Summer’s coming and that can only mean one thing…
Gelato!
In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to order an ice-cream in Italian. Along the way, we’ll help you avoid some common mistakes tourists make in Italian shops and cafés.
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…
Click here to listen to the “gelato al cioccolato” song
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.
Gusti = flavours
Cioccolato = chocolate
Limone = lemon
Pistacchio = pistachio
Vaniglia = vanilla
Menta = mint
Melone = melon
Crema = custard
Fragola = strawberry
Nocciola = hazelnut
Ciliegia = cherry
Stracciatella = vanilla with chocolate bits
Il mio gusto preferito = my favourite flavour
Due palline = two scoops
Pagare = to pay
Pagare alla cassa = pay at the till
Un cono = a cone
Una coppetta = little paper cup
Lo scontrino = the receipt
il banco = the counter
un cono cioccolato e vaniglia = a cone with chocolate and vanilla
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to order a gelato 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.
Summer’s coming, and that can only mean one thing. Gelato time! Find out how to order an ice-cream in this week’s episode of 5 minute Italian.
Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 minute Italian, hi everyone and welcome to 5 minute Italian. I’m Katie…
And I’m Matteo. Ciao.
And in this week’s episode, we’re going to learn a very important skill. Possibly THE most important skill you will ever master in Italian, and that is… how to order gelato!! We’ll also learn be learning some useful phrases for buying things in shops and loads of different food names.
Alright so let’s get started.
Katie: So you walk in the shop, and the first thing you say is…
Matteo: Buongiorno.
Katie: And just a quick cultural note here, it’s really important to greet people when you walk into shops. So in England, it’s quite normal just to walk into a shop or a newsagent and look around, then say hi when you go up to the counter. Italians, always say buongiorno as soon as they walk in unless it’s a really big shop like a supermarket.
Matteo: Then, you walk up to the counter and you see all these amazing gusti, which means flavours.
Katie: Let’s here some of the ones which are quite similar to English and see if you can guess what they are.
Matteo: cioccolato
Katie: which of course means chocolate
Matteo: limone
Katie: Lemon
Matteo: pistacchio
Katie: This is interesting, so Italians say pistachio with a hard K sound.
Matteo: banana
Katie: no prizes for guessing what that means!
Matteo: vaniglia
Katie: that’s vanilla, with the “gli” sound in the middle – if you want to know more about how to pronounce that you can head back to episode 5 on how to pronounce “gli” in Italian. Another flavour similar to vaniglia is fior di latte. What’s the difference between vaniglia and fior di latte? I’ve never been able to figure it out.
Matteo: Vaniglia is vanilla flavour, fior di latte is just milk flavour.
Katie: What else have you got?
Matteo: Menta
Katie: Mint
Matteo: Melone
Katie: Melon of course. Now let’s hear some gusti which aren’t so similar to the English translations.
Matteo: Crema
Katie: Custard. Which sounds a bit odd, but it’s a really popular flavour in Italy and it’s amazing.
Matteo: Fragola
Katie: Which means strawberry
Matteo: Nocciola
Katie: Hazelnut, another amazing flavour
Matteo: Ciliegia
Katie: Cherry
Matteo: Stracciatella
Katie: Which is vanilla with chocolate pieces in it. Next, il mio gusto preferito – my favourite flavour. Do you know which one?
Matteo: Nutella
Katie: Certo, of course.
With so many flavours, it’s really hard to choose. Good news is, you don’t have to narrow it down to one. In Italy, you can get due palline (two scoops). Or if you’re feeling ambitious, you can get tre palline.
The standard portion is two, so the servers will assume you want 2 flavours, unless you specify otherwise.
So you’re looking at all these amazing ice-creams, but you can’t get stuck in just yet. First, you need to pagare (pay)
Matteo: That’s right, so in Italy, you have to pagare alla cassa, pay at the till, first. When you get to la cassa, you’ll need to tell the server if you want un cono or una coppetta.
Katie: A cone or a little paper cup. If you want to blend in like an Italian, don’t order your ice-cream and then pay. Go to the till and pay first.
After you’ve pagato (paid), you need to take lo scontrino, “the receipt” over to il banco (the counter) and finalmente, finally, you can order your gelato.
