
M: Mi piace il sole.
K: I like the sun. This time, we can see the same thing with “I like”. Mi piace. literally, to me it pleases. We say “to me, it pleases”, then add the thing that we like, or that pleases us. In this case, the sun, il sole.
M: Mi piace il sole
K: The sun pleases me. Literally, “to me, it pleases, the sun”. Then you heard:
M: Mi piace andare al mare
K: I like going to the seaside. Literally, “to me, it pleases, go to the sea.” Next, Matteo asked me…
M: E tu?
K: “And you?” Then you heard:
M: Mi piace mangiare il gelato
K: I like eating ice-cream, literally, “to me it pleases eat ice-cream.” Then in the next sentence, you heard a different form of mi piace.
M: Mi piacciono le feste all’aperto
K: I like outdoor parties. Outdoor parties please me. Literally, “to me, they please the parties at the open.” Here, I didn’t say “piace” like before, I said “piacciono”. This is because parties is a plural, so we can’t say “it pleases” piace, we have to use “they please”, which is piacciono.
M: Mi piacciono le feste all’aperto
K: We hear this again in the next sentence. Matteo asked me:
M: C’è qualcosa che non ti piace?
K: Is there something you don’t like? And I replied Non mi piacciono le zanzare
M: Non mi piacciono le zanzare.
K: Non mi piacciono. I don’t like them – “They don’t please me.” Literally, not, to me, they please. Can you guess what they are?
M: Le zanzare means “the mosquitoes”
K: Yes and they’re something I really don’t like about Milan in the summer. You constantly get woken up by this zzzzzz sound, and you wake up covered in bites.
M: Non mi piacciono le zanzare. I don’t like mosquitoes. Literally, to me, they don’t please the mosquitoes.
K: So the key takeaway from today’s lesson is that if you’re talking about one thing, like il sole, say mi piace.
M: Mi piace il sole
K: And if you’re talking about two or more things, like “the parties” le feste, use mi piacciono.
M: Mi piacciono le feste.
K: And if you’re coming to Italy in summer, don’t forget to pick up some Autan, mosquito spray from the local supermarket! That’s it from us, to remember and practice what you learnt today, you can find transcripts from today’s show, as well as bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards over on our website – www.joyoflanguages/italianpodcast and scroll down to this episode. Alternatively, click on the link in the show notes to go straight there. Ciao for now, 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 that in Italian, there are two different ways to say “I love you”?
But they’re not interchangeable. If you use the wrong one with the wrong person, you might end up saying something embarrassing by accident!
Learn how Italians say “I love you” to different people in this episode of 5 minute Italian.
To make sure you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Come si dice “I love you” in Italiano = How do you say “I love you” in Italian?
Dipende = it depends
Ti amo = I love you (romantic love) lit. “you I love”
Il fidanzato = the boyfriend
La fidanzata = the girlfriend
Il marito = the husband
La moglie = the wife
Ti voglio bene = I love you (between family or close friends) lit. “you I want well”
TVB = acronym of ti voglio bene
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 love you” in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Here’s a song by Vasco Rossi called “ti voglio bene” (I love you). The video includes the lyrics so you can learn Italian as you listen 🙂
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian, I’m Katie
M: And I’m Matteo.
Did you know that in Italian, there are two different ways to say “I love you”? But they’re not interchangeable. If you use the wrong one with the wrong person, you might end up saying something embarrassing by accident! Learn how Italians say “I love you” to different people in episode 45 of 5 minute Italian.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian, I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo
Katie: And in today’s episode, you’ll learn 2 ways to say “I love you” in Italian, and more importantly, how to distinguish between them, so you don’t say the wrong one to the wrong person. We’ll have a mini chat about it in Italian, so you can practice your listening, then we’ll break it down in English.
K: Matteo, come si dice “I love you” in Italiano?
M: Dipende. Se parliamo dell’amore romantico, diciamo “ti amo”. Però, se parliamo dell’amore in famiglia, o tra amici, diciamo “ti voglio bene”.
Katie: So you first heard the question:
Matteo: Come si dice “I love you” in Italiano.
Katie: Which means: “How do you say “I love you” in Italian”. Then you heard:
Matteo: Dipende.
Katie: Which means it depends. So what does it depend on? Did you catch Matteo’s explanation?
Matteo: Se parliamo dell’amore romantico, diciamo “ti amo”.
Katie: If we speak about romantic love, we say “ti amo”. Ti means “you” and amo means “I love”.
Matteo: In Italian we literally say “you I love”. Ti amo.
Katie: Interestingly, Italians have 2 different ways of saying I love you. Ti amo is reserved for romantic love, so something you’d say to your romantic partner.
Matteo: Yes. You could say it to your fidanzata o fidanzato
Katie: Girlfriend or boyfriend
Matteo: Or your marito o moglie
Katie: Husband or wife. What would you say if you wanted to say I love you to someone in your family? Well, in the dialogue at the beginning, we heard Matteo say:
Matteo: Però, se parliamo dell’amore in famiglia o tra amici, diciamo “ti voglio bene”
Katie: But, if we speak about love in the family or between friends, we say: ti voglio bene.
Matteo: We know that ti means “you”. Voglio means “I want” and bene means “well”. So the literal translation is “you I want well”.
Katie: That’s right, ti voglio bene = “you I want well”. Which probably sounds a little strange! With these kind of phrases, I find it’s best not to worry to much about the logic behind it – because it’s so different to in English. You can just learn it as a fixed phrase – if you want to say “I love you” to family or close friends, stick with “ti voglio bene”.
