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Italia ~~ Italian Life

Lesson 2, Part 2

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Teach Italy.jpg final one ~Jana smaller

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

a - afrom 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

red glasses


Italia ~~ Italian Life

Lesson 2, Part 1

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Teach Italy.jpg final one ~Jana smaller

(Warning – this may be confusing!) 

Pleasantries, Pronouns, and Parla with Piero!

Let’s touch a bit on the video from Lesson 1, Part 2 of the video of us and learning some Italian…

“Come stai?” Means “how are you?” But where does that come from? There are two verbs we must learn. stare (star-eh) and essere (ess-ehr-eh) and don’t forget your trills. Both of these verbs mean “to be.” This may be the hardest to learn. This week we will concentrate on stare.

A little background on verbs… Unlike in English, where we would add a pronoun (I, you, he/she, we, they) before a verb that does not change in the present tense, in most foreign languages, especially the Latin based; we change the verb “ending.” There are what are called “-are, –ere, and, –ire,” ending verbs.

We all know that “Ti amo” is “I love you.” Amo is from the verb amare – meaning to love. Amo means I love. So, in order to say “you love, he/she loves, we love, and they love” you need to “take off” the “-are” of the verb and add different endings to the verb. For example:

Amare – to love a person. Think of the “-are” as the “to” part, so in speaking, you wouldn’t say “I to love” you would just say “I love.”

Here are the endings of –are verbs that are regular. Yes, unfortunately, there verbs that are not regular, but that will come later!

I – o                                                               we – iamo

you – i                                                             you (plural – all of you) – ate

he/she – a (there is no “it” in Italian)         they – ano
Therefore, Amare – to love a person (amore is the “noun” love)

Amo – I love                              Amiamo – we love

Ami – you love                            Amate – all of you love

Ama – he/she loves                     Amano – they love

Now for the verb Stare.

Stare – to be

sto – I am                                  stiamo – we are

stai – you are                              stamate – all of you are

sta – he/she is                            stanno – they are (I don’t know why, but there are (2) ns

                                                in “stanno” – only time I see this?)

Ok, let’s go over some pronouns…

io – I                                                  noi – we

tu – you                                              voi – all of you

lui – he; lei – she                                   loro – they

Lei – you (sing. Form, m/f)                     Loro – you (plural form)

(yes, Lei and Loro are capitalized)

Now I will go over the “5 Ws + How” in English – however they don’t all start with the same letter in Italian!

(these are for Kitty! Lol!) (all examples are from Grande Amore, except for “how/come.”

who – chi (as in “dimmi chi sei”)                       why – perche’ (as in “dimmi perche’ quando”)

what – che (as in “dimmi che mai”)                    when – quando (as in “dimmi perche’ quando”)

where – dove (as in “dove nasce il sole”)            how – come (as in “come un fiore”) from Canzone per te

So, when we say “come stai?” – how you are? The Italian grammar is a bit backwards from English. Almost like “how you doin’?” if anyone remembers John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino from “Welcome Back, Kotter!”

And a little bit of what I’d like to call the “Italian slide” – where pretty much all of the vowels are pronounced.

Remember the “o” sound in “come” – “au-o” sound? Then you have “a & i” together. So that would sound like “stah-ee,” but more of the sound of the 2nd vowel is pronounced. If you said it slowly, it may sound like this “cau-o’ meh sty ee” – in “stai” you hear the “slide” of the “a & i” together, but with more of the pronunciation of the “i.” And the accent on “co” in come. Re-listen to Gianluca & me in the Lesson 1, Part 2 video…

 NOTE: if there is just a two-syllable word, the accent is usually on the first syllable, unless there is a written accent, as in perche’.

Now for a little practice with Piero!a - a

How are you, Piero?           Come stai, Piero?

I love you, Ignazio!            Ti amo, Ignazio!

(“ti” being an object pronoun of “you”) Basically translated as “it is you, I love” Ignazio.

 

Just one more verb – parlare, which means “to speak”

parlo – I speak                  parliamo – we speak

parli – you speak               parlate – all of you speak

parla – he/she speaks       parlano – they speak

Parliamo Italiano – which is what Piero said at the Pescara or Taormina concert – when he asked “anyone here not Italian, who is American?” He did not get enough English replies, so he said “parliamo Italiano” – we will speak Italian. This was before Ignazio sang Memory…

I hope I have not confused all of you. I’m sure there are a few of you though that may be quite puzzled just about now!? Trust me, this will get easier. The first few lessons are always the hardest. I just feel you should have a basis for what you are learning. It will all make sense in time. Please stay with me. I will just go over some basic and much-needed vocabulary in Lesson 2, Part 2. It is hard to carry on a conversation when you don’t know how to say what you want to say, and with what words?! I plan to have Part 2 ready for Thursday. (I apologize, but I had a very busy weekend and have been putting in a lot of extra time at the office!)

HOMEWORK: Yes, you knew it was coming…. Just practice, saying out loud, the verbs and their endings, and singing along with Grande Amore! Yes – tough homework assignment, I know! Lol! Also, talk to your cat, your dog, your plants, or anyone else. You must practice saying these out loud.

Ciao!

Italia ~~ Italian Life

Italian, the Il Volo Way…Introduction and Lesson 1

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Teach Italy.jpg final one ~Jana

Preface: Ok, let’s start with giving a little credit, where credit is due. As you know, I am not Italian! Lol! I was able to buy two dictionaries at my local Barnes & Noble. I was glad I was able to see them in person and not just order them off the internet, as I had to look through quite a few of them to decide what would be the best. Both dictionaries are by Collins. The first one is: Collins Beginner’s Italian Dictionary, more than 84,000 entries. 2nd edition 2008. The second one is: Collins Italian Concise Dictionary 5th Edition, in Color. 2nd edition 2010. (even though the title says “5th” edition.) The third book I was able to see it in the store before I purchased it online, as it was a bit cheaper. I have the B&N member discount… was Easy Italian, Step-by-Step; by McGraw Hill. Both the dictionaries have special sections for concentrated categories, even shorthand for texting, etc. The McGraw Hill book is more like a real textbook, something you might use if you took a “live” class somewhere in school.