Matteo: The last thing you need to know is the word “and” so you can put the flavours together. “And” is e. So to say a cone with chocolate and vanilla you’d say… un cono cioccolato e vaniglia
Katie: Let’s do a quick recap. How do you say hazelnut
Matteo: nocciola
Katie: And how would you say “a cone with hazelnut and pistacchio?”
Matteo: un cono nocciola e pistacchio.
Katie: That’s your favourite flavour combo of all time. And what about if you want one of the little paper cups, how would you order one of those, with vanilla and strawberry
Matteo: una coppetta vaniglia e fragola
Katie: How about chocolate and custard?
Matteo: una coppetta cioccolato e crema.
Katie: And where do you pay, in the gelateria? How do you say “at the till?”
Matteo: Alla cassa
K: That’s it from us today – there’s a famous Italian song about ice-cream, which is called gelato al cioccolato. which is a slightly odd song, but I think it’s a fun way to keep learning, so we’ll link to that in the show notes.
Click here to listen to the “gelato al cioccolato” song.
Thanks for listening to 5 Minute Italian. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following the link in the 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.
Where are you from?
It’s the most popular conversation starter of all time and an essential topic to master if you want to make small talk with Italians.
In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to ask people where they’re from and tell them about your nationality. By the end, you’ll know:
1. Three different ways to ask someone where they’re from
2. How to talk about different nationalities
3. One very simple way to ask questions
Here’s a link to last week’s episode on when to use formal and informal forms: Italian greetings – How Italians really say hello to each other.
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.
Di dove sei? = Where are you from? (informal)
Di = from
Dove = where
Sei = you are (informal)
è = you are (formal)
Di dov’è? = where are you from? (formal)
Siete = you both/all are
Sono = I am
Inglese = English
Americano/a = American
Australiano/a = Australian
Italiano/a = Italian
E tu? = And you? (informal)
E lei? = And you? (formal)
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Where are you from? in Italian + other small talk questions
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: What’s the first question most Italians ask when making small talk? Where are you from? is probably the most common. Find out how to ask people where they’re from and tell them about your nationality, in this week’s episode 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.
Katie: Today’s lesson is the first in a mini-series on how to have a basic conversation in Italian. In this lesson you’ll learn how to ask someone where they’re from, and talk about your own nationality in Italian. We’re also going to learn how to use one of the most important verbs in Italian, which is “to be”.
Matteo: To ask someone where they’re from, you can say: di dove sei?
Katie: Italians say it backwards: di means from, dove means where and sei means “you are”. They literally say “from where are you” di dove sei?. So far, we’ve learned that sei means “you are”. But Italian actually has three different ways to say you are, depending on who you’re talking to.
Matteo: Right, we have: Di dov’è. The last part: è means “you are” in formal situations, for example, with receptionists, or people who are older.
Katie: Again we’ve got di which is “from”, and dove, which is “where”, but this time we say è, the formal way to say “you are”, which is written as the letter e with a little sloping accent on the top. Dove and è are contracted together, we remove the e at the end of dove, so it becomes di dov’è.
We went into a bit more depth about when to use the formal form in last week’s episode, so if you want to find out more we’ll put that link in the show notes too.
Listen now: Italian greetings – How Italians really say hello to each other
There was one more way right?
Matteo: Yes. In English, when you want to say you to more than one person, you say “you both” for two people, or “you all” for three or more. But Italians have a special form for the plural of you. So to say you both, or you all are in Italian is siete.
Katie: Great, so taking the same structure that we used before di dove sei, (informal) and di dov’è (formal), how would you say where are you all/both from?
Matteo – di dove siete.
Katie: now let’s look at how to answer this question. How do you say “I am”
Matteo: Sono
Katie: And English is inglese. So how would you say “I’m English”?
Matteo: Sono inglese.
Katie: Inglese, ends with the letter e, so it’s the same for males and females. But some words, like Americano or Italiano, change, depending on whether you’re a male or a female. So if a woman wants to say “I’m American”, she would say…
Matteo: Sono Americana.
Katie: with an A ending. And what about if a man wants to say “I’m American”
Matteo: Sono Americano.
Katie: How would a woman say “I’m Australian”
Matteo: Sono Australiana
Katie: And how would a man say “I’m Australian”
Matteo: Sono Australiano.
Katie: And how would a woman say “I’m Italian”
Matteo: Sono Italiana
Katie: And how would a man say “I’m Italian”
Matteo: Sono Italiano
And we’ll put a link to a list of other nationalities in the comments box so you can find out how to say yours if we missed it.