And sometimes you might even come across TVB, which is the acronym of ti voglio bene. It’s kind of like LOL, so it’s a bit silly, but I sometimes use this in a jokey way with my friends from uni.
Matteo: The word voglio has the “gli” sound in it. If you want to learn more about how to pronounce it, you can go back and listen to episode 5: how to pronounce gli.
Katie: And you’ll find all of today’s words along with the spelling in the show notes. If you’d like to go into more depth and make sure you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, head over to our website where you’ll find bonus materials including a quiz and flashcards – joyoflanguages.com/how-to-say-I-love-you-in-Italian (hyphen between each word). You’ll also find the link in the show notes.
And finally, if you like the idea of learning Italian with music, there’s an Italian song by Vasco Rossi called “ti voglio bene”, which goes nicely with today’s episode, so you’ll find a link to that on our website.
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.
Over the last few lessons, you learnt everything you need to use Italian verbs in the present tense.
But how much can you remember?
Test your knowledge and review what you learnt in episode 44 of 5 minute Italian: The complete guide to the Italian Present Tense
To make sure you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
| Pagare | Prendere | Aprire | Preferire | |
| I | Pago | Prendo | Apro | Preferisco |
| You | Paghi | Prendi | Apri | Preferisci |
| He/she/you (formal) | Paga | Prende | Apre | Preferisce |
| We | Paghiamo | Prendiamo | Apriamo | Preferiamo |
| You (plural) | Pagate | Prendete | Aprite | Preferite |
| They | Pagano | Prendono | Aprono | Preferiscono |
Pago = I pay
Pago un caffè = I’ll pay for a coffee (literally: I pay a coffee)
Prendo = I take
Prendo un caffè = I‘ll have a coffee (literally: I take a coffee)
Apro = I open
Apro il vino = I open the wine
Paghiamo = we pay
Paghiamo il caffè = we pay for the coffee (literally: we pay the coffee)
Prendiamo = we take
Prendiamo un caffè = let’s have a coffee (literally: we take a coffee)
We open = apriamo
We open the wine = apriamo il vino
Paghi = you pay
Paghi sempre = you always pay (literally: you pay always)
Prendi = you take
Prendi un caffè? = are you having a coffee? (literally: you take a coffee?)
Apri = you open
Apri il vino = are you opening the wine? (literally: you open the wine?)
Paga = he pays; she pays; you pay (formal)
Prende = he takes; she takes; you pay (formal)
Prende un caffè = he’s having a coffee; she’s having a coffee; you’re having a coffee (formal)
Apre = he opens; she opens; you open (formal)
Apre il vino = he’s opening the wine; she’s opening the wine; you’re opening the wine (formal)
Pagate = you all/both pay (you plural)
Pagate con la carta? = Are you all/both paying by card? (literally: you plural pay with the card?)
Prendete = you all/both take (you plural)
Prendete un caffè = are you all/both having a coffee? (literally: you plural take a coffee?)
Aprite = you all/both open
Aprite il vino = are you all/both opening the wine? (literally: you plural open the wine?)
Pagano = they pay
Pagano il caffè = they’re paying for the coffee (literally: they pay the coffee)
Prendono = they take
Prendono un caffè = they’re having a coffee (literally: they have a coffee)
Aprono = they open
Aprono il vino = they’re opening the wine (literally: they open the wine)
Capisco = I understand
Preferisco = I prefer
Preferisco il vino bianco = I prefer white wine
Preferiscono = they prefer
Preferiscono il vino bianco = they prefer white wine
Preferisci = you prefer
Prefersici il vino bianco o il vino rosso? = Do you prefer white wine or red wine?
Preferisce = he prefers; she prefers; you prefer (formal)
Preferisce il vino bianco? = Does he prefer white wine?; Does she prefer white wine? Do you prefer white wine? (formal)
Preferiamo = we prefer
Preferiamo il vino bianco = we prefer white wine
Preferite = you all/both prefer
Preferite il vino bianco o il vino rosso? = do you all/both prefer white wine or red wine?
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: The Complete Guide to Using the Italian Present Tense
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian, I’m Katie
M: And I’m Matteo.
K: Over the last few lessons (lessons 39 to 43), you’ve been learning how to use Italian verbs in the present tense. Today, we’re going to do a review of all these lessons so you can practice what you learnt and use what you know to say useful sentences in Italian.
This episode is going to be longer than the normal episodes because – what kind of complete guide would it be if it was only 5 minutes? We wanted to go into more depth in this episode so that by the end, you’ll have all the information you need to use regular Italian verbs in the present tense.
Matteo: To get the most out of this lesson, you should know that there are 4 types of verbs:
K: First, verbs that end in -are, like parlare (to speak). Second, verbs that end in -ere, like scrivere (to write) and third, verbs that end in -ire, like dormire (to sleep). The 4th kind is verbs like capire which also end in -ire, which follow their own rules. If you feel like you need a little refresher on these 4 groups, you can go back and listen to episodes 39 to 43 before coming back for this review.
M: But if that’s all clear, let’s get started.
K: Let’s forget about the 4th group for now, we’ll come back to that later. For now, let’s talk about the normal -are, -ere and -ire verbs.
Let’s imagine we want to say something with “I” as in “I speak”, “I write” or “I sleep”. What do we do?
M: Remove the -are, -ire or -ere from the ending and add “o”.
K: So if pagare means “to pay”, how would you say I pay?
M: Pago. Remove the -are and add “o”. Pago.
