Why is Italian food so tasty? In this lesson, Matteo reveals the very simple secret. You’ll also learn how to say “the” in Italian, before words which start with a vowel. Find out more in episode 65 of 5 minute Italian.
To remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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Today’s Italian Vocabulary
Gli italiani cucinano molto bene = Italians cook really well.
Qual è il vostro segreto? = What’s your secret?
Gli = the
italiani = Italians
cucinano = they cook
molto bene = very well
Qual è = which is
il vostro segreto = your secret
Gli ingredienti sono la chiave = Ingredients are the key.
Gli = the
ingredienti = ingredients
sono = are
la chiave = the key
Con ingredienti freschi, tutto è buono = With fresh ingredients, everything is tasty.
Con = with
ingredienti = ingredients
freschi = fresh
tutto = everything
è = is
buono = good or tasty
In Italia abbiamo molto sole = In Italy, we have lots of sun
In Italia = in Italy,
abbiamo = we have
molto sole = lots of sun
Quindi è facile trovare prodotti buoni come le olive, le arance ecc. = So it’s easy to find good produce like olives, oranges, etc.
quindi = so
è facile = it’s easy
trovare = to find
prodotti = produce
buoni = good
come = like
le olive = the olives
le arance = the oranges
ecc = etc
Poi, la presentazione è molto importante = Then, presentation is very important.
Poi = then
La presentazione = the presentation
è = is
molto importante = very important
Mangi prima con gli occhi = You eat first with the eyes.
Mangi = you eat
Prima = first
Con = with
Gli = the
Occhi = eyes
Poi con lo stomaco = Then with the stomach
poi = then
con = with
lo stomaco = the stomach
L’oliva = the olive
L’arancia = the orange
L’olio = the oil
Le olive = the olives
Le arance = the oranges
Gli italiani = the Italians
Gli ingredienti = the ingredients
Gli americani = the Americans
Take the quiz
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say “the” in Italian: before a vowel
Flashcards
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
- Download the flashcards: How to say the in Italian: before vowels
- Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Transcript
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. Ciao!
K: And today we’re going to continue learning how to say “the” in Italian. In this episode, we’re going to look at words which start with vowels. Let’s listen to the dialogue first.
M: Cominciamo. Let’s start.
K: Gli italiani cucinano molto bene. Qual è il vostro segreto?
M: Gli ingredienti sono la chiave. Con ingredienti freschi, tutto è buono. In Italia abbiamo molto sole, quindi è facile trovare prodotti buoni come le olive, le arance ecc.
K: Giusto.
M: Poi, la presentazione è molto importante. Mangi prima con gli occhi, poi con lo stomaco.
K: So I first asked Matteo:
M: Gli italiani cucinano molto bene. Qual è il vostro segreto?
K: Italians cook really well. What’s your secret? Word for word, that’s:
M:
Gli = the
italiani = Italians
cucinano = they cook
molto bene = very well
Qual è = which is
il vostro segreto = your secret
K: And Matteo’s answer was:
M: Gli ingredienti sono la chiave.
K: Ingredients are the key. Word for word, that’s
M:
Gli = the
ingredienti = ingredients
sono = are
la chiave = the key
K: Next, you heard:
M: Con ingredienti freschi, tutto è buono.
K: With fresh ingredients, everything is tasty. So that’s
M:
Con = with
ingredienti = ingredients
freschi = fresh
tutto = everything
è = is
buono = good or tasty
K: Next…
M: In Italia abbiamo molto sole
K: In Italy, we have lots of sun
M:
In Italia = in Italy,
abbiamo = we have
molto sole = lots of sun
K: next…
M: quindi è facile trovare prodotti buoni come le olive, le arance ecc.
K: so it’s easy to find good produce like olives, oranges, etc.
quindi = so
è facile = it’s easy
trovare = to find
prodotti = produce
buoni = good
come = like
le olive = the olives
le arance = the oranges
ecc = etc
K: Then, Matteo said:
M: Poi, la presentazione è molto importante.
K: Then, presentation is very important.
M:
Poi = then
La presentazione = the presentation
è = is
molto importante = very important
K: Finally, you heard Matteo say
M: Mangi prima con gli occhi
K: You eat first with the eyes. Word for word…
M:
Mangi = you eat
Prima = first
Con = with
Gli = the
Occhi = eyes
K: and….
M: poi con lo stomaco.
K: then with the stomach
M:
poi = then
con = with
lo stomaco = the stomach
K: In this conversation, we had lots of examples of words starting with vowels. For example: gli italiani, le olive and le arance. So what happens to the word “the” when it’s before a vowel? If the word is singular, it’s simple, just add “l”. For example, if “olive” is oliva in the singular, how would you say “the olive”?
M: L’oliva
K: And orange is “arancia”. So how would you say “the orange”?
M: l’arancia
K: Oliva and arancia are feminine words, but it’s the same for masculine words. For example, olio (oil). How would you say “the oil”?
M: L’olio
K: Next, let’s look at plurals. For feminine nouns, it’s simple, you just use the same word as we talked about in the last lesson “le”. So if I wanted to say “the olives”, what would I say?
M: Le olive
K: What about “the oranges”?
M: Le arance.
K: So far so good. There is just one part of this which is a bit tricky. It’s worth paying a lot of attention to because it feels irregular, which can cause people trouble right up to advanced levels. When you have a masculine plural that starts with a vowel, we don’t say “i”, as we do with other masculine plurals in Italian. Instead, we say “gli”. For example, in the conversation, we heard “the Italians”. Just a little reminder that in Italian, when we have a mixed group of men and women together, we still use the masculine plural = italiani. So how would you say “the Italians?”
M: Gli italiani
K: Ottimo. And we also heard “the ingredients” can you remember how Matteo said it?
M: Gli ingredienti
K: So now, I can hear you thinking – OK Katie, I get that for masculine plurals with vowels, you’re supposed to use “gli”. But how on earth am I supposed to remember all that information when I’m speaking? And you’re absolutely right, I remember thinking the same thing, and this is why it’s normal to make mistakes with this even at advanced levels. My tip is to start by memorising the most important ones that you’ll probably say quite often. For example:
M:
Gli italiani
Gli americani
Gli occhi
Once you get used to these, you’ll find it easier to generalise to less common words.
K: Finally, why did we say “lo stomaco” for the stomach? We’ll talk about that in the next episode!
So that’s it for today, remember you can practise chatting in Italian with us in our 5 Minute Italian facebook group, follow the link in the show notes and we’ll let you in as soon as we see your request. We’d love to see you in there and chat in Italian with you. You can also get bonus materials, like a quiz, flashcards, and see all the phrases for today’s lesson written down by going to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scrolling down to episode 65. Or just follow the link in the show notes.
Ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
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