And finally, we need to know how to say the all-important “and you”? If it’s an informal situation, “you” is tu. The word “and”, is “e” So to say “and you” we say.
Matteo: E tu?
Katie: And the formal word for you is “Lei”. So if you’re speaking to someone older than you, to say “and you”, you’d say…
Matteo: E Lei?
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the 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.
You already know buongiorno and ciao. But do you know how Italians really greet each other?
It’s a bit different to how they teach it in textbooks.
In this week’s episode, you’ll learn how to say hello like Italians do. By the end of the lesson, you’ll know:
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.
Buongiorno = hello/good morning/good afternoon
Buonasera = good evening
Ciao = hi
Salve = hello/goodbye
Pronto = a word Italians use when they answer the phone (it literally means ready)
Chi è? = Who is it?
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian greetings: How Italians really say hello to each other
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: So you probably know how to say ciao and buongiorno. But do you know how Italians really greet each other? It’s not always the same as how they teach it in Italian courses. In this week’s episode, you’ll learn when Italians use buongiorno, buonasera and ciao, and one handy trick for when you’re not sure which one to use. Find out in this week’s episode 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 in today’s episode, we’re going to learn how to greet people the way that Italians do. So imagine you’re on holiday in Italy, you wake up and the first thing you think about is going to a cafè and getting a coffee. You walk in, you turn to the barrista and you say…
M: Buongiorno.
K: Ah so what’s the difference between buongiorno and ciao? Because we often hear that buongiorno is formal and ciao is informal. But what does that actually look like in day to day situations?
M: Well, it depends on the place and the people. For example, if it’s a posh place, or if the person is a lot older, then it’s a good idea to say buongiorno. If it’s a laidback atmosphere, people will sometimes say ciao, even if it’s the first time they meet.
Also how formal you are as a person – I’m quite a laidback person, so I like to say ciao when I can, and if I can see that the other person is laidback too, I’ll use ciao, even if I’ve never met them before. But I know some people who are very formal and say buongiorno wherever they go.
Textbooks will say that you should always say buongiorno to people, unless they’re a close friend or a child, then you can say ciao. But it’s not quite as simple as that.
You can certainly use ciao with people you don’t know if it the situation feels quite informal. One good trick is to follow the lead of the other person – look at them, smile and then use the same greeting they use.
A good rule of thumb is: if it’s a posh place or the person is a lot older than you, you know you need to say buongiorno. In other situations, you can smile and follow the other person’s lead.
K: So back to our day in Italy. Now it’s the afternoon and you decide to go into a shop. You walk in, turn to the comessa, the saleswoman and you say…
M: Buongiorno.
K: Then in the evening, you go to a restaurant, turn to the cameriere (waiter) and you say…
M: buonasera.
K: Right, so we use buongiorno in the morning and the afternoon and buonasera in the afternoon. When does it change?
M: Well, the main thing I think is that it’s all about the light in the sky. So if there’s light in the sky, unless it’s after 5 or 4ish, you can always say buongiorno. After 4 or 5 and if the sky is quite dark, you can go with buonasera.
K: There’s one handy word that you can use in most situations. It’s a one-size fits all word for morning, evening, formal, informal. If you don’t know which one to use, you can use…
M: Salve
K: And it also means bye which is handy.
K: Now 2 bonus ways to say hello, that are different to in English. When Italians answer the phone, they don’t say hello, they say…
M: Pronto
K: Which literally means “ready”. Which can seem quite funny when you’re not Italian because they answer the phone and say “ready!” pronto. The next one is when you answer the buzzer in your apartment.
M: We don’t say hello, we just say chi è which means “who is it”.
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the 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.
Can you rrrroll your Rs? Don’t worry if you can’t yet – with a little patience, practice and the right techniques, most people can learn.
In today’s episode, we’ll give you some handy techniques to help you practise. And one clever little trick that’ll instantly help you pronounce R more like an Italian – even if you’ve never been able to roll your tongue before.
Here’s the tongue twister from today’s episode: Trentatré Trentini entrarono a Trento, tutti e trentatré, trotterellando. It means: Thirty three Trentonians (people from Trento, an Italian city) came into Trento, all thirty three trotting.
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.