K: Let’s imagine you’re at the till in Italy and you’d like to pay for a coffee. Italian is often much simpler than English, so while in English, you might say something like, “I’d like to pay for the coffee” or “can I pay for the coffee please?”. In Italian, you’d literally just say “I pay the coffee”. “The coffee” is il caffè. So how would you say “I pay the coffee?”
M: Pago il caffè
K: To take is “prendere”. How would you say “I take”?
M: Prendo. Remove the -ere and add “o”. Prendo
K: And Italians don’t have a coffee, they “take a coffee”. To say “I’ll have a coffee” in Italian, we literally say, “I take a coffee – un caffè” How would you say that?
M: Prendo un caffè.
K: “Open” is aprire. So how would you say “I open”
M: Apro. Remove the -ire and add “o”. Apro.
K: The wine is il vino. How would you say “I open the wine?”
M: Apro il vino.
K: Next, to make the “we form” for these verbs, as in “we speak” or “we sleep” we just remove the -are, -ere, or -ire and add iamo. Let’s start with pagare to pay. How would you say “we pay?”
M: Paghiamo. Remove the -are and add “iamo”. Paghiamo
K: We pay for the coffee? Remember Italians don’t use “for” with pagare, so it would literally be “we pay the coffee”. We pay il caffè.
M: Paghiamo il caffè.
K: And just as a side note, if you’re reading the show notes, you might notice a “h” in the spelling of this word. Paghiamo is spelt: p – a – g – h – i – a – m – o.
M: The “h” is there for a good reason. In Italian, whenever you have the letter “g” followed by the letter “i”, it’s pronounced as a soft “g” sound. Like the “gi” in the name Luigi.
K: So without the h, we’d have p – a – g – i – a – m – o, which would be pronounced like pagiamo. And we don’t want that. So we insert a “h”, which makes the hard “g” sound. Paghiamo. If you want to learn more about Italian spelling rules with the hard and soft “g” sounds, you can go back and listen to episode 12 on how to pronounce and Italian menu. For now, lets more onto our -ere verb, prendere. “to take”. How would you say “we take?”
M: Prendiamo. Remove the -ire and add “iamo”. Prendiamo.
K: And we know to make suggestions, we just use the “we form” with a suggestion tone. So how would you way “let’s have a coffee?” literally: “we take a coffee”.
M: Prendiamo un caffè.
K: And what about aprire. How would you say “we open?”
M: Apriamo. Remove the -ire and add “iamo”. Apriamo
K: Let’s open the wine? Literally, “we open the wine”.
M: Apriamo il vino.
K: To get the “you” form, we just remove the -are, -ere and -ire and add an “i” sound. Let’s go back to pagare, to pay. How would you say “you pay”?
M: Paghi
K: And here again, if you’re looking at the spelling in the notes, you’ll see a “h” after the letter g, which helps us keep the hard “h”.
M: Yes, without the h, it’d be pronounced as pagi, which we don’t want.
K: So again, you pay is:
M: Paghi
K: Always is “sempre”. Imagine you’re fighting with a friend who won’t let you pay. How would you say “you always pay” literally, “you pay always”
M: Paghi sempre!
K: Next, predere. How would you say “you take?”
M: Prendi. Remove the -ere and add an “i” sound. Prendi.
K: Now how would you ask your friend, are you having a coffee? Literally, you take a coffee?
M: Prendi un caffè?
K: Now aprire. How would you say “you open?”
M: Apri. Remove the -ire and add an “i” sound. Apri.
K: And how would you say “are you opening the wine?” literally you open the wine?
M: Apri il vino?
K: Just another little note about spelling here. We’ve been talking about the “ee” sound as in paghi, prendi and apri. In Italian, this “ee” sound is actually represented by the letter “I”. Just like in the name Luigi. The last letter is an “I” but it’s pronounced as “ee”. Whenever you see the letter “i” you know it’s pronounced as “ee”. And you can look in the show notes if you’re interested in seeing the spelling of today’s words.
K: So we’ve talked about the I, the We and the you forms, which are the same for -are, -ire and -ere regular verbs. The other forms are slightly different. Next, let’s look at the “he” and “she” form, as in “he sleeps” or “she sleeps”. We’ve also got the formal “you”, that Italians use with people they don’t know very well. The good news is, these three forms, the “he”, the “she” and the formal “you” are all the same in Italian.
M: To get the he/she form, for -are verbs like pagare just remove the -re from the end.
K: So you’re left with paga. So again, how would you say “he pays”
M: Paga. Remove the -re from pagare. Paga.
K: And “she pays?”
M: Paga.
K: And “you pay”, if you’re speaking to someone you don’t know, like a receptionist?
M: Paga
K: To get the he/she form for -ere verbs like “prendere” we do the same. Just remove the -re. So how would you say “he takes”
M Prende. Remove the -re from prendere. Prende.
K: And how would you say: “he’s having a coffee?” literally, he takes un caffè.
M: Prende un caffè.
K: She’s having a coffee? Literally: “she takes un caffè?”
M: Prende un caffè.
K: And if you wanted to say “are you having a coffee?” in the formal form, for example to a colleague you don’t know very well? Remember in Italian form, questions are easy, you just say “you have a coffee?” with question intonation.
M: Prende un caffè?
K: To get the he/she form for -ire verbs, like aprire, we can’t just remove the -re, because then we’d be left with apri with the “i” ending. But we already know this means “you open”. So we “borrow” the he/she form of the -ere verbs. So to say “he/she opens”, we remove the “re” but instead of an “i” sound, we add an “e” sound.
