CBI 1-08 | Talking about what there is to do in the town in Italian

This is Matt Rogers from Lost Cultures, thus with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Cultures, thus Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. And now a quick vital break from our sponsor, Vital Proteins, the official collagen partner of the US Open and presenting sponsor of the Mixed Doubles Championship. If there's a sport where aesthetics meets athletics more than in tennis, I don't know what it is. So it just makes sense for Vital Proteins to be involved considering how much collagen peptide support healthy skin, hair, nails, bones and joints. And that applies whether it's players facing a third set tie break in the semis or fans cheering them on. Thanks again to our sponsor, Vital Proteins. Learn more about collagen peptides by going to vitalproteins.com. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Hey, it's Tony from Tony Told Me. On Yang La, the inside fix, a podcast from own, Yang La Vansan revisits the stories, teachings and insights that made her show fix my life a must-watch for millions. With fresh eyes, she re-examines those lessons with greater clarity and shares new wisdom for the challenges we face today. Personal growth evolves over time, and there's always room to find new meaning in old lessons. Listen to Yang La, the inside fix, wherever you get your podcasts. Coffee Break Italian season one, lesson eight. Back again with another episode of Coffee Break Italian for you. If this happens to be the first episode you've been listening to, then please feel free to head over to coffeebreakitalian.com where you'll find all our previous episodes, or indeed you can listen on iTunes, on your podcasts app, on your mobile phone or iPad, and indeed on SoundCloud, where you can learn Italian from scratch with our team. It's a stanca. No, tell us why you're tired. Well, for the past few days I've been in Copenhagen. In which country, in Italian, is Copenhagen in? Danimarka. Danimarka, perfect. It's a stata in vacanza, in Danimarka. In vacanza. On holiday? Exactly. I was, yes. And how was it? It was great. It was a little cold. I'm imagining a little cold within Italy, but it was wonderful. Excellent. Okay, it's time to start this lesson for today. We've already been listening to some Italian, but it's now time to take things a little further. In this lesson, we're going to be talking more about places in the town to help you find your way around while you're on holiday and vacation in Italy, and we'll also be taking our Italian grammar a bit further today. As usual, we'll begin with a little recap. I wonder if you can remember how to say some of these places in the town in Italian. So, Katie, can you remember how you would say the square? The piazza. Was it the spiaggia? The spiaggia indeed. And I hope our listeners are trying to remember these places too. Okay, let's try two more. What about the pharmacy? La farmaccia. That's right. That's the one I always get mixed up with. La farmaccia. And finally, what about the cathedral or the big church? That was il duomo. Il duomo, perfecto. No, how would we say where is something? How do you say where is? Dove. Dove. So, let's put that together with one of the places in the town. How would we say where is the town centre? Dove il centro. Dove il centro. Perfecto. What about the phrase that we learned towards the end of last lesson? Is it far? Can you remember that, Katie? Elontano. Elontano. Elontano. Eccelente. And the opposite of far, is it nearby? É vicino. É vicino. So, we've got vicino for nearby. We're going to be using that word, again, in this lesson. And lontano, for far away. One final question that we covered last week within our conversation. And that was the question, can you help me? Can you help me? Katie, can you remember how you say, can you help me? Help. Mi puo aiutare. Perfecto, sí. OK, so today we're going to build on the words and phrases that we learned last week, and we're going to start by adding in a few extra places in the town. We'll introduce these words. And I want you to see if you can recognise anything about them, because we're going to talk about that afterwards. First of all, the word for a place that we hope that you'll not need, while you're on holiday, the hospital. Listen again to Francesca. Lo spedale. Lo spedale. OK, so that's the hospital. And let's add a couple more. What about the post office? Luficio postale. One more time. Luficio postale. Luficio postale. Good, so that's the post office and the hospital. Let's add in the travel agency. Lagencia di viaggi. Lagencia di viaggi. It's quite tricky. It sounds like the agency of voyage or something like that. Let's get it one more time. Va bene. Lagencia di viaggi. Lagencia di viaggi. And let's add one more word in here and that could be the university. L'università. Now we've got to watch our stress in this one. Let's hit it again. L'università. Queré? L'università. L'università. Good, the stress goes on the last syllable there. So we've had four words. L'uficio postale, lo spedale, lagencia di viaggi and l'università. In each case, we're using a slightly different word for the. It's actually an L apostrophe. So rather than saying il uficio postale because uficio postale begins with a vowel sound, we use L apostrophe. Luficio postale. Likewise, o spedale is another masculine word that begins with a vowel. So it becomes lo spedale. We don't say il lo spedale, we say lo spedale. So let's try seeing these two again, the post office. L'uficio postale. L'uficio postale. And the hospital. L'ospedale. L'ospedale. So two masculine words beginning with a vowel and we use L apostrophe as the word for the. The same happens with feminine words. If we were to use the normal definite article, the word for the with these feminine words, it