In English, we “have” lunch and dinner. But Italians don’t say it like this – they lunch and dine. Find out how to talk about having lunch and dinner in episode #81 of five minute Italian.
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Vocabulary: How to talk about lunch and dinner in Italian
- Mangio un panino = I have/eat a sandwich
- Mangio = I eat
- Un = a
- Panino = sandwich
- Bevo una birra = I drink a beer
- Bevo = I drink
- Una = a
- Birra = beer
- Pranzare = to have lunch (lit. to lunch)
- Pranzo = I have lunch (lit. I lunch)
- Pranzi = You have lunch (lit. You lunch)
- Pranza = he/she/you formal has lunch (lit. he/she lunches)
- Pranziamo = We have lunch (lit. we lunch)
- Pranzate = You plural have lunch (lit. you plural lunch)
- Pranzano = They have lunch (lit. they lunch)
- Pranzo all’una = I have lunch at one
- Pranziamo all’una = We have lunch at one
- In Italia pranziamo all’una = In Italy, we have lunch at one
- In Italia pranzano all’una = In Italy, they have lunch at one
- In Italia pranzano a casa = In Italy, they have lunch at home
- Cenare = to have dinner (lit. to dine)
- Ceno = I have dinner (lit. I dine)
- Ceni = You have dinner (lit. you dine)
- Cena = He/she/you formal has dinner (lit. he/she dines)
- Ceniamo = We have dinner (lit. we dine)
- Cenate = You plural have dinner (lit. you plural dine)
- Cenano = they have dinner (lit. they dine)
- Ceno alle otto = I have dinner at eight
- Ceniamo alle otto = We have dinner at eight
- In Italia ceniamo alle otto = In Italy, we have dinner at eight
- In Italia cenano alle otto = In Italy, they have dinner at eight
- In Italia cenano tardi = In Italy, they have dinner late
Quiz: How to talk about lunch and dinner in Italian
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Flashcards: How to talk about lunch and dinner in Italian
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Transcript: How to talk about lunch and dinner in Italian
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie.
Matteo: And I’m Matteo. Ciao!
K: Last week, we talked about how in Italian, you can’t use “have” to talk about consuming food and drink. You have to give the specific word. So if you want to say “I have a sandwich” you’d actually say “I eat a sandwich”
M: Mangio un panino
Mangio = I eat
Un = a
Panino = sandwich
K: And if you want to say “I have a beer”, you’d actually say “I drink a beer”.
M: Bevo una birra.
Bevo = I drink
Una = a
Birra = beer
K: Something similar happens with lunch and dinner. We can’t say “have” lunch or “have” dinner in Italian. We have special words for these. We have them in English too, but they’re not used much anymore. For example, to have lunch, we can say “I lunch”. For example, ladies who lunch. In Italian, that’s still the most common way to say it. To say “have lunch” we literally say “to lunch” and to say “have dinner”, we literally say “to dine”.
To lunch in Italian is….
M: Pranzare.
K: And we can change the endings to tell us who is lunching. For example, I lunch would be:
M: Pranzo
K: You lunch:
M: Pranzi
K: He/she lunches, or you lunch in the formal address (they’re all the same)
M: Pranza
K: We lunch
M: Pranziamo
K: In Italian, we have a plural “you” for when we’re talking to two or more people. So to say “you lunch” when you’re talking to two, or a group of people?
M: Pranzate.
K: And they lunch would be:
M: Pranzano.
K: And if you want more information on how verbs change depending on who is doing the action, you can check out episode 44: The complete guide to the Italian present tense. But for now, let’s practice:
K: Can you remember how to say “I have lunch”, literally “I lunch”
M: Pranzo. To say “at one o’ clock” we say “all’una”.
K: So how would you say “I have lunch” or “I lunch” at one?
M: Pranzo all’una.
K: Can you remember how to say “we lunch”?
M: Pranziamo
K: How would you say “we have lunch” or “we lunch” at one?
M: Pranziamo all’una.
K: In Italy is “in Italia” so how would you say “in Italy, we have lunch at one”
M: In Italia pranziamo all’una.
K: And can you remember how to say “they have lunch”?
M: Pranzano
K: In Italy, they have lunch at one?
M: In Italia pranzano all’una.
K: And “at home” is “a casa”. So how would you say “In Italy, they have lunch at home”?
M: In Italia pranzano a casa.
K: And this used to be true in Italy didn’t it?
M: Yes, it used to be normal to have a long break, go home and cook lunch, have a sit down meal, then go back to work. Some people still do this, especially in smaller towns or in the South, but it’s becoming less common sadly. But lunch is still very important, and if we don’t have time to go home, we normally have a sit down meal with our colleagues – in fact, that’s a good tip to save money in Italy, go out for lunch instead of dinner, because the lunch menus are normally cheaper for this reason.
K: Now let’s look at how to say “have dinner” in Italian, or literally “to dine”.
M: To say “have dinner” in Italian, we say “cenare”.
K: So to say “I have dinner” or literally “I dine”, we’d say:
M: Ceno
K: You dine
M: Ceni
K: He/she dines or you formal dine?
M: Cena
K: We dine
M: Ceniamo
K: You dine in the plural, when we’re speaking to more than one person?
M: Cenate
K: They dine
M: Cenano
K: Can you remember how to say “I have dinner”, literally “I dine”?
M: Ceno. To say “at eight o’ clock” we say “alle otto”.
K: So how would you say “I have dinner” or “I dine” at eight?
M: Ceno alle otto.
K: Can you remember how to say “we dine”?
M: Ceniamo
K: How would you say “we have dinner” or “we dine” at eight?
M: Ceniamo alle otto.
K: In Italy is “in Italia” so how would you say “in Italy, we have dinner at eight”
M: In Italia ceniamo alle otto.
K: And can you remember how to say “they have dinner”?
M: Cenano
K: In Italy, they have dinner at eight?
M: In Italia cenano alle otto.
K: And what time do Italians have dinner normally Matteo? A che ora cenano gli italiani?
M: It depends on the region. Normally the further south you go, the later it is. For example, people from Milan often have dinner any time from 7 onwards. But in Naples, we don’t normally start thinking about dinner until around 9. And in Sicily, it can be as late as 10 or 11. I think it depends on the sun, in the South, it’s light and sunny for longer, so people tend to eat later.
K: So can you remember how to say “they have dinner”
M: Cenano.
K: How would you say “In Italy they have dinner (or they dine) late?” Late is “tardi”.
M: In Italia cenano tardi.
K: That’s it for today’s mini lesson, if you’d like to see all this stuff written down, on our website you’ll find the transcripts for this episode and other bonus materials like a quiz and flashcards to help you remember the phrases. Go to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll to episode 81. You can also practice chatting Italian with us in our facebook group, you can find the link in the show notes.
See you next time, or as we say in Italian
Alla prossima!
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