M: Apre. Remove the -re and change “i” to “e”.
K: How would you say he is opening the wine? Literally “he opens the wine”.
M: Apre il vino.
K: She opens the wine?
M: Apre il vino.
K: Are you opening the wine? In the formal form, to someone you don’t know very well?
M: Apre il vino?
K: Next, the plural “you”. We know Italian has a plural you form, as in “you all” or “you both” do something. To get this form, it’s simple. Just change the “r” to a “t”. Let’s go back to, pagare, to pay. How would you say “you all or you both pay”?
M: Pagate: Change the “r” in pagare to a “t”. Pagate.
K: By card is literally “with the card” – con la carta so how would you say, to a group of people “are you paying by card?” Literally – you (plural) pay with the card?
M: Pagate con la carta?
K: Next prendere. How would you get the plural “you”?
M: Prendete. Change the “r” in prendere to a “t”. Prendete.
K: So how would you say “are you all having a coffee?” literally: you plural, take un caffè.
M: Prendete un caffè?
K: Next, aprire. How would you get the plural “you”?
M: Aprite. Change the “r” in aprire to a “t”. Aprite.
K: So how would you say “are you all/both opening the wine”? Literally, you plural, open the wine.
M: Aprite il vino?
K: Finally, the “they” form, as in “they speak” or “they sleep”. To get this form, for -are verbs, like pagare, we remove the -are and add “a – n – o”. So how would you say “they pay”?
M: Pagano. Remove the –are and add a – n – o. Pagano.
K: They’re paying for the coffee? Literally: “They pay il caffè.”
M: Pagano il caffè.
K: Now for the -ere and -ire forms are the same. We remove the –ere and -ire and add “o – n – o”. So how would you say “they take”?
M: Prendono. Remove the –ere and add o – n – o. Prendono.
K: They’re having a coffee? Literally: they take un caffè?
M: Prendono un caffè.
K: And what about aprire. How would you say “they open”?
M: Aprono. Remove the –ire and add o – n – o. Aprono.
K: They’re opening the wine? Literally: “they open the wine”
M: Aprono il vino.
K: Phew! That was all the verb forms of the present tense for our -are, -ere and -ire verbs.
M: But what about the 4th group, like capire?
K: Right, so there’s another kind of -ire verb, like capire, that doesn’t follow the normal -ire verb rules. We like to call these the “-isco” verbs, because to make them, you have to add “isco”. For example, To say “I understand”, we remove the -ire from capire and add -isco.
M: Capisco.
K: Let’s try with a different verb. Preferire, which means “to prefer”. How would you say “I prefer”?
M: Preferisco. Remove the -ire and add “isco”.
K: And how would you say “I prefer white wine”? Literally: “I prefer the wine white – il vino bianco”
M: Preferisco il vino bianco
K: How would you say “they prefer?” To get the “they” form, we go from the “I” form preferisco and just add “no”
M: Preferiscono
K: They prefer white wine? Literally: they prefer il vino bianco.
M: Preferiscono il vino bianco.
K: Now, to get the “you” form, as in “you prefer”, we do the same as we did for the “I” form, so we start by removing the -ire from preferire, which leaves us with prefer-. This time, to get the “you” form, we add “-isci”. So how would you say “you prefer”?
M: Preferisci.
K: And how would you say “do you prefer white wine?” Literally: “you prefer il vino bianco?”
M: Preferisici il vino bianco?
K: Il vino bianco o il vino rosso? White wine or red wine? So how would you say “do you prefer white wine or red wine?” Literally – do you prefer “THE wine white or THE wine red?”
M: Preferisici il vino bianco o il vino rosso?
K: Next, to get the “he form” start from the “you” form preferisci. Now just change the “i” sound to an “e” sound. So how would you say “he prefers?”
M: Preferisce.
K: He prefers white wine?
M: Preferisce il vino bianco.
K: And the good news, we know this is the same as the “she form”. So how would you say “she prefers?”
M: Prefersice
K: She prefers white wine?
M: Preferisce il vino bianco
K: And we know this is also the same for the “formal you” for someone you don’t know very well. How would you say “you prefer” in the formal you?
M: Prefersice
K: Let’s imagine your son or daughter is marrying an Italian, and you meet your future son in law or daughter in law’s parents for the first time. In this case, you’d start with the formal you. How would you say “do you prefer white wine?” in this case? Literally: “You formal prefer the wine white?”
M: Prefersice il vino bianco?
K: il vino bianco o il vino rosso? White wine or red wine? So how would you say “do you prefer white wine or red wine?” Use the formal “you”.
M: Preferisce il vino bianco o il vino rosso?
K: Next – more good news: the remaining forms, so the “we” form and the “plural you” follow the same rules as the normal -ire verbs, like aprire (to open). So how would you say “we prefer?”
M: Preferiamo. Remove the “ire” from preferire and add iamo. Preferiamo.
K: We prefer white wine? il vino bianco
M: Preferiamo il vino bianco.
K: And can you remember how to make the plural you, as in “you all” or “you both prefer”? Change the “r” to a “t”. So change the “r” in preferire to a “t” and you’ll get:
M: Preferite
K: So how would you say “do you all/both prefer white wine or red wine” Literally: “prefer (you plural) il vino bianco o il vino rosso?”
M: Preferite il vino bianco o il vino rosso?
K: And that’s it!
M: Phew!