would sound a little bit strange, for example. We couldn't say lagencia di viaggi. It sounds a bit funny. So we say lagencia di viaggi. So again, L apostrophe, we take off the E of la and we cover it with an apostrophe. Lagencia di viaggi. Lagencia di viaggi. Lagencia di viaggi. And likewise, with università, beginning with a vowel is a feminine word. So we say the university. L'università. L'università. Perfecto. Mark, can I tell a story? Sure. You know, I always tell my students that when you take off the vowel in Italian, you're a wee bit sad. So you cry a little bit and that's why you have an apostrophe in Italian, like a little tear. That's a lovely story. Siamo romantici. Romantici, questi italians with the romantic ideas. Lovely. OK, so for example, if we take lagencia di viaggi, we take the E out. So you've lost your E and you've got to cry a little so you put in the apostrophe. Lagencia di viaggi è talente. OK, just one more thing I'd like to add here before we move on. And that. is a couple of possibilities that you might answer, or you might hear as an answer if you were to ask, for example, "dó ve lo figio postale," where is the post office? You might hear "on the right," "addestra," "addestra," or you might hear "on the left," "a sinistra," "a sinistra," or you might hear "streethon," "tritto," "tritto," obviously there are lots of possible directions that you might be given, but those three should get you by for the time being. Okay, so so far in this lesson, we've been looking at the word for "the," that's called the definite article. We've mentioned that a couple of times. We've had "la" for feminine words, "il" for masculine words, and then we also looked at el apostrophe for masculine or feminine words, which begin with a vowel. Let's move on now, and we're going to listen to a conversation, and the situation is I am in town, and I'm going to be asking for some directions, and Francesca is there to help out. So Katie, I'd like you to listen to this conversation, and I want to see if you can work at what I'm asking. Okay, so that's your challenge, you have to find out what I'm asking for in the town. Let's listen to the conversation one more time. You were looking for la farmaccia. I was indeed looking for la farmaccia, and I used that different form of a question. I didn't say dove la farmaccia, indeed if I asked where is the pharmacy, I would know that there must be a pharmacy around here, but I used a different version of this question. I said c'è una farmaccia cuivicino. Let's listen to that question again. C'è una farmaccia cuivicino. Good, it is quite tricky. So you can say c'è, meaning is there, una farmaccia, that's a pharmacy or a chemist, cuivicino, here nearby. So is there a pharmacy near here or around here? Okay, can you repeat c'è una farmaccia? C'è. C'è una farmaccia. Okay, molto bene. It's perhaps more like a chess set than a chair. Oh, c'è. Is that work for chess? Coffee makes sense. Okay, so c'è una farmaccia cuivicino. Katie, how would you say is there a beach near here? C'è una spiaggia cuivicino. Perfecto. So you can use this c'è, cuivicino, with any of our words. But notice here, we're not saying la spiaggia or la farmaccia. We're changing the word for the, to the word for a. And that word for feminine words becomes una. So una farmaccia, una spiaggia, let's learn a couple more, una libreria. Una libreria. Any guesses? A bookshop. Well done. You've used your, your knowledge of French, there are books. It's not a library. It's not a library, that's right. Una libreria would be a bookshop. A library would be una biblioteca. Una biblioteca. So it's very like the French-handed Spanish words. So una libreria, a bookshop. What about bakers? Una paneteria. Una paneteria. So if you were desperate for lovely Italian crusty loaf and you were looking for a bakers, how would you say is there a baker's near here? C'è una paneteria qui vicino. A gelente. Now coming back to her conversation, when I asked Francesca, if there was a farmaccia qui vicino, she said. C'è una qui vicino. So that's a quite difficult phrase. C'è ne una qui vicino. There is one of them nearby. You don't need to worry about how this phrase is formed just now, as long as you understand it. Try saying it. And then the answer went on. C'è a cinque minute à piedi. So Katie, can you work out what that is? It's five minutes away on foot. Well, then a piedi is on foot. You might be able to work out piedi from words like pedestrian or pedicure, something to do with feet. So a cinque minute de à piedi. It's five minutes away by foot. And then the final part of this answer was. So a cinque minute, always straight on. Just go straight ahead to find una farmaccia. Okay, we're going to take a short break there and we'll be back in just a moment. Here, at Coffee Break Italian, we want to help you turn your downtime into due time. Voy faire un po' di pratica. Join us on Facebook three times a week and put your Italian to work with our language challenges and cultural insights. As they say, practice makes perfect. Or, in italiano, la pratica rende perfetti. Head over to facebook.com/coffeebreakitalian. A presto l'ora. Hey, I've got the campaign brief ready. Built from last quarter's data and the competitive landscape. Approved. Oh, agents. Where would we be without you? Somewhere with a lot more tabs open. Create your first Monday agent in minutes at Monday.com. Hey, it's Tony from Tony told me on a Yann La the inside fix a podcast from own. Yann La vanzan revisits the stories, teachings and insights that made her show fix my life a must-watch for millions. With fresh eyes, she reexamines those lessons with greater clarity and shares new wisdom for the challenges we face today. Personal growth evolves over time and there's always room to find new meaning in old lessons. Listen to Yann La the