Caro = expensive
Carro = cart
Marrone = brown
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to Roll your Rs 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: Can you rrrrroll your Rs in Italian? With the right techniques, a little practice and a lot of patience, most people can learn to do it. Learn how, and a really useful trick you can use to make your R sound more Italian straight away, in this week’s episode 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: This week’s lesson on how to rrrrroll your Rs is a subject that’s really close to my heart because for the longest time I just couldn’t do it. I was convinced that I just naturally couldn’t do it – that it was physiological, so I’d kind of resigned myself to speaking Italian with a slightly weird R sound.
But I practised a lot – doing the exercises which we’ll talk about very soon – and started doing them everywhere – in the shower, when I was waiting for my computer to load, while I was cooking… and eventually, I got the R sound. It’s still not as good as Matteo’s – let’s hear it…
M: rrrrrrrrrr
K: But I can pronounce it in words now and that’s the main thing.
M: So what exercises did you do?
K: The first and probably the most useful exercise is to try saying t and d together quickly. If you say td td td td td td td – it’s like a slow version of t plus the rolled R, like in the word tre. So you can practise doing it faster and faster until eventually, it becomes a roll – td td td..rrrrrrrrrrr.
One thing that really helps is to actually imagine a word spelt td. Instead of t – r, imagine it as td. So you get t – de. T – de … tre. And there’s an Italian tongue twister which is really good practice for this one.
M: Yes – it’s quite difficult even for an Italian speaker, but I’ll try. Trentatré Trentini entrarono a Trento, tutti e trentatré, trotterellando.
K: And we’ll put the links in the show notes if you want to find out what it means and get some more practise.
K: The next little tip is to try whispering the R sound. This helps because it increases the pressure of the air that blows across the top of your tongue, and it makes it easier to start vibrating.
K: So these are all things that are going to take a little time and patience. It’s like going to the gym – you need build up the muscles. But there is something you can do right now to make your R even more Italian.
If you have or can do an American accent, you can already do one of the Italian R sounds.
Matteo: Italian, like Spanish, actually has two R sounds. A short one, like in caro.
Katie: Which means expensive, and is spelt with one R.
Matteo: And a long one, like in carro.
Katie: Which means cart and is spelt with two Rs. Interestingly, the short one, in caro is the same as the American “t” in words like butter and waiter.
So try to imagine words spelt with one R, like caro with the American t sound, and your pronunciation will immediately be much closer to the Italian pronunciation.
And if you’re still working towards your tongue roll, in the meantime, you can actually use this sound to pronounce words with the long R sound too. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s much closer to the original pronunciation than the English R.
For example, if you want to say the word “brown” in Italian which is…
M: marrone
K: with the long double R, you can use the American t sound for now. So it would sound like “marone”. It’s not perfect, but it’s much closer than the typical English R sound.
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the 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.
How do you count to 100 in Italian? And how can you use these numbers to make your fiancé do the dishes? Find out how in episode 15 of 5 Minute Italian.
Here’s last week’s lesson on how to count from 1 to 20.
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.
1 = uno
2 = due
3 = tre
4 = quattro
5 = cinque
6 = sei
7 = sette
8 = otto
9 = nove
10 = dieci
11 = undici
12 = dodici
13 = tredici
14 = quattordici
15 = quindici
16 = sedici
17 = diciassette
18 = diciotto
19 = diciannove
20 = venti
21 = ventuno
22 = ventidue
23 = ventitre
24 = ventiquattro
25 = venticinque
26 = ventisei
27 = ventisette
28 = ventotto
29 = ventinove
30 = trenta
40 = quaranta
50 = cinquanta
60 = sessanta
70 = settanta
80 = ottanta
90 = novanta
100 = cento
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to count to 100 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: How do you count to 100 in Italian, and how can you use these numbers to make your fiancé do the dishes? Find out how in 5 minute Italian, episode 15.
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: In today’s episode, we’re going to learn how to count to 100 in Italian. We’re going to be building on what we learned in that lesson so if you missed it, you can go back and learn how to count to twenty first by clicking the link in the show notes below. Let’s take it from twenty to thirty first. Can you remember how to say 20?
M: Venti. Then we have ventuno….
K: So the good news is, as you can hear, it’s quite similar to English. So we get the big number first venti and then we just add the little number. So to say twenty three, we first say twenty (venti) and then we add three (tre). Ventitre. But there are a couple of exceptions.
M: Like when you add uno and otto. Twenty one is ventuno and twenty eight is ventotto.