K: A final word about these verb forms, don’t worry if you need to go over this a lot before it starts to make sense. That’s normal. No one hears this just a couple of times and just gets it. Repetition is a key part of language learning – you’ll need to come back to these forms many times, see and hear them being used and practice using them a lot yourself before they stick. So don’t worry, it’s completely normal that these verbs pose some memory challenges. Forza, you can do it!
On our website, we’ve got loads of stuff that will help you remember the verbs in todays lesson.
Importantly, there’s a set of flashcards that you can download, which are like little digital cards with English on one side and the Italian on the other – you look at the English side, which will say, for example, “we prefer” then you try to remember the Italian preferiamo. Then you can turn the card over and see the Italian side to check your answer. Over time, this will really help you remember those verb forms. You can also download these to your phone so that you can do it while you’re waiting in the queue for the supermarket.
You’ll also find other handy resources like a quiz, so you can test your knowledge, a wordlist, so you can see the spelling, and a transcript of today’s episode. You can find all of this by going to joyoflanguages.com/italian-present-tense. Or you can head over to joyoflanguages.com, click on the Italian podcast section and scroll down to this episode.
M: That’s it from us for now, see you next time, or as we say in Italian,
K: Alla prossima!
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You know that bit in gangster movies when the mobster yells capeesh?!, right before whacking his business partner around the head with a wrench and throwing him in a garbage truck?
As a fan of the Sopranos and Goodfellas, capeesh? was one of the few Italian words Katie knew before she moved to Italy.
But it turns out, it’s not actually Italian!
In this episode, learn how Italians really use the verb capire, (to understand) and some other handy -ire verbs including pulire (to clean) and finire (to finish).
To make sure you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Capisco il francese = I understand French
Ma non lo parlo = But I don’t speak it.
Capisco = I understand
Pulisco = I clean
Finisco = I finish
Perché lo capisci ma non lo parli? = Why do you understand it but you don’t speak it? (literally: why it understand, but not it you speak?)
Capisci = You understand
Pulisci = You clean
Finisci = You finish
Non mi capiscono = They don’t understand me
Capiscono = They understand
Puliscono = They clean
Finiscono = They finish
Capisce = He/she understands; You understand (formal)
Pulisce = He/she cleans; You clean (formal)
Finisce = He/she finishes; You finish (formal)
Capiamo = we understand
Puliamo = we clean
Finiamo = we finish
Capite = you all understand (plural you)
Pulite = you all clean (plural you)
Finite = you all finish (plural you)
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Capeesh? The other -ire verbs in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: You know in gangster movies when the mobster yells capeesh?! right before whacking his business partner around the head with a wrench and throwing him in a garbage truck?
As a fan of the Sopranos and Goodfellas, before I moved to Italy, capeesh? – meaning “understand?” – was one of the few Italian words I knew.
But it turns out, it’s not actually Italian!
Learn how Italians really use the verb capire, (to understand) and some other handy -ire verbs including pulire (to clean) and finire (to finish) in episode 43 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: And before we start today’s episode, we’ve got a little confession for you.
M: Yes. We’re sorry, but we lied to you.
K: We said that there were 3 groups of verbs in Italian. Verbs which end in -are, verbs which end in -ere and verbs which end in -ire. But there are actually four groups.
M: That’s right, because verbs which end in -ire are split into two groups.
K: That means that when you see a verb which ends in – i – r – e, it could follow the pattern that you learnt in the last few episodes. But it might not. That’s because there’s a different -ire pattern that we haven’t talked about yet.
This pattern is used in verbs like capire, which means “to understand”. First, we’ll listen to a dialogue with this verb, then we’ll talk about how to use it.
M: Capisco il francese, ma non lo parlo.
K: Perché lo capisci ma non lo parli?
M: Perché quando lo parlo, non mi capiscono!
K: So here you heard Matteo say capisco il francese “I understand French”, ma non lo parlo “but I don’t speak it”.
M: Let’s look at capisco, means “I understand”.
K: So for the “I” form, as in “I understand”, instead of removing the -ire and adding “o” like we normally would, we add “isco”. For this reason, we call this group of verbs the “isco” verbs.
M: To say “I understand”, remove the “-ire” from capire and add “-isco”.
K: So how would you say “I don’t understand?”
M: Non capisco
K: And you can see all these words written down in the show notes. Another “-isco” verb is pulire, which means to clean. How would you say “I clean”
M: Pulisco
K: And finire, which means to finish. How would you say “I finish”?
M: Finisco.
K: But how do you know if it’s a normal -ire verb, or one of the -isco verbs? Unfortunately, there is no way to know, you just have to learn them. But it’s not necessary to memorise lists, once you know about the rule, you’ll pick the main ones up because you’ll come across them all the time.
Let’s listen to the rest of the dialogue. After capisco il francese ma non lo parlo, you heard me say:
M: Perché lo capisci ma non lo parli?
K: Why do you understand it, but you don’t speak it?
M: Here, you heard capisci, which means “you understand”.
K: So to get the “you” form, remove the “-ire” and add “isci”. So you understand is:
M: Capisci.
K: And how would you say “you clean?”. The verb is pulire, and we need to remove the -ire and add isci.
M: Pulisci
K: And “you finish?”, from the verb finire?
M: Finisci
K: Next, you heard:
M: Perché quando lo parlo, non mi capiscono!
K: Because when I speak, they don’t understand me. Non mi capiscono means “they don’t understand me” literally, not me, they understand (Italians speak like yoda sometimes!).
M: In this sentence, you heard: “capiscono” which means “they understand”. To get the “they” form, remove the “-ire” and add “-iscono”
K: How would you say “they clean?”