inside fix wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Paige DeSorba from Gagli Squad and this episode is supported by Rothies. The brand famous for chic, comfortable flats. My listeners know I love to start an outfit with the shoes and there's nothing better than a great flat in the fall. Their timeless, they make everything look more polished and Rothies iconic pointed flat, the point, has been reimagined to be better than ever. It now has a cushioned bouncy insole with much more arch support, so it's comfortable enough to wear all day and the point comes in so many gorgeous colors, patterns and textures. Discover the point at Rothies.com. That's R-O-T-H-Y-S.com. Okay, let's get on with the lesson. Okay, so we've looked at una for la words. La espiadja becomes una espiadja. La libreria, the bookshop becomes una libreria a bookshop. So let's think now about what happens with masculine words. We know il restaurante, the restaurant and il barco, the park. What happens here is that they become un restaurante, a restaurant and un barco, a park. So, can you work out how you would say is there a restaurant nearby? C'è un restaurante qui vicino? Perfetto! Now let's add in a couple of other masculine words we could add in the word for a castle? Un castle. stello, un castello, o a theatre, un teatro. So, how would we say is there a theatre nearby? C'è un teatro qui vicino? C'è un teatro qui vicino, perfetto. Ok, what we're going to do now is take this conversation again. However, this time Katie, you are going to be asking the question in the street and Francesca will give you the answer. And this time you're not looking for una varmachia, but instead you're looking for a restaurant. So, let's see if we can do this whole conversation, start off by asking for some help. And then you can ask, is there a restaurant near here? Over to you. Excuse me, can you help me? Yes, tell me. C'è un ritorante qui vicino. Un ristorante, ehm, si, c'è ne uno qui vicino, è a 10 minuti a piedi. Eh, sempre dritto. Grazie, prego. E c'è zionale, fantastic, well done. Now, this time, in the answer, something changed slightly. Listen again to Francesca's answer and response to the question, c'è un ristorante qui vicino. Si, c'è ne uno qui vicino. So, when we were looking for una varmachia, the question was answered. So, that has to change depending on what it is. You're looking for c'è ne uno qui vicino, if it's a masculine thing, or c'è ne uno qui vicino, if it's a feminine thing. So, let's review what happens with these definite articles becoming indefinite articles "the" becoming "a". We've got la spiaggia, the beach, which becomes una spiaggia a beach. And we've got il ristorante, the restaurant, which becomes un ristorante. What happens with the words that begin with a vowel when we were using a apostrophe? OK, that's a good question. And the answer straightforward enough, certainly when you see it. When you write it, it's a little bit different. Let's take uficcio postale. First, that's a post-office. And uficcio starts with a vowel. Now, it's a masculine word. So, when we say "a" post-office, we would normally use the word un. So, we'd say un ristorante, a restaurant, un parco, a parco, and we say un uficcio postale. Because we don't need to do anything. Un ends in a consonant, and the next word begins in a vowel. So, there's nothing to miss out, as it were. Un uficcio postale. Un uficcio postale. So, let's put this to the test. How would you say, "Is there a hospital near here?" Hopefully, you wouldn't have to say that, but "Is there a hospital near here?" "Is there a hospital near here?" Exactly. And with that word, with "un" in this situation, there's no apostrophe, because we're not missing anything out. However, you probably know who's coming. Let's go back to agensia di viaggi, the travel agency. Agensia begins with a vowel, and when we say "the" travel agency, we say. "L'agensia di viaggi." "L'agensia di viaggi." No, when we say "a" travel agency, then something happens. We say "un agensia di viaggi." But there, we have got an apostrophe, because we really ought to say "un'agensia di viaggi." But it sounds funny. We don't want to say "un'agensia di viaggi." So, we say "un'agensia di viaggi." And we put in an apostrophe, because we've lost that vowel. - We are crying, aren't we? - Yeah, very sad. "Un'agensia di viaggi." "Un'agensia di viaggi." So, Katie, if you are feeling the need to learn some difficult material and you need it to ask, is there a university near here? What would you say? C'è un università qui vicino. Bravo. Perfecto. OK, well, that is where we're going to leave this episode for today. - Allora, è tutto per oggi. - It is indeed all for today. Don't forget that you can head over to coffeebreakitalian.com to access all our information about this show. And if you'd like to access our video content, our lesson notes, and indeed the bonus audio, which will help test your Italian each week, then head over to coffeebreakitalianplus.com. Remember, you can practice your Italian a little bit more on the Facebook page at facebook.com/coffeebreakitalian. And as usually, if you are on Twitter, we are at Learn Italian. Excellent. Well, we will be back next time. And next time we're going to be teaching you some phrases which will help you deal with the language. You'll learn how to say that you don't understand. And indeed, that you speak a little Italian to encourage more Italian people to talk to you and give you more opportunities to practice. Allora, grazie, è a rivederci. A presto, ciao! A rivederci! [Music] Hey, it's Tony from "Tony told me". On a Yanla, the Inside Fix, a podcast from own, Illa Vanzan revisits the stories, teachings, and insights that made her show "Fix My Life" a must-watch for millions. Listen to a Yanla, the Inside Fix, wherever you get your podcasts.