You’re going to find…
Irregular verbs of the lesson: Capire-Presente Indicativo (“To understand”) and other –ISCO verbs
Mi piace/Mi piacciono
Qualificative Adjectives: Colors and Physical Features
Dialogue/Questions
Exercises
Something about Italy and a little tip!
Key
IRREGULAR VERBS OF THIS LESSON: CAPIRE-PRESENTE INDICATIVO (“TO UNDERSTAND”) AND OTHER –ISCO VERBS
Io capisco
Tu capisci
Lui/Lei capisce
Noi capiamo
Voi capite
Loro capiscono
There is not a rule which allows to understand when we should conjugate a verb like that. Somebody explains some “tricks” in order to understand when you have to conjugate like that but these “tricks” are not very useful since there are many exceptions. We have a list of these verbs (in Italian they are called verbi incoativi). Here you can find some of the most common ones:
Finire (To end)
Ammorbidire (To soften)
Colpire (To hit)
Costruire (To build)
Stupire (To surprise)
Mi piace/Mi piacciono
The verb piacere means “to like”. Its conjugation (Presente Indicativo) is the following:
Io piaccio
Tu piaci
Lui/Lei piace
Noi piaciamo
Voi piacete
Loro piacciono
You’ve surely understood that’s an irregular verb so you should learn it and there’s not a logical way to conjugate it. But it also has a peculiarity.
In English, for example, we say I like coffee; the literal Italian translation of this sentence would be Io piaccio caffè but this sentence doesn’t make any sense. The right translation of this sentence is Mi piace il caffè or A me piace il caffè.
So, if we want to say that we like something we should say:
A me piace (mi*piace)
A te piace (ti*piace)
A lui/A lei piace (gli/le*piace)
A noi piace (ci*piace)
A voi piace (vi*piace)
A loro piace (gli*piace)
+ singular noun (one person/one thing…) or + infinitive verb
and
A me piacciono (mi*piacciono)
A te piacciono (ti*piacciono)
A lui/A lei piacciono (gli/le*piacciono)
A noi piacciono (ci*piacciono)
A voi piacciono (vi*piacciono)
A loro piacciono (gli*piacciono)
+ plural noun (more than one person, more than one thing etc.)
Examples:
A me piace ballare (“I like dancing”)
A me piace il gelato (“I like ice cream”)
A me piacciono i gatti (“I like cats”)
When you conjugate the verb normally (io piaccio, tu piaci, etc.) in English it should be translated as “somebody/something likes me”, “somebody/something likes you”, etc. BUT the correct way to say it in Italian is io piaccio a…, tu piaci a… etc. so you should add the preposition a to realize a right sentence. An example will explain it better: if you want to translate in Italian the sentence “Sarah likes you” you should say Tu piaci a Sarah so you have to change the position of the subject and of the verb:
In English it’s SUBJECT (Sarah) +VERB (likes) +OBJECT (you)
In Italian it’s OBJECT (tu) +VERB (piaci) +PREPOSITION (a) +SUBJECT (Sarah).
Actually, the real subject of the sentence Tu piaci a Sarah is tu because the verb piaci refers to tu but the real action is made by Sarah because she’s the logical subject since she likes you.
NEGATIVE FORM:
Non + mi piace, ti piace…
*mi, ti, le, gli, ci, vi are the Italian indirect object pronouns. We’re going to learn them in the next lessons.
VOCABULARY – COLORS
Bianco-a (White)
Nero-a (Black)
Rosa* (Pink)
Giallo-a (Yellow)
Verde* (Green)
Azzurro-a (Light blue)
Blu* (Blue)
Viola* (Violet)
Grigio-a (Grey)
Marrone* (Brown)
Arancione* (Orange)
Beige (Beige)
Red (Rosso)
*Rosa, verde, blu and viola never change their form and they don’t have a plural form. Marrone and Arancione have a plural form.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
Alto-a (Tall)
Basso-a (Short)
Magro-a (Thin)
Grasso-a (Fat)
Moro-a (Dark-haired person/Dark-skinned person)
Biondo-a (Blonde)
Castano-a (Brown-haired)
Rosso-a (Redhead)
Next lesson we’re going to learn the human body parts and we’re going to apply these adjectives and the ones we learnt last lesson.
DIALOGUE
Marco, Sarah and Will are talking in the living room…
Marco, Sarah e Will stanno parlando nel soggiorno…
Marco: Vi piace la televisione italiana?
