Before I begin Part 2, I must correct something first! I made a mistake on the one verb conjugation for the “you plural” of stare. It should be “state” – NOT “stamate!” (thank you to “mckunedonna”)
As promised, we will continue with Piero introducing us to some verbs, all taken
from Grande Amore! To review, the endings for –are verbs are: -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, and –ano.
pensare – to think
penso – I think pensiamo – we think
pensi – you think pensate – all of you think
pensa – he/she thinks pensano – they think
cambiare – to change
cambio cambiamo
cambi (notice you drop the one “i”) cambiate
cambia cambiano
ricordare – to remember, recall
recordo recordiamo
recordi ricordate
recorda ricordano
respirare – to breathe
respiro respiriamo
respiri respirate
respira respirano
For –ere verbs, the endings are very similar: -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, and –ono.
credere – to believe
credo crediamo
credi credete
crede credono
vivere – to live
vivo viviamo
vivi vivete
vive vivono
chiudere – to close, to shut
chiudo chiudiamo
chiudi chiudete
chiude chiudono
Next lesson Gianluca will introduce –ire verbs to you!
Now for some regular vocabulary! (All from Grande Amore)
In Italian, there are many words for the word “the” – they are as follows: il, lo, l’, la, i, le, lo, i, gli.
occhio/occhi – eye/eyes
e – and
a – to
lei – you
profumo – perfume, scent
dolce – sweet
della – of, of the
pelle – skin
sua – her
e’ – is
una – a
voce – voice
dentro – inside
che – what
mi – my
stare – to be, or to stay (sta – is, she stays)
portando – bringing (from verb portare – to bring)
dove – where
nasce – born (from verb nascere – to be born)
sole – sun
sono – are (from the verb stare – to be/are)
parola/parole – word/words
sole – alone (from the verb solere – to be in the habit of, alone?)
So, the first few lines of Grande Amore:
Chiudo gli occhi e penso a lei il profumo dolce della pelle sua, è una voce dentro che mi sta portando dove nasce il sole. Sole sono le parole.
Roughly translate into:
I close my eyes and I think of the perfume of her sweet skin, and a voice inside that is bringing (taking) me where the sun is born (rises). Alone, are the words.
Ok, that is enough for Lesson 2. Gianluca will bring you –ire ending verbs and more vocabulary for Lesson 3!
Arrivederci!
PIERO
That’s wonderful Jana. Great to know of some of the words of Grande Amore. I don’t know if I will ever master the trill sound. My tonge doesn’t want to co-operate. Don’t think my spelling is so great either
practice, practice, practice! I wish I knew how to put the little “smiley” icon in these! can anyone tell me?
Thanks Jana, I tried my first Italian words yesterday in an Italian market here. I also bought a viser cap with SICILIA on it. I’ll send a photo when I can find someone with a camera phone. Joanie G
that’s exciting!! what did you say? Yes, I think I will have to add some vocab that is not in the songs – as lovely as they are, we cannot speak in “songs” Lol!
I really like how you are presenting the lesson and tying it into the lyrics of Grande Amore. Having Piero as our teacher is a great help!
Grazie, Pirate! I’m excited everyone is still with me – that I know of, of course!?
Super great job, Jana and Piero! I, too, like how you are connecting this with the song Grande Amore. Thank you so much for all your hard work!!
Grazie! It is truly a labor of “amore!” And anything done with love is not a chore….
Studying, studying, studying. Some of it is actually sinking in.
Molto bene! I’d say wonderful and marvelous, but they are too hard for me right now! Lol! Very good, is much easier!
Please send me Piero. I know I could learn a lot faster from him in person.
Allene, I think I could learn much better from Piero in person, also. But then I would be distracted because I would be “Hot for Teacher” LOL.
Jana, I really like how you are presenting your lessons. It reminds me of how I learned English, with the verb tenses. Loretta, I think I can trill my R’s OK. It must come from the Spanish ancestry very far back on my family tree. I’m pretty sure there is no Italian on that tree.
Thanks Jana & IL VOLO for the Italian lessons. But I must confess, I haven’t had much time to do my homework. I wonder if Piero would mind tutoring me one-on-one?!
I think, Lynn, we’ll have to share our “teacher”. And you are right. I don’t think we would get much “learning” done!
Lynn/Allene – I’m sure Piero would be flattered! Just pretend you are looking into his eyes with every word you hear and memorize! Recall his little half grin/smirk he does, his playful eyes, and watch for his dimples! I realized one day that really all the guys have some dimples, although Ignazio’s are the most pronounced! The other guys just don’t seem to smile as big too often like Ignazio does!?
Jana, your lessons are really, really excellent! Grazie. I will continue to study with you. Of course, since Gianluca says they “speak English very fluently” I will wait in line to get more Italian lessons from him; maybe when he comes back to Chicago?
Ann – Grazie! I’m very flattered – that’s a real compliment from someone that actually knows more Italian than I do! Lol!! You are in Chicago? I hear they are supposed to be building this “bullet train” that runs from Dearborn to Chicago – only supposed to take about 2 hours? Would be fun to get a group to visit either city? Never been to Chicago, but want to get there one day?
Jana, you are in Michigan? When you hear more about the train, please let me know. Yes, it is always nice to meet more members as I did in Elgin last year. We are all one big happy familia thanks to our angels.
Ann – yes!! Dearborn, home of Henry Ford and Greenfield Village (The Henry Ford) but it will always be Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum to us locals!! Lol! I even work there! (Ford) next to Greenfield Village.
Yes Jana! How about that. I just bought my 2nd Ford. Got the 2015 Ford Fusion in silver! I want to keep you working…..
Ann, that’s great! Yes, please keep me working – need to keep increasing my Il Volo fund! Lol! I just paid off my 2006 Milan!! Nine years and still running great!
Glad to keep you working! I had my Ford Taurus over 15 years, my favorite red car. My Fusion is 2014 not 2015.
You lessons are great, my Italian is lousy… I am trying, thanks to you… I am verbally Dyslexic when it comes to other languages… Heck I am even Dyslexic when I speak English… Notice how I cleaned up my language by using the word Dyslexic? Of course I could have said Donkey backwards instead!!! LOL
Ah, mi amica Jeannette!! (amica is in Romantica…) I’m sure you are doing just fine. You spelled it right? Lol!
Ciao! I am so glad you are still enjoying your lessons! In fact, I’m positively thrilled that you are actually trying to speak it in public! It really is a labor of love, but I need to stop doing it so late at night! I will need to add in some more vocabulary that is “normal” though. As beautiful as the songs are that they sing, we cannot speak in song. Besides, don’t we all want to know how to ask the guys if they want to come to the beach with us? Lol! Can you imagine us going to our local Italian market and saying “dimme perche’ quando penso – a pound of proscuitto?” Lol!
Grazie also to Marie for finding all the great pictures to go with my posts!!