M: Puliscono
K: And “they finish”?
M: Finiscono
K: Alright so to recap, we’ve looked at how to say I understand, which is:
M: Capisco
K: You understand, which is:
M: Capisci
K: And they understand which is:
M: Capiscono
K: There are a couple more to learn. To say “he or she understands” we say:
M: Capisce.
K: And we know we also use the he/she form for the formal you. So you say “do you understand” to someone you don’t know very well, you could say:
M: Capisce?
K: These words sound a bit like something Tony Soprano would say before popping someone off: “capeeesh?”. And before I started learning Italian, I like many people I think, assumed that “capeesh” meant understand in Italian.
M: But it doesn’t. It’s similar, but not the same.
K: It’s difficult to pin down etymologically, but capeesh is an Italo-american word, not an Italian one.
M: It probably comes from the fact that in the southern dialects, we often cut the last vowel from words, so the last syllable in capisce is softer. As many of the immigrants were from the south of Italy, this may have evolved into capeesh. But Italians would never say “capeesh?” like in the films. And if you say it, Italians could get offended because it’s associated with mafia stereotypes.
K: We’ve just got too more forms to learn, the “we” form and the “you all” or “y’all” form, the plural you. And I’ve got some good news, these are regular! Just follow the same system you learnt in episodes 39 and 41. So how would you say “we understand?”
M: Remove the -ire from capire and add -iamo. Capiamo
K: How would you say “we clean”?
M: Remove the -ire from pulire and add -iamo. Puliamo
K: And how would you say “we finish?”
M: Remove the -ire from finire and add -iamo. Finiamo
K: And how would you say “you all” or “y’all understand”?
M: Change the “r” in capire to a “t”. Capite.
K: You all clean?
M: Change the “r” in pulire to a “t”. Pulite
K: You all finish?
M: Change the “r” in finire to a “t”. Finite
K: That’s it from us for today. To help you remember what you learnt in today’s episode, head over to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast, and go to episode 43 where you’ll find bonus materials including a quiz, flashcards and transcripts. Ciao for now, 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.
How do Italians celebrate Easter? Where do they go? What do they do? Do they eat as much chocolate as we do? Find out, and learn the special “gossip” form of Italian verbs you can use to talk about what other people are doing.
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…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Buona Pasqua! = Happy Easter
Che cosa fanno gli italiani a Pasqua? = What do Italians do at Easter?
Cucinano molto = They cook a lot
Cucinare = to cook
Cucinano = They cook
Che cosa cucinano? = What do they cook?
Cucinano l’agnello = They cook lamb
Cucinano le lasagne = they cook lasagne
Cucinano dolci = They cook desserts/sweets
Mangiano molto cioccolato! = They eat a lot of chocolate!
Che cos’altro fanno? = What else do they do?
Spesso partono per una vancaza = Often they go on holiday/vacation (literally: They often leave for a vacation).
Partono = they leave
I negozi vendono molto cioccolato = The shops sell lots of chocolate
Vendono = they sell
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Buona Pasqua! How Italians Celebrate Easter
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: How do Italians celebrate Easter? Where do they go? What do they do? Do they eat as much chocolate as we do? Find out, and learn the special “gossip” form of Italian verbs you can use to talk about what other people are doing, in episode #42 of 5 Minute Italian.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 minute Italian, hi everyone and welcome to 5 minute Italian. I’m Katie…
M: And I’m Matteo. Ciao.
K: Buona Pasqua!
M: Buona Pasqua!
K: Buona Pasqua means “Happy Easter”. Buona means good and Pasqua means “Easter”, so to say “Happy Easter” Italians literally say “Good Easter”.
M: Buona Pasqua.
K: And in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about how Italians celebrate Easter, and we’ll be using this conversation as an opportunity to talk about a verb form that we haven’t learnt together yet, which is the “they form”.
M: In the last 3 episodes, we’ve learnt how to say the I form, as in “I eat”, the “you form”, as in “you eat”, we form as in “we eat” etc.
K: Today, when we talk about what Italians do, we’re going to learn the “they” form, as in “they eat”. I like to call this the gossip form of the verb, because it’s the one we use to talk about what other people do when they’re not here. Tell us Matteo, che cosa fanno gli Italiani a Pasqua? What do Italians do at Easter?
M: Cucinano molto.
K: Cucianano molto. They cook a lot. Here we’ve got our first gossip form cucinano, which means they cook. It comes from the verb cucinare which means “to cook”. To get the “they” form of the verb, we remove the -are from cucinare, so we’re left with cucin-. Then we add the “they” ending, which is “a-n-o”. So we get…cucinano.
M: Cucinano.
K: Che cosa cucinano? (What do they cook?)
M: Cucinano l’agnello, cucinano le lasagne, cucinano dolci.
K: So we had, cucinano l’agnello which means “they cook lamb” cucinano le lasagne, which means “they cook lasagne” and cucinano dolci “they cook desserts”.
K: Che cos’altro fanno? What else do they do?
M: Mangiano molto cioccolato
K: Then, you heard another example of the “they” form: mangiano molto cioccolato! They eat a lot of chocolate. This comes from the verb mangiare which means “to eat”. To say “they eat”, we remove the -are, so we’re left with mangi– then add “a-n-o”, mangiano they eat.
K: Che cos’altro fanno? What else do they do?
M: Spesso partono per una vacanza
K: Spesso partono per una vacanza. “Often they go on holiday or vacation”. So here we had spesso, which means “often”. Then partono per una vacanza.
