Lymbery Sylvia. Colloquial Italian. Parte 1
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emigration as belonging to the past, as indeed it does. Italy is now
experiencing immigration from poorer countries, particularly North
Africa and Eastern Europe.
Word power
Superficially, the passage looks difficult. This is partly because to
an eye brought up on the English language, words of Latin origin
seem erudite. Italian however has grown from Latin, with various
other influences mixed in. Words of Latin origin are part and parcel
of the normal everyday vocabulary of the man or woman in the
Italian street. So rule number one when faced with a passage in
Italian is: expect Latinisms.
The passage also contains quite a high proportion of abstract
words and this gives the reader a feeling it is difficult. But such
words are particularly guessable. Intelligent guessing is invaluable
when dealing with a foreign language. Using a dictionary takes
time and you may not always have one handy. When faced with a
word you have not met before you should try to guess. Here are
three possible approaches:
1 Does it look like a word I know in English? democrazia was an
easy one. Or veicolo. Slip in an ‘h’: ‘vehicle’.
2 Sometimes you may not be able to make the link with an English
word but you may recognize part of the word as being similar
to an Italian word you know. For example, lavatrice contains
lava and you may be able to link that with lavare ‘to wash’, and
then guess that a lavatrice is some sort of person or machine
that washes.
novità may not immediately suggest ‘novelty’ to you, but it
may make you think of nuovo. Or, to return to the first strategy,
perhaps that would take you to ‘innovation’ and from there to
‘something new’. In the case of sottosviluppato, you have met
sotto ‘under’ and sviluppo ‘development’. migliorata: do you
remember migliore ‘better’? And benessere is bene + essere ‘to
be well’. What would malessere mean?
3 Occasionally neither of these approaches works but you may be
able to guess from the context. For instance you have not so
far met the word gabinetto, used in elettricità, acqua potabile e
gabinetto insieme. You will realize from the rest of the sentence
200 Unit 13: La vita è cambiata
that the author is saying that, in 1945, most Italian homes did
not have available all three of certain basic conveniences, which
we take for granted today. So you might be able to guess that
the third of the trio was a flush lavatory. This type of guessing
is however to be used with caution as it can lead the guesser
astray.
Unit 13: Life has changed 201
14 Alla salute!
Here’s to your health!
In this unit you will learn about:
• The difference between sera/serata, giorno/giornata
• Object pronouns: with the infinitive, the imperative and ecco;
the order when there are two of them
• The human body: il corpo umano
• Saying you are not well
• Saying you have given something up – another negative
Dialogue 1
Una distorsione alla caviglia
Enzo had planned to go to the cinema yesterday evening with his
friends Piero and Elena. However he had a bad cold, so he stayed
at home. Now he is telephoning them to hear what they thought of
the film.
1 How is Enzo’s cold today?
2 Did Piero and Elena enjoy the film?
3 What must Elena avoid doing for a week?
ENZO: Pronto. Ciao Piero, sei tu? Come stai?
PIERO: Io bene, grazie, e il tuo raffreddore?
E
NZO: Un po’ meglio oggi, grazie. Scusa se non sono venuto
con voi ieri. Stavo proprio male. E il film? Come l’avete
trovato? Vi è piaciuto?
P
IERO: Ma non ci siamo andati.
ENZO: Come mai? Che cosa è successo?
PIERO: Beh, uscendo di casa Elena è caduta e si è fatta una
brutta distorsione alla caviglia. Così invece di andare al
cinema, abbiamo passato la serata al pronto soccorso.
E
NZO: Oh, mi dispiace. Come va adesso Elena?
PIERO: E qui, accanto a me, sdraiata, con il piede su un cuscino.
Non deve assolutamente mettere il piede a terra per
sette giorni. Vuoi parlarle? Te la passo. Ciao.
Vocabulary
una brutta distorsione a nasty ankle sprain
alla caviglia
pronto soccorso hospital emergency service
sdraiata lying down
Language points
Using sera/serata, giorno/giornata
sera refers to the evening as a point in time, i.e. as opposed to the
morning or the afternoon.
Vuoi andare dalla nonna questa sera o domani
pomeriggio?
Do you want to go to grandmother’s this evening or
tomorrow afternoon?
Unit 14: Here’s to your health! 203
Lavorare dalla mattina alla sera.
To work from morning to night (evening).
You use serata when thinking about the evening as a period of
time, about how the evening is spent. Hence:
Abbiamo passato la serata al pronto soccorso.
We spent the evening at the hospital emergency department.
le lunghe serate invernali
the long winter evenings
Compare also giorno/giornata. giorno is used for the day as a point
in time:
– Che giorno è oggi? – E’ mercoledì.
– What day is it today? – It’s Wednesday.
Ci sono sette giorni in una settimana.
There are seven days in a week.
You use giornata when you are thinking about how the daylight
hours are spent, the conditions and events in them:
E’ stata davvero una giornata bellissima.
It really was a lovely day (meaning ‘the weather was
wonderful’, or ‘we had a marvellous time’).
People wish you Buona giornata! ‘Have a nice day!’ and Buona
serata! ‘Have a nice evening!’ as opposed to Buongiorno, Buona
sera, which are simply greetings without thought about how the day
or evening might be spent. The same distinction is true but less
commonly met for: mattina/mattinata and anno/annata. Un’annata
buona is used in agricultural circles when talking about a ‘good
year’ referring to the quality of the crop that year. When making
a rather imprecise appointment you might say:
Passo da te in mattinata/in serata/in giornata.
I’ll call on you during the morning/the evening/the day.
More about personal pronouns:
object form
Here are three points about the position of pronouns.
(1) You will remember you were told these pronouns are placed
immediately before the verb, but Piero says:
204 Unit 14: Alla salute!
Vuoi parlarle?
Do you want to talