Learn Italian

LEARN ITALIAN Level one ABOUT THE LESSONS My lessons are designed to teach Italian in the way a child learns, naturally, and under the concrete conditions of the physical world. The language is a system based on the combination of three basic elements: 1. Words 2. Phrases 3. Sentences A language cannot be learned without knowing the individual meaning of each word. In the spoken language to convey a thought is not always necessary to use a sentence. Words and phrases can be used to achieve what you need as well. The specific of my method stands to the concept that a student should learn the most important things of a language first. There are a lot of books, or language learning systems that teach the vocabulary,for example, for all vegetables, but all those words would be useless for the language of everyday life. The language is not an abstract machine, but a physical tool to achieve something that you physically need, for example, a bottle of water when you are thirsty, and to get around, work, move, drive, fly, eat, rent/buy, etc, and the physical things are at the same time language elements that have a hierarchy of importance and a frequency of use correlated to our personal needs of everyday life. It is all arranged to help you for developing a foundation for advancing quickly in the Italian language. ITALIAN PHONETIC ALPHABET, WORD STRESS, AND DOUBLE CONSONANTS I will not start with the Italian alphabet because the Italian alphabet does not have the same spelling function as the English alphabet does. Italian is a phonetic language. That means you can look at a written word and know how to pronounce it, or you can hear a word and know how to spell it. Phonetic languages do have a direct relationship between the spelling and the sound. English is not a phonetic language- a word is not pronounced in the same way it is spelled. I will start with the phonetic Italian alphabet and explain the relationship between the letters and their sounds which will be the rule of the pronunciation for you. Once the rules are understood is easy to pronounce each word correctly. Any consonant except h can be doubled. The rule is simple: if they are doubled the sound is prolonged. Double z is pronounced almost the same as single z. Double s is pronounced always as single s. The stress in Italian words usually falls on the next-to-last syllable such insegnare /teach/,  imparare/to learn/. When the stress falls in the last syllable the final vowel is accented with a grave downward pointed accent città/city/, però/but/. Grave accent marks are also used in order to distinguish the words that have the same spelling but different meaning such as: e/and/, è/is/, da/gives/ with dà/from/, la/ the/ with là/there/. Letter Name Pronanciation Italian words English sounds A, a a /a/ grazie(thank) start B, b bi /b/ buona(good) buy C, c ci /k/ or /tʃ/ 1.cosa/koza/ before i or e skin Church 1 before i or e 2.ciao /tʃao/ 3. cereale Pronounced as a single sound. 2 3 c=k ci=ç ce=ç D, d di /d/ donna(woman) do E, e e /e/ or /ɛ/ essere (to be) met F, f effe /f/ furbo fan G, g gi /ɡ/ or /dʒ/ grazie gigante /ʤˈgaːnte/ giorno /dʒorno/ go 2.giant / jī-ənt/ 3.general /jen-rəl/ 4. learn 5. canyon Pronounced as a single sound 1 before i or e With "l" With "n" 2             3 4 5 gente /ˈdʒɛnte/, g=g gi=j ge=j gl=l gn=ny aglio lasagna H, h acca ∅ silent che, hai no sound, silent I, i i /i/ or /j/ Isola(island) fill L, l elle /l/ libro(book) laundry M, m emme /m/ mamma(mom) music N, n enne /n/ Natale(Christmas) name O, o o /o/ or /ɔ/ occhio(eye) sold P, p pi /p/ prego (you’re wellcome) party Q, q cu /k/ questo (this) quiet R, r erre /r/ Riso(rice) rain S, s esse 1./s/ 2./z/-between two vowels 3.sch=sh 4.sce=sh 1-stanza(room) 2-cosa(what) 1-steal 2-zipper 3-sciare 4-scendere 3-shine 4-share T, t ti /t/ terra (earth, world, ground) time U, u u /u/  uomo(man) noon V, v vu /v/ vino vine Z, z zeta /ts/ or /dz/ Zio /tsio/(uncle) Zeal/zeel/- (differs a little) LESSON ONE: Chapter I: Basics-Lezione uno: Elementi basilari  You will learn how to say goodbye to someone, to introduce yourself, and basic important phrases. Presentazione; Greetings Locuzione di base; Basic phrases;  I verbi “essere”, “avere”;“to be”, “to have”/ Basics: Elementi basilari I io We noi You tu You voi He She lui lei They loro Greetings and Leave-Taking in Italian buongiorno  Good morning           ciao  Hello/Goodbye arrivederci  Goodbye buonasera Good evening buonanotte Good night per favore Please grazie Thank you prego Your welcome sì Yes no No signore, signor Sir, Mister signora Madam, Mrs. signorina Miss (unmarried woman)                    giorno.........day  Buon(a)+  sera............evening                    notte...........night io sono................Io am tu sei...................You are lui è ....................He is lei è.....................She is Lei è....................You are (polite form) io ho....................I have tu hai...................You have lui ha....................He has lei ha....................She has Lei ha...................You have (polite form) This questo, questa You (polite) Lei-It is capitalized to distinguish from “lei”  Basic phrases Locuzione di base You have… (polite) Do you have? understand Do you understand? Its is. Is it? Lei ha… Ha? capire Lei capisce? (polite) è. è ? Buongiorno, ciao, arrivederci, buonasera, bunanotte, per favore, per piacere, grazie, prego, si, no, signore, signora+ina Io, tu, lui, lei, noi, voi, loro, sono, sei, è, ho, hai, ha

