You’re going to find…
Irregular Verb of the Lesson: Uscire (“To Go Out”)
Questo/Codesto/Quello…: Aggettivi Dimostrativi (“Demonstrative Adjectives”)
Il Corpo Umano (“The Human Body”)
Dialogue/Questions
Exercises
Something about Italy and a little tip!
Key
IRREGULAR VERB OF THE LESSON: USCIRE (“TO GO OUT”) – PRESENTE INDICATIVO
USCIRE
Io esco
Tu esci
Lui/Lei esce
Noi usciamo
Voi uscite
Loro escono
As you can see, for noi and voi the conjugation is regular (probably you’ve already noticed it in the other irregular verbs we’ve learnt).
The root of the verb is USC-. To conjugate it you should remember that the root changes in ESC so you should write ESC+the usual terminations of the third conjugation (-o, -i, -e etc.).
QUESTO/CODESTO/QUELLO…: AGGETTIVI DIMOSTRATIVI (“DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES”)
What’s this?
The demonstrative adjectives show the position of somebody or something in the space, in the time or in the conversation relative to the person who is speaking or the person who is listening. So, their use depend on the context.
Singular/Masculine
Questo (This)
Codesto* (This/That/That one)
Taluno* (Some)
Quello/Quell’/Quel (That)
Singular/Feminine
Questa (This)
Codesta* (This/That/That one)
Taluna* (Some)
Quella/Quell’ (That)
Plural/Masculine
Questi (These)
Codesti* (These/Those/Those ones)
Quelli (Those)
Plural/Feminine
Queste (These)
Codeste* (These/Those/Those ones)
Quelle (Those)
*Codesto, codesta, codesti and codeste and taluno and taluna are not very used; they do belong to a more formal language. To speak well it’s enough to know questo and quello and their plural forms.
How to use them
Since they’re adjectives they change their form depending on the following word.
Examples:
Questa casa
Questo cane
Questi alberi
Queste ragazze
The choice between quello, quel and quell’ and quei and quegli depend on phonetical reasons:
– quello is usually used alone: mi piace quello (“I like that”), voglio quello (“I want that”)…
– quel is used before the consonants: quel cane, quel gatto…
– quell’ is used before the vowels: quell’albero, quell’elefante…
– quei is used before the consonants: quei cani, quei gatti…
– quegli is used before the vowels: quegli alberi, quegli elefanti…
The choice between quella and quell’:
– quella is used before the consonants: quella ragazza, quella coperta…
– quell’ is used before the vowels: quell’attrice, quell’insegnante…
Questo
It shows something or somebody next to the person who’s speaking. It’s like this in English.
Leggo questo libro (“I read this book”).
Codesto
It shows something or somebody next to the person who’s listening but, as I’ve already said, it’s not very used.
Quello
It shows something or somebody far from who’s speaking and who’s listening. It’s like that in English.
Guarda quella casa (“Look at that house”).
Something more
In the spoken language or when we write something very informal (for instance when we chat) sometimes we use ‘sto, ‘sta, ‘sti, ‘ste instead of questo, questa, questi, queste.
IL CORPO UMANO
Testa (Head) f
Capelli* (Hair) m
Fronte (Forehead) f
Naso (Nose) m
Occhio/Occhi (Eyes) m
Bocca (Mouth) f
Guancia/Guance (Cheeks) f
Sopracciglia* (Eyebrows) f
Ciglia* (Eyelashes) f
Pelle (Skin) f
Orecchio/Orecchie* (Ears) f
Viso (Face) m
Collo (Neck) m
Mano/Mani (Hands) m
Unghia/Unghie (Nails) f
Braccio/Braccia* (Arms) m/f
Seno (Breast) m
Pancia (Belly) f
Fianco/Fianchi (Hips) m
Gamba/Gambe (Legs) f
Ginocchio/Ginocchia* (Knees) m/f
Piede/Piedi (Foot/Feet) m
Peli (Hairs) m
Cuore (Heart) m
Stomaco (Stomach) m
*The translation of capelli is “hair”; it also has the singular form (capello) but it just refers to one single hair or it’s used when we refer to the hair in a technical context (for instance when we talk about the kind of hair we have with a hair stylist). Braccio/Braccia, Orecchio/Orecchie and Ginocchio/Ginocchia have the peculiarity to have a masculine singular form and a feminine plural form.
Ciglia and sopracciglia are the same for both singular and plural forms.
DIALOGUE
Sarah and Will met some people and tell Marco about them…
Sarah e Will hanno conosciuto alcune persone e lo raccontano a Marco…
Marco: Siete usciti ieri sera?
Sarah: Sì e abbiamo conosciuto nuove persone, Andrea e Alessandro.
Marco: Come sono?
Will: Andrea è moro, alto e ha gli occhi neri e Alessandro è biondo, alto e ha gli occhi verdi.
Sarah: Adesso vengono qui e te li presentiamo.