K: And this happens because the little number starts with a vowel, like the u in uno and o in otto. When this happens, the last vowel sound in the big number, like the i in venti gets deleted. So we don’t get venti uno, but we get ventuno. Not venti otto, but ventotto.
K: So we know that thirty is…
M: trenta.
K: What’s thirty one?
M: trentuno. We delete the last vowel sound and add uno. Trentuno.
K: And thirty eight?
M: Trentotto. Again, we delete the a. Trentuno.
K: Alright so lets count from thirty to forty.
M: trentuno, trentadue, trentatre, trentaquattro, trentacinque, trentasei, trentasette, trentotto, trentanove, quaranta.
K: And the good news is that this system stays the same right up to 100, so as soon as we know the multiples of 10, we can count to 100.
M: Cinquanta is fifty, sessanta is sixty, settanta is seventy, ottanta is eighty, novanta is ninety and cento is 100.
K: So if ninety is novanta, how do you say ninety 5?
M: Novantacinque.
K: And ninety one?
M: Novantuno
K: Sixty is sessanta, so sixty four is…
M: Sessantaquattro.
K: Let’s play a quick game to practise. I have a random number generator here. Whoever guesses the closest number wins. And whoever guesses the number furthest away has to do the dishes tonight.
M: OK.
K: Think of a number…
[Number game]
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the 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.
Ah counting… something that seems so simple can be quite tricky in a new language!
In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to count to 20 in Italian and avoid common mistakes beginners often make. By the end, you’ll be able to use numbers for very important things, like buying beer and paying for stuff.
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 becoming a 5 minute Italian member! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Remember what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
1 = uno
2 = due
3 = tre
4 = quattro
5 = cinque
6 = sei
7 = sette
8 = otto
9 = nove
10 = dieci
11 = undici
12 = dodici
13 = tredici
14 = quattordici
15 = quindici
16 = sedici
17 = diciassette
18 = diciotto
19 = diciannove
20 = venti
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to count from 1 to 20 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: How do you count from 1 to 20 in Italian? And how can you use these numbers to do useful things like buy beer and pay for stuff? Find out how in 5 minute Italian, episode 14.
In today’s lesson, we’re gonna learn how to count to 20 in Italian.
Let’s dive straight in. Matteo’s going to count to 10 – if you can, count along with him because saying the numbers out loud will help you remember them better and get the right pronunciation.
Matteo: Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci.
K: So that was one to ten. Are there any common mistakes which beginners tend to make when learning these numbers?
M: Yes, often people don’t pronounce the vowel sounds properly, like in the words sei (which means 6) and dieci, which means 10.
K: In Italian, when you have two vowel sounds, like in sei you have to pronounce each sound fully. The word for six (sei) is spelt: s – e – i. Some people don’t put enough emphasis on the last vowel sound, so we get something like “se”. But it’s important to pronounce both vowel sounds fully so you get: S-E-I
M: And the same for dieci.
K: Yes – sometimes people say “dici” but it’s important to pronounce the i-e sound, so you get di-e-ci
M: Dieci.
K: Now let’s count from 11 to 17. Why not straight to 20? Because at 17, something very weird happens. Count along with Matteo, and see if you can hear what it is.
M: So 11 is undici, then we have docidi, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici… diciassette. That’s the problem
K: So as you can hear, up until 16 (sedici). It’s quite similar to English. We’ve got this “dici” at the end of each number – which is like the “teen” part. So thirteen is tredici, fourteen is quattordici and so on. But then we reach 17 and it flips around and the teen part comes first, and it changes a little.
M: So seventeen is diciassette.
K: Then what happens?
M: eighteen is diciotto, then we have diciannove and finally, venti.
K: And you can find these numbers with their spelling in the show notes. Let’s take the whole thing from the top and remember if you’re listening at home you can count out loud after Matteo – or if you’re in a public place at your own risk…
M: uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci, undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, venti.
K: Now you can count to 20, what can you do with these numbers?
M: Buy beers.
K: Yea, the most important thing when you go abroad is to buy beers. So to say beers we say birre. How would you say 2 beers?
M: Due birre.
K: And how would you say 6 beers?
M: Sei birre
K: Let’s imagine it’s a very big night, how would you say 16 beers?
M: sedici birre
K: And 17 beers?
M: diciassette birre
K: Or maybe you’re just out with 17 people. What else can you do?
M: Pay for stuff.