M: Partono means “to leave” and per una vacanza means “for a vacation”.
K: So Italians often make the most of the 4-day break by going on a little holiday. Now let’s look closer at this verb, partono which means “they leave”. It comes from the verb partire, which is an -ire verb. To make the “they” form, as in “they leave” we remove the -ire, so we’re left with part-.
M: Then, we add the “they” ending “o-n-o”. Partono.
K: It’s similar to the “they” ending for -are verbs, but with one important difference. With -are verbs, like mangiare, the “they” form ends in “a-n-o”.
M: Mangiano
K: But with -ire verbs, like partire, they “they” form ends in “o-n-o”
M: Partono
K: And if you’ve been listening to the last few episodes, you’ll know there’s one more type of verb that we haven’t mentioned yet, and that’s the verbs that end in -e-r-e, or the -ere verbs, like scrivere. Can you tell us something that Italians do at Easter using an -ere verb?
M: I negozi vendono molto cioccolato.
K: I negozi vendono molto cioccolato. “The shops sell lots of chocolate”. I negozi = the shops; vendono = they sell; molto cioccolato = lots of chocolate.
M: You heard vendono, which means “they sell”. This is the “they” form of the verb vendere which means “to sell”.
K: Great, so we’ve got vendere which means to sell. And good news, to get the “they” form, it’s exactly the same as the -ire verbs. Just remove the -ere, so we get vend- then add “o-n-o”. Vendono
M: Vendono
K: So let’s recap quickly. We looked at how to make the “they” form in three different types of verbs. Verbs which end in -are, like mangiare.
M: To get the “they” form, as in “they eat”, remove the -are, so you get mangi-, then add a-n-o. Mangiano.
K: And to get the “they” form for other verbs which end in -ire, like partire, or -ere like vendere, remove the -ire or the -ere endings and add “o-n-o”.
M: So to say they leave, remove the -ire from partire, and add “ono”. Partono. And to say “they sell” remove the -ere from vendere and add “ono”. Vendono.
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!
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 that Italian has 3 different ways of saying you? There’s the “singular you”, the “formal you” and the “plural you”. This can feel a bit confusing to English speakers because we only have one! But not to worry, they’re very simple to learn when you know how. Find out more in episode 41 of 5 minute Italian.
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…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Parlare = to speak
Scrivere = to write
Dormire = to sleep
Parli = you speak
Scrivi = you write
Dormi = you sleep
Parla = he/she speaks; you speak (formal)
Scrive = he/she writes; you write (formal)
Dorme = he/she sleeps; you sleep (formal)
Parlate = you all/both speak
Scrivete = you all/both write
Dormite = you all/both sleep
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Three ways of saying “you” in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Did you know that Italian has 3 different ways of saying you? This can feel a bit confusing to English speakers because we only have one! But not to worry, they’re very simple to learn when you know how. Find out more in episode 41 of 5 minute Italian.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 minute Italian, hi everyone and welcome to 5 minute Italian. I’m Katie…
M: And I’m Matteo. Ciao.
K: And in today’s episode, we’ll be talking about all the different ways to say “you” in Italian. Now back in episode 39, we learnt the most common way to say “you”, which is the informal “you”. The “you” to use with your family, friends and young people. So let’s review that quickly now. Let’s start with an -are verb, parlare (to speak). How do you say “you speak”?
M: Parli. Remove the -are from parlare, and add the “i” sound. Parli
K: Now for an -ere verb, scrivere (to write). How do you say “you write?”
M: Scrivi. Remove the -ere from scrivere and add the “i” sound. Scrivi.
K: Now an -ire verb, dormire, which means to sleep. How do you say “you sleep”?
M: Dormi. Remove the -ire and add the “i” sound. Dormi.
K: So to say the informal “you”, it’s easy. For -are, -ere and -ire verbs, just remove -are, -ere and -ire and add the “i” sound. Now, this “i” sound is actually spelt with the letter i, so if you’re interested in the spelling you can see the words written down in the show notes. Next, Italian has a formal version of “you” that you’d use with older people that you don’t know very well.
M: Good news, it’s really easy! You actually already know how to say it.
K: Remember the last episode, when we learnt how to say “he” and “she”? Well, the formal “you” is exactly the same as the “he” and “she” form. Which kind of makes sense when you think about it because using the formal form is a way of creating polite distance between yourself and the speaker. So instead of looking at them and saying “you”, you look at them and say “he” or “she” instead.
K: Can you remember how to say “he or she speaks”?
M: Parla.
K: So how would you say “you speak” In the formal form?
M: Parla.
K: Can you remember how to say “he or she writes”?
M: Scrive
K: So how would you say “you write”, in the formal way?
M: Scrive.
K: And “he or she sleeps”?
M: Dorme
K: You sleep, in the formal way?
M: Dorme.
K: But how do you know when to use the formal “you” in Italian?
M: As a general rule, I’d say use it with anyone over 50 that you don’t know very well, and with staff in formal situations like in nice restaurants or hotels, or in business situations when you don’t know the person. But even Italians aren’t always sure when to use it, so don’t feel like not knowing it means that you’re bad at Italian.
K: And people are very forgiving with non-native speakers too!
Next, let’s talk about the third way of saying “you” which exists in Italian, which is the plural “you”, when you’re speaking to more than one person. It’s like saying “you both”, “you guys”, “you all” or “y’all”.
M: And even more good news, it’s also very simple to learn!
