No trip to Italy would be complete without a wander around the food market! In today’s lesson, learn how to buy food al mercato and review all the handy words and phrases we’ve been learning for buying food over the last 3 lessons.
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…
Become a 5-minute Italian member (it’s free!)
Learn to speak and understand Italian faster by joining the 5 minute Italian club! When you sign up, you’ll get:
- Mini Italian lessons + bonus materials delivered to your inbox.
- Access to the private Facebook group where you can practice chatting in Italian.
- Invites to free speaking workshops.
If you’d like to join us, click here to become a member of 5 Minute Italian.
Bonus Materials
Remember and practice using what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Today’s Italian words
Mi dica = What can I get you? (literally “tell me”)
Un etto = 100 grams
Due etti = 200 grams
Quattro etti = 400 grams
Prendo = I’ll have (literally “I take”)
Prendo quattro etti di Parmigiano = I’ll have 400 grams of Parmesan.
Qualcos’altro = Anything else?
Che cos’è quello? What’s that?
Posso avere 300 grammi di Provola = can I have 300 grams of Provola? (you can also say tre etti)
Basta così?/A posto così? = Is that everything?
Posso avere un sacchetto? = Can I have a plastic bag?
Quanto costa? Quanto viene? Quant’è? = how much does it cost?
Posso pagare con la carta? Can I pay by card?
Solo contanti = cash only
Dov’è un bancomat? = Where’s a cash machine?
È lì/là = it’s there
È di là/è di lì = It’s over there
Take the Quiz!
How much did you learn? Find out in the 5-minute Italian quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to buy food at the market in Italian
Italian flashcards
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
- Download the flashcards: How to buy food at the market
- Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial.
Transcript
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: No trip to Italy would be complete without a wander around the food market. In today’s lesson, learn how to buy food al mercato and review all the handy words and phrases we’ve been learning for buying food over the last 3 lessons.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 minute Italian. 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: Recently, we had a fab suggestion from one of our listeners, to do a review once a month, so you can practice some of the things you learnt in the last 3 lessons. So welcome to the first 5 minute Italian review lesson! Today, you’ll review the grammar and phrases from lessons 26 – 28 and importantly, use them to build new sentences, which is possibly the most important skill you can master.
And, if you want to practice speaking Italian, you can join us for a speaking workshop on Saturday, so make sure you listen until the end for details on how to join.
Let’s start shall we?
M: Si, cominciamo
K: This week, we’re at the market.
M: Al mercato
K: And you see a tasty cheese stall, so you wander over and see a friendly Italian lady behind the counter who asks: “what can I get you?”. Can you remember how to say that? Italians literally say “tell me”.
M: Mi dica
K: And you want some Parmesan. How would you say 100 grams? You can say cento grammi but there’s another way Italians often use.
M: Un etto.
K: So un etto, means one etto, which is another way of saying 100 grams. To say 200 grams, we would say 2 ettos, 300 grams would be 3 ettos and so on. Can you remember the plural form of etto in Italian?
M: etti
K: With an “i” at the end. So 200 grams would be…
M: due etti.
K: But that’s not enough.
M: Never enough Parmesan.
K: Let’s imagine we want “400 grams”. How would you say that?
M: Quattro etti.
K: And can you remember how to say “I’ll have?” Italians literally say “I take”
M: Prendo
K: We know that “of”, is “di”. So how would you say: “I’ll have four hundred grams of parmesan?”
M: Prendo quattro etti di parmigiano.
K: Then the lady behind the counter asks “anything else?”. Can you remember how to say that in Italian?
M: Qualcos’altro?
M: Let’s imagine you see something tasty, but you don’t know what it is, so you point and ask “what’s that?”
K: Can you remember how to say that in Italian?
M: Che cos’è quello?
K: And the shop assistant replies:
M: È la Provola. Provola is a type of smoked mozzarella, and you should definitely try it if you get the chance!
K: How would you say “can I have 300 grams of Provola” in Italian?
M: Posso avere 300 grammi di Provola.
K: Finally, the lady asks “Is that everything?” Can you remember how to say that in Italian? There are two ways.
M: Basta così? You can also say: a posto così?
K: Now, you’d like a plastic bag to put all your cheeses in. How would you ask for one?
M: Posso avere un sacchetto?
K: Next, you want to know how much it all costs. How would you ask?
M: Quanto costa? You can also say: Quanto viene? Quant’è?
K: And the lady says: 8 euros 75. How would you say that?
M: Otto euro e settanta cinque.
K: Now that’s more expensive than you were expecting, so you ask if you can pay by card.
M: Posso pagare con la carta? But it’s a market stall, so she says “no” only cash.
M: Solo contanti.
K: So now you need to find a cash machine. Can you remember how to say “where is?”
M: Dov’è?
K: Can you remember how to say “cash machine?”
M: Bancomat
K: To say “a cash machine”, we say: un bancomat. So how would you say “where is a cash machine?”
M: Dov’è un bancomat?
K: Let’s imagine the person points to the end of the street and says “it’s there”. Can you remember how to say “it’s?”
M: È
K: There are two different ways to say “there”. Can you remember them?
M: You can say lì or là.
K: So how do you say “it’s there”?
M: è lì or è la.
K: And how would we say “over there” as in “in that general direction”?
M: è di là, or è di lì
K: And finally you say thank you
M: Grazie
K: And you run off to the bancomat so you can get money for your Italian cheese.
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 the link below. Grazie, and ciao for now, see you next time, or as we say in Italian, alla prossima!
Get more 5-minute Italian
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.