K: So how would you say 18 euros?
M: diciotto euro.
K: And in last week’s episode, we learned that “it costs” is “costa” So how do you say “it costs 18 euros?”
M: costa 18 euro.
K: And what about it costs eleven euros.
M: costa 11 euro.
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the below. Grazie, and ciao for now, see you next time, or as we say in Italian, alla prossima!
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Do you know how to get from the airport to your hotel, using only Italian? After today’s episode you will!
Listen to learn some handy travel phrases for the airport and beyond.
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 becoming a 5 minute Italian member! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Remember what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
il bagno = the bathroom/toilet
caldo = hot
freddo = cold
la valigia = the suitcase
ho perso la valigia = I’ve lost my suitcase (literally “the suitcase”)
autobus = bus
il treno = the train
un biglietto = a ticket
stazione centrale = central station
prendo un taxi = I take a taxi
dove = where
indirizzo = address
quanto costa? = how much does it cost?
quanto costa un biglietto? = how much does a ticket cost?
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to get from the plane to your hotel
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 probably recognise travel words like passaporto and autobus. But do you know how to get from the plane to your hotel or the city centre, all in Italian? Find out how in 5 minute Italian, episode 13.
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: Imagine you’ve just landed in Italy. You’re on the plane, and you need to find your way to the city centre or your hotel. Today we’re going to learn how to do all that it in Italian. You can find a list of the new words and phrases from today’s episode in the show notes below.
So, you’re walking off the plane and you turn around to the hostess and you say…
M: Grazie.
K: And be careful here because the correct pronunciation of this word is grazi-e. Make sure that you pronounce the two vowel sounds at the end i-e. Lot’s of people when they first start learning Italian say “grazi”.
M: Right – but the correct pronunciation is grazi-e
K: Great, so you’re coming off the plane now, you show your passaporto and then you want to go to the toilet quickly, il bagno. You come out, you look at the 2 taps and you see the letters C and F. What’s going on? Which is hot and which is cold?
M: That’s really difficult for English speakers because C means caldo, which means hot.
K: Yea, especially because the word caldo, sounds like cold, doesn’t it?
M: Yep, but it’s not. Caldo, means hot. Then we have freddo, which means cold.
K: Now you’ve got your suitcase
M: Your valigia
K: That reminds me, a very useful phrase that we hope you’ll never have to use is… ho perso la valigia
M: Ho perso la valigia. Ho means I have, perso means lost and valigia means suitcase ho perso la valigia.
K: Now you’ve got your valigia – or at least we hope you have – and you’re walking through arrivi, which means arrivals.
M: Now you need a ticket for the autobus.
K: which I’m sure you can guess means bus. Or maybe, you want to get the train. Which is
M: Il treno.
K: To say a ticket, we say: un biglietto. And the word for “to”, (as in “a ticket TO this place) is per. So how would you say “a ticket to”
M: Un biglietto per
K: Central station is la stazione centrale. How would you say “a ticket to central station”?
M: Un biglietto per la stazione centrale.
K: And what about if we want to take a taxi?
M: To say “I take a taxi”, we say prendo un taxi
K: In the taxi, you might hear the drive say the word dove?, which means where. And you can say stazione centrale or you can give him the address of your hotel. The word for “address” is..
M: indirizzo
K: And finally, you might want to weigh up different options to see how much they cost. To ask how much something costs we say:
M: quanto costa?
K: We have quanto which means “how much” and costa which means “costs”. And if we want to say “how much does a ticket cost?”, we literally say “how much costs a ticket”. So can you remember how to say a ticket?
M: Un biglietto.
K: So “how much does a ticket cost” or literally “how much costs a ticket is…
M: Quanto costa un biglietto.
K: Let’s make a really nice long sentence now: “how much does a ticket to central station cost” or literally: “how much costs a ticket to central station?”
M: Quanto costa un biglietto per la stazione centrale?
K: Time for a quick recap. How do you say “I’ve lost my suitcase”
M: Ho perso la valigia.
K: Let’s imagine you’re getting in a taxi. The taxi driver will say the word “where”. How do you say that in Italian?
M: Dove.
K: So you’ll need to give him an address. How do you say “address” in Italian?
M: Indirizzo
K: And finally, if you decide to take the autobus or the treno, you might want to know how much a ticket costs. So you can ask…
M: Quanto costa un biglietto (per la stazione centrale).