Andrea and Alessandro arrive…
Andrea e Alessandro arrivano…
Will: Marco, questi sono Alessandro e Andrea.
Marco: Piacere di conoscervi!
Alessandro e Andrea: Piacere!
Translation
Marco: Did you go out last night?
Sarah: Yes, we did and we met new people, Andrea and Alessandro.
Marco: How do they look like?
Will: Andrea is dark-skinned, he’s tall and he’s got black eyes and Alessandro is blonde, tall and he’s got green eyes.
Sarah: They’re coming here right now so you can meet them.
Will: Marco, these are Alessandro and Andrea.
Marco: Nice to meet you!
Alessandro and Andrea: Nice to meet you!
1. Questions
1. Come si chiamano i nuovi amici di Will e Sarah?
2. Come sono?
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/4 (2 points for every right answer)
2. Write a physical description about yourself
EXERCISES (KEY AT THE END OF THE LESSON)
3. Write the right form of the verb USCIRE
1) Domani (tomorrow) noi …… con te.
2) Michela e Sofia …… tutti i giorni (every day).
3) Mercoledì io ……. presto (soon).
4) Gino ….. da scuola (school) alle 2 (at 2 o’clock).
5) Voi quando (when) ….. di casa?
6) Tu ….. con Nadia.
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/6
4. Demonstrative Adjectives
Write 10 short sentences with the demonstrative adjectives using the things you have in your room, for instance Quella è una sedia or Questo è un letto
5. Translate in Italian the following text
1. Monica is my best friend. 2. She’s 24 years old and 3. she’s a hair stylist. 4. She has long, blonde hair and blue eyes. 5. She’s not tall and 6. she’s thin. 7. She’s very friendly and sweet.
8. She likes to dance, to read and to travel. 9. She lives alone but 10. she’s got a boyfriend.
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/10
6. Il corpo umano
Write the name of every part of the body you see in the following pictures
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/5
SOMETHING ABOUT ITALY AND A LITTLE TIP!
ITALY UNIFICATION – L’UNIFICAZIONE D’ITALIA
Italy was unified in 1861. Before it was divided in little states and there were many foreigner governors from Spain, Austria, etc. That’s one of the reasons why Italian people have different origins and speak different dialects.
Italy was a constitutional monarchy and only in 1946 it became a republic.
L’Italia è stata unificata nel 1861. Prima era divisa in piccoli stati e c’erano molti governatori stranieri provenienti dalla Spagna, dall’Austria, ecc. Questa è una delle ragioni per cui gli italiani hanno diverse origini e parlano diversi dialetti.
L’Italia era una monarchia costituzionale e solo nel 1946 è diventata una repubblica.
THINK AS A NATIVE SPEAKER! – PENSA COME UN PARLANTE NATIVO!
Try to think in Italian. It doesn’t matter if you only know a few words, just try to think using what you know. For instance, when you clean your house, when you travel and when you do some activity which is boring for you, try to name the objects around you and try to build sentences in Italian. If you don’t know some specific word it doesn’t matter. This exercise helps because it allows you to think the way a native speaker does. When we learn a new language many times we think in our own language and then we translate what we’ve thought in the new language: many times it can be a mistake. One of the secret to speak well is to think the way a native speaker does. Language and culture have a very strong relationship and they shape each other.
Cerca di pensare in italiano. Non importa se conosci solo alcune parole, cerca di pensare usando quello che sai. Ad esempio, quando pulisci la tua casa, quando viaggi e quando fai qualche attività che consideri noiosa, cerca di dare un nome agli oggetti intorno a te e prova a costruire frasi in italiano. Se non conosci qualche parola in particolare non importa. Questo esercizio aiuta perché ti permette di pensare come un parlante nativo. Quando impariamo una nuova lingua molte volte pensiamo nella nostra e traduciamo ciò che abbiamo pensato nella nuova lingua: molte volte questo può essere un errore. Uno dei segreti per parlare bene è pensare come un parlante nativo. La lingua e la cultura hanno una forte relazione e si modellano a vicenda.
KEY
1. I nuovi amici di Sarah e Will si chiamano Andrea e Alessandro/Alessandro è moro, alto e ha gli occhi neri e Andrea è biondo, alto e ha gli occhi verdi.
3. usciamo/escono/esco/esce/uscite/esci
5. Monica è la mia migliore amica. Ha 24 anni ed una parrucchiera (or hair stylist). Ha lunghi capelli biondi e gli occhi azzurri. Non è alta ed è magra. Ê molto amichevole e dolce. Le piace ballare, leggere e viaggiare. Vive sola ma ha un ragazzo.
6. cuore/capelli/piede/braccio/bocca
Right answers/Risposte esatte: …/25
If your right answers are 20/25, congratulations!
If your right answers are 15/19, review your exercises in order to understand where you made more mistakes and review the topics.
If your right answers are less than 15, review the lesson and try again! Don’t forget that it becomes harder to continue if you miss some piece.