Sarah: A me non piace. Non guardo la televisione nemmeno negli Stati Uniti.
Will: Io ogni tanto la guardo. Mi piace guardare i programmi di sport e i documentari. E tu Marco?
Marco: A me piacciono solo i programmi di cabaret. Non mi piacciono i reality shows.
Will: Neanche a me piacciono. Conosci la televisione statunitense?
Marco: Sì, la conosco però non capisco tutto quello che dicono! Non parlo molto bene inglese.
Translation
Marco: Do you like Italian television?
Sarah: I don’t like it. I don’t watch tv in USA either.
Will: Sometimes I watch it. I like watching sport programs and documentaries. What about you Marco?
Marco: I only like cabaret programs. I don’t like reality shows.
Will: Neither do I. Do you know USA tv?
Marco: Yes, I do but I don’t understand all the things they say! I’m not very fluent in English.
1. QUESTIONS
1. A Sarah e a Will piace la televisione italiana?
2. Che programmi piacciono a Will?
3. Che programmi non piacciono a Marco?
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/6 (2 points for every right answer)
EXERCISES (KEY AT THE END OF THE LESSON)
2. –ISCO Verbs
Conjugate the verbs in the brackets
1. Non … questo libro (capire).
2. Qui (“here) loro … molte case (costruire).
3. Tu mi … sempre (“always”) (stupire).
4. Voi … i compiti (“homework”) (finire).
5. Michele … il pallone (“ball”) (colpire).
6. Noi … la tua situazione (capire).
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/6
3. Mi piace/Mi piacciono
Write 6 sentences with mi piace and mi piacciono
4. Complete each sentence with mi piace, mi piacciono…
1. … il football.
2. A te … gli animali.
3. Le … divertirsi (“have fun”).
4. Ci … il gelato.
5. Vi … ballare (“to dance”).
6. Mi … cocinare (“to cook”).
7. A Luisa … i gatti.
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/7
5. Translate the following sentences
1. The red pen.
2. A blonde boy.
3. She has green eyes.
4. A white car.
5. My friend is tall.
6. My sister is redhead.
7. In the kitchen there is a brown table.
8. The sofa in the living room is orange.
9. My brother is dark-skinned.
10. I’ve got a very fat cat.
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/10
Something about Italy and a little tip!
ITALIAN VS EUROPEANS
There are many jokes about Italian people; if you want to know a little bit more about Italian culture and laugh look for Italians vs Europeans on Youtube and you’ll find a short and funny video (made by an Italian) about the differences between Italians and Europeans.
Ci sono molti racconti divertenti sugli italiani; se vuoi scoprire un po’di più sulla cultura italiana e ridere cerca Italians vs Europeans su Youtube e troverai un video breve e divergente (realizzato da un italiano) sulle differenze fra italiani ed europei.
ITALIAN MOVIES AND TV SHOWS
Download Italian movies and tv shows and try to watch them without subtitles. You will learn many new words and expressions, you will understand more about Italian culture and you will learn how to pronounce correctly. I recommend you the old movies (for example Fellini’s ones) and the old tv shows (the first shows made by RAI, the public tv) since they do have a better quality.
Scarica film e shows televisivi italiani e cerca di guardarli senza sottotitoli. Imparerai tante parole ed espressioni nuove, capirai di più la cultura italiana e imparerai a pronunciare correttamente. Ti consiglio i vecchi film (ad esempio quelli di Fellini) e i vecchi shows televisivi (i primi shows realizzati dalla RAI, la tv pubblica) dal momento che posseggono una qualità migliore.
KEY
1. A Sarah non piace la televisione italiana. Will la guarda qualche volta/Will guarda programmi di sport e documentari/A Marco non piacciono i reality shows.
2. all the forms of capire are ok/costruiscono/stupisci/finite/colpisce/capiamo
4. any form of piacere is ok/piacciono/piace/piace/piace/piace/piacciono
5. la penna rossa/un ragazzo biondo/lei ha gli occhi verdi/una macchina bianca/mia sorella ha i capelli rossi or mia sorella è rossa/nella cucina c’è un tavolo marrone/il divano nel soggiorno è arancione/mio fratello è moro/ho un gatto molto grasso
Right answers/Risposte corrette: …/29
If your right answers are between 25 and 29, congratulations!
If your right answers are between 19 and 25…it’s probable that some of the topics are not very clear to you. Try again and succeed!
If your right answers are less than 18, review the lesson and everything will be clear!