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. If you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the comments box 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.
You know the quattro formaggi pizza, the one with loads of cheese? If you’ve ever ordered one, you’ll know that the “g” sound is different to the “g” in margherita pizza.
But why?
Learn how to pronounce the “g” sound in Italian, so you can order Italian food in style.
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 becoming a 5 minute Italian member! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Remember what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Origano = oregano
Gamberi = prawns
Funghi = mushrooms
Quattro stagioni = four seasons
Formaggio = cheese
Fagioli = beans
Menu del giorno = menu of the day
Gelato = ice-cream
Vegetariano = vegetarian
Sono vegetariano = I’m vegetarian
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian words with GH and G
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 you pronounce the letter G in Italian, and why is the G in spaghetti different from the G in the formaggio, which means cheese? Find out how to pronounce the letter G and pronounce Italian food like a pro in 5 minute Italian episode 12.
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.
In today’s lesson, we’re going to continue learning how to pronounce Italian food names on a menu. This time we’re going to look at the letter G.
If you’ve already followed our lesson on how to pronounce the C sound we’ve got some good news for you – you should be able to pick it up quite easily because the rules are more or less the same. So if you didn’t catch that lesson, you can listen, by clicking the link in the comments below, where you will also find a list of the new words from today’s episode.
M: Let’s get started shall we? The letter G is usually pronounced as a hard G sound. Like in origano.
K: Which you can probably guess means oregano, which I think in American English is pronounced as oregano, so it’s actually closer to the Italian pronunciation.
M: Gamberi, which means prawns.
K: Sometimes you’ll see the letters G and H together, and this is also pronounced as a hard G sound.
M: Like in spaghetti, or in margherita. That is a type of pizza. We’ve also got funghi.
K: Which you may have seen before on a pizza menu, it means mushrooms. Sometimes G is pronounced as a soft J sound. Like in the English word “gin”. We pronounce it this way when it’s followed by the letter i or an e.
M: Like in stagioni – of quattro stagioni, which is a type of pizza.
K: Yea, I’ve often seen this name on pizza menus in the UK as well. What does it mean?
M: The name means 4 seasons.
K: What’s on a quattro stagioni pizza?
M: Usually Ham, mushrooms, artichokes, olives…
K: Mmmmm. I could eat one of those now. Back to G. Another excellent food which is also on pizza menu is formaggio.
M: Right, which means cheese.
K: And we’ve got the letters GIO at the end, so the “I” after the G makes it soft.
M: Then we have faggioli.
K: Which means beans. This time with the GI spelling in the middle: faggioli.
M: And giorno. Which means day, and you might see in the phrase menu del giorno, menu of the day.
K: The first two letters of giorno are GI, so we get the soft G again.
M: We have gelato. Which I’m sure you already know means ice cream. Then we have vegetariano.
K: This is an important one. Vegetariano means vegetarian. For example you go to Italy and you want to tell the waiter that you are vegetarian. How do you say I’m vegetarian?
M: Sono vegetariano.
K: Time for a quick recap. How do you pronounce the letter G in Italian? Most of the time, it’s a hard G sound.
M: Like in the word mushroom. Can you remember how to say that? We say funghi.
K: And what about if the letter G is followed by i or e?
M: We pronounce it as a soft G sound, like in gelato.
K: And probably the most important question of all… How do you say cheese in Italian?
M: Formaggio.
K: That’s all we have time for today, thanks for listening. If you’d like to get more mini Italian lessons delivered to your inbox, don’t forget to subscribe by following on the link in the comments box below. And if you liked today’s lesson, show us your support by clicking like and sharing the episode with your friends or family who are learning Italian too. Grazie, and ciao for now, see you next time, or as we say in Italian, alla prossima!
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Do you know how to pronounce fettuccine, gnocchi, and bruschetta? The letter C can be tricky in Italian! In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to pronounce Italian food names with C and CH.
To help you remember what you learn in today’s lesson, you’ll find bonus materials like word lists, quizzes and flashcards. Just scroll down to find them!
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by becoming a 5 minute Italian member! When you sign up, you’ll get:
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a 5 Minute Italian member.
Remember what you learnt today with our free bonus materials including a word list, quiz, flashcards and transcript.
Carne = meat
Gnocchi = a type of pasta made from flour and potatoes
Dolci = desserts
Spinaci = spinach
Cipolla = onion
Pancetta = bacon
Cena = dinner
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian words with C and CH
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.