LESSON ONE:Basic phrases: Locuzione di base Basics: Elementi basilari Where is the toilet? Where is the bathroom? Dov’è il bagno? How much? Quanto? How much does it cost? Quanto costa? What time? Che ora? At what time? A che ora? I want Io voglio Time, hour ora I don’t want Io non voglio I understand Io capisco Where Where is(it)? Dove? Dov’è? I don’t understand Io non capisco LESSON ONE: Introducing yourself or someone else, such as your spouse, child, or friend. =Presentare Dialoghi informali: Come ti chiami? S1: ________, ti presento il mio amico _________. S2: Piacere di conoscerti! S3: Piacere mio! S1__________, ecco il mio nuovo vicino. S2: Piacere, Io sono________. Tu come ti chiami? S3: Mi chiamo _______, piacere! Dialoghi formali: Lei come si chiama? S1: Buonasera signora______, le presento il mio amico. S2: Sono ________, molto lieta! S3: Piacere, _______. S1: Scusi, è lei la studentessa _________? S2: Si sono io, e lei come si chiama? S3: Sono ______________, piacere. Read the dialogues out loud several times. If you have forgotten the meanings of some words from a previous chapter, review the previous chapter. presentare introduce mio my amico friend Piacere di conoscerti Nice to meet you nuovo new vicino neighbor cosa what come how tuo your chiamiare call molto lieta delighted Come si chiama?             What’s your name? Mi chiamo________       May name is_______ Le presento_______.      Let me introduce you      Molto lieto/lieta. (lieto-m, lieta-f)     Delighted. Piacere!                            A pleasure. Il piacere è mio.               The pleasure is mine.

	Answers	Literally
Grazie	di nulla	It’s nothing
	di niente	It’s nothing
	Non c'è di che (formal situations)	There is nothing to it

LESSON ONE
S1f: Come si chiama? S2m: Mi chiamo__________.                                   S1f: Molto lieta! S2m: E Lei? S1f: Mi chiamo__________. S2m: Molto lieto! Lei è Italiana? S1f: Sì, sono italiana. E Lei? S2m: Anch’io sono Italiano d’origine.	bambino                        boy bambina                        girl un bambino                   a boy una bambina                 a girl il bambino                     the boy la bambina                    the girl i bambini                       the boys le bambine                    the girls

LESSON ONE

S1f: Buongiorno signor__________, come va? S2m: Buongiorno signora__________. Io sto bene, e Lei come sta?                                   S1f: Non c’è male, grazie! ArrivederLa S2m: A presto. come         andare va stare Lei sta. Io sto bene male c’è c’è presto Come va? Non c’è male A presto! how go (he, she) it goes stay, be, stand you are(polite) I am good bad there is being in or being here/there soon How is it going? Note:"it” means your life, your things. Not bad. See you soon!

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Name uno due tre quattro cinque sei sette otto nove dieci undici dodici tredici quattordici quindici sedici diciassette diciotto diciannove venti ventuno ventidue