Ok, now on to the lessons….

Your first lesson will be hosted by Ignazio!a u - Elgin 6 - 14 - Il Volo-9933 for Jana's post

Part 1:

Buongiorno – Hello class! Today, we will start with basics. We start with the vowels and how they are pronounced. Ok…

a – sounds like “ah” – like in Ignazio and Ancora

e – has 2 sounds

  1. Like a long “a” – as in Grande and Te
  2. Like “eh” – as in Amore and Credo

i – sounds like “ee” – as in Piero and Bambino

o – has 2 sounds

  1. Almost like an “au-o” sound – as in Come and Sole
  2. Like a regular “o” sound – as in Boschetto and Volo (smile)

u – sounds like “oo” – as in Gianluca and Unico

 

Ok, now for the consonants. I will only go over those that are different from English.

c – has 2 sounds

  1. Like a “k”, before a, o, u, or any consonant – as in Ercole and Gianluca
  2. Like a “ch”, before i or e – as in Ciao and Cercano (from Romantica)

ch – sounds like “k” before i or e – as in Boschetto and Chi

g – has 2 sounds

  1. Like English “g” before a, o, u and any consonant – as in Grande and Frega
  2. Like a soft “g” before e or i – as in Gianluca and Gelato “we get gelato after class, yes?”

gh – is a hard “g” sound before e or i – as in Spaghetti and Funghi

h – initial “h” is always silent, as in honor – as in Ha and Ho

q – sounds like “k” or English “queen” – as in Quello and Questa

r – “r” is trilled…- no real English equivalent – will take practice – as in Roma and Piero

s – has 2 sounds

  1. Usually like regular English “s” – as in Respiro and Boschetto
  2. If between 2 vowels, sounds like a “z” – as in Cose (from Canzone Per Te) and Chiusa (from Ancora)

t – the “t” sounds like t, however, it is a “soft” t sound, where your tongue is more where your two front teeth, meet your gums. If you listen closely, you will hear it. It’s not a sharp “t” sound. You can hear it mostly with “me!” (Ignazio’s pronunciations…)

Now for sounds that are just in Italian…

The letters “g” and “l” together sound like a double “l” sound as in the English million. There are several versions and are usually, but not always, at the end of a word:

  • gli – as in orgoglio (from Canzone Per Te)
  • glie – as in sceglierai (from Grande Amore)
  • glia – as in voglia (from Ancora)
  • glio – as in voglio (from Canzone Per Te)

The letters “gn” – sound like “ny” as in English canyon – or as in Ignazio (smile)

The letters “sc” before e or i – sound like English “sh” sound – as in Nasce (from Grande Amore)

The letters “sch” sound like English school “k” – as in Pesche

And that is the end of Part 1. Part 2; tomorrow.

Buonanotte!

Italia ~~ Italian Life

Italian, the Il Volo Way – Lesson 1, Part 2

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Teach Italy.jpg final one ~JanaLesson 1 – Part 2

a u - Elgin 6 - 14 - Il Volo-9933 for Jana's post

Class, for part 2 of your first lesson, I leave you with a video of “us” teaching a little Italian to Min. This video is from a few years ago. Listen to the pronunciations of our names and other words. Listen for the consonants…

 

 For your next lesson, we will go over some verbs and new vocabulary.

 Vostro Professore, Ignazio! (your professor)

Italia ~~ Italian Life

Learn Italian, the Il Volo way!

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Hello my friends!

NIAF/Ann
NIAF/Ann

Well, with any luck (and lots of voting) Il Volo will be coming to Vegas to join us in the greatest celebration of our lives, in one of the most exciting places on earth!

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?”  Well, we might have to break that rule! Lol!

Even though they speak English quite well, we all want to speak to them in THEIR native language – Italian!

I also know that a few of you, maybe more, are planning trips to Italy this year.  So, let me help you and everyone else, learn a little Italian to make our guys feel at home, and you feel comfortable in their home!  Remember… “when in Rome….”  Ok, maybe literally!

I say the “Il Volo” way, because I’d like to zone in and target certain words and phrases that we are most familiar with that we hear them singing in their songs, as well as in their many interviews.  I plan to first dissect a few of their songs – of course we all know “grand amore” is big/grande love.  We probably know more Italian than we think we do.  I’ll start with basic common words we likely already know, to gain an instant familiarity, then throw in some we don’t know, taking other words – both nouns and verbs, as well as other parts of speech, from the songs and interviews.  Of course, I will have to throw in some grammar and basic pronunciation, and even some games – have to make learning fun!  Since we’ve listened to them, most of us probably have a good basis for pronunciation, however, I know from my personal experience, the words and how they pronounce them are not always how we think they should be spelled!

What will be a bit fun, is that I will be learning right along with you!  I had 4 years of Spanish in high school and a short refresher in college, but that was MANY years ago.  Although, I remember much more than I thought I would, I don’t remember everything.  If you are at all familiar with Spanish, you will recognize that Italian is actually very similar.  Many words and verbs are the same, or almost identical, except for a few letters different here and there.

I know there are some of you out there that are Italian and speak Italian, so feel free to add your “2 cents worth,” or correct me, at any time!

So, stroll along with me, down the Appian Way, and learn Italian – the Il Volo way!

Ciao, for now!

Jana