K: All you have to do is take the verb in its full form, the replace the “r” with a “t”. So we know that parlare means to speak. To say “you all” or “you both” speak, remove the r from the are part and replace it with a “t”. So instead of parlare, we get parlate. So again, you all or you both speak is…
M: Parlate
K: Let’s do the same for scrivere to write. How would you say “you all” or “you both” write?
M: Scrivete. Remove the “r” from scrivere and add “t”. Scrivete
K: And finally, dormire (to sleep). How would you say “you all” or “you both sleep”?
M: Dormite. Remove the “r” from dormire and add “t”. Dormite.
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!
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 that Bill Gates can help you learn Italian? He’s often quoted as saying: I will always hire a lazy person to do a difficult job because he will find an easy way to do it.
This describes exactly how we feel about Italian verbs – what’s the point in wasting time doing it the hard way, when there’s an easier way? In today’s episode, you’ll learn more sneaky shortcuts to help you remember Italian verbs.
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…
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.
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Aspettare = to wait
Aspetto = I wait
Aspetti = you wait
Aspettiamo = we wait
Vedere = to see
Vedo = I see
Vedi = you see
Vediamo = we see
Partire = to leave
Parto = I leave
Parti = you leave
Partiamo = we leave
Aspetta = he/she waits
Parla = he/she speaks
Scrive = he/she writes
Vede = he/she sees
Parte = he/she leaves
Dorme = he/she sleeps
Fumare = to smoke
Fuma = He/she smokes
Fuma? = does he/she smoke?
Prendere = take
Prende = he/she takes
Il treno = the train
Prende il treno = he/she takes the train
Quando = when
Quando prende il treno?
Offrire = offer
Offre da bere =he/she is buying the drinks.
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: More Easy Ways to Remember Italian Verbs
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Bill Gates is sometimes quoted as saying that he would always hire a lazy person to do a difficult job, because he will find an easy way to do it. This is how we like to learn languages – Matteo and I are very lazy so we’re always looking for the easiest ways to help you guys learn Italian verbs. Learn some more sneaky shortcuts to learning Italian verbs in episode 40 of 5 minute Italian.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 minute Italian, hi everyone and welcome to 5 minute Italian. I’m Katie…
M: And I’m Matteo. Ciao.
Last week we looked at how to conjugate verbs in Italian to say I, as in “I speak”, you as in “you speak” and we as in “we speak”. We’ll be building on what we learnt, so if you didn’t catch that, you can go back and listen to episode 39 now.
Let’s practice these forms quickly with a few new verbs. Aspettare means to wait. So how would you say “I wait”?
M: Aspetto.
K: How would you say “you wait?”
M: Aspetti
K: How would you say “we wait?”
M: Aspettiamo
K: Vedere means to see. So how would you say “I see”
M: Vedo
K: How would you say “you see?”
M: Vedi
K: We see?
M: Vediamo.
K: Partire means to leave. So how would you say I leave?
M: Parto
K: You leave?
M: Parti
K: We leave?
M: Partiamo
K: In the rest of today’s lesson, we’ll be learning the easy way to remember the “he/she” form of regular verbs, as in “he waits” or “she waits”.
M: The good news is, the “he/she” form is the same for both men and women, so you only have to learn one form. And for -are and -ere verbs, as in aspettare and vedere, we’ve got a sneaky shortcut for you.
K: All you have to do is remove the -re from the end of the verb. So let’s start with the verb aspettare and remove the -re from the end of the verb. So how would you say “he waits”
M: Aspetta.
K: And how would you say she waits?
M: Aspetta
K: Yep, so here you can see it’s exactly the same. Let’s try with another -are verb, parlare, to speak. How would you say he speaks?
M: Parla.
K: She speaks?
M: Parla.
K: Perfect. Then we do exactly the same for -ere verbs, like vedere. So how would you say “he sees?”, remove the -re from the end of vedere and you get…
M: Vede
K: And how would you say she sees?
M: Vede.
K: Now let’s try with another -ere verb, like scrivere, which means to write. How would you say he writes?
M: Scrive
K: And she writes?
M: Scrive.
K: Now let’s move onto -ire verbs, like partire, to leave, and dormire, to sleep. Now -ire verbs don’t follow the same rule as we just described and there’s a good reason for this.
M: If we remove the -re from partire, we would get parti, which we know means “you leave”.
K: But don’t worry, the “he/she” form of the -ire verbs is still very simple. In fact, it’s exactly the same as –ere verbs, like vedere and scrivere. Just remove the -re, but this time change the “i” to “e”. So let’s start with partire. How would you say he leaves?
M: Parte
K: She leaves?
M: Parte
K: What about dormire, to sleep. How would you say “she sleeps?”
M: Dorme.
K: He sleeps?
M: Dorme.
K: Alright, so let’s practice using these. The word fumare means to smoke. It’s an -are verb, so how would you say “he or she smokes?”
M: Fuma.
K: We know that Italian has a very simple way of asking questions. All you have to do is say the word with a question intonation. So how would you say “does he or she smoke?”
M: Fuma?
K: Prendere means to take. So how would you say “he/she takes”?
M: Prende
K: And the train is il treno. So how would you say “he/she takes the train”?
M: Prende il treno
K: To say “when” is quando. So how would you say “when does she take the train?” Literally “when she take the train”?
M: Quando prende il treno?
K: Offrire, an -ire verb means to offer. To drink is: da bere. To say he’s buying everyone a drink, we literally say “he offers to drink”. So how would you say “he’s buying everyone a drink?”
M: Offre da bere!
K: Who? Let’s find him quick.
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!
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.
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