K: Which Italian food name do most people pronounce wrong? Find out which one it is and how to pronounce it right as we learn how to pronounce the letter C in 5 minute Italian, episode 11.
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: In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn how to pronounce the letter C in Italian. We’ll start by looking at some words that you already know on an Italian menu and learn some new ones so that next time you go to an Italian restaurant or eat out in Italy, you can order food like a pro.
The letter C in Italian is usually pronounced as a hard K sound.
M: like in Carbonara.
K: That pasta from Rome with eggs and pancetta.
M: and in carne.
K: Which means meat. And like carbonara, it’s spelt with CA at the beginning and it’s pronounced as a hard K. That reminds me, you can find the words from today’s episode with the spelling in the comments box below.
So here’s the thing that can be a bit tricky for native English speakers. If you see a CH spelling in Italian, it’s actually pronounced as a hard K sound, not as a soft “ch” sound as it would be in English.
M: Like in gnocchi
K: The last syllable is spelt C – H – I – so the C plus H is pronounced as a hard K sound.
M: And in zucchini.
K: Yep – the middle syllable CHI is spelt with a C plus H, so again we get the hard K sound. Another word which is commonly mispronounced is bruschetta.
M: OH yes. Everyone says bruschetta, with a soft “ch” sound (like in chair) but the correct pronunciation is bruschetta, with a hard K sound (like in cat).
K: The only time C is pronounced as a soft “ch” sound in Italian is when it’s followed by the letter i or e.
M: Like in cappuccino and fettuccine
K: And you can also hear this sound in the word dolci which you might see on an Italian menu – it means desserts. The last syllable “CI” is spelt CI. So we get the soft “ch” sound at the end.
M: Right. Dolci. And we also have spinaci
K: Which means spinach. Like in dolci, the last syllable is spelt C + I, so it’s pronounced as a soft “ch” sound.
M: And cipolla.
K: which means onion. And the first two letters are C + I.
K: Now let’s look at a few words with the letter e.
M: We’ve got pancetta
K: Which you’ve probably come across before – it means bacon in Italian.
M: And cena, which means dinner.
K: Time for a quick recap.
K: How do you say meat in Italian?
M: Carne.
K: And how do you say dinner in Italian?
M: Cena.
K: And why is the C pronounced as a soft “ch”? I
M: It’s because the C is followed by the letter e. Cena.
K: How do you say onion in Italian?
M: Cipolla.
K: And the C is soft, because it’s followed by the letter i. So to recap: C is usually pronounced like K, even when you get the letters CH together. It’s only pronounced as a soft “ch” sound (like in chair) when it’s followed by the letters e or i.
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.
If you want to speak Italian, one of the most important skills you can master is to combine what you already know – no matter how little – to say new things.
In today’s lesson, we’ll show you how.
By the end, you’ll know how to use words and grammar you already know to say loads of useful new things.
Remember what you learnt today with our free bonus materials including a word list, quiz and flashcards.
Auguri = congratulations
Vorrei una birra = I’d like a beer
Pagare = to pay
Vorrei pagare = I’d like to pay
Vorrei mangiare = I’d like to eat
Vorrei mangiare qualcosa = I’d like to eat something
Voglio = I want
Voglio mangiare qualcosa = I want to eat something
Mangiamo = we eat
Mangiamo? = shall we eat?
Mangiamo qualcosa? = Shall we eat something?
OK = OK (remember to pronounce it with an Italian accent!)
Va bene = OK (literally: it goes well)
Parliamo = we speak
Parliamo? = shall we speak?
Parliamo italiano? = shall we speak Italian?
Un po’ = a bit
Parliamo un po’ di Italiano? = Shall we speak a bit of Italian?
Vorrei parlare italiano = I’d like to speak Italian
Vorrei parlare un po’ di italiano = I’d like to speak a bit of 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 make sentences in Italian
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by becoming a 5 minute Italian member! When you sign up, you’ll get:
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Do you know how to pronounce fettuccine, gnocchi, and bruschetta? The letter C can be tricky in Italian! In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to pronounce Italian food names with C and CH. To help you remember what you learn in today’s lesson, you’ll find
If you want to speak Italian, one of the most important skills you can master is to combine what you already know – no matter how little – to say new things. In today’s lesson, we’ll show you how. By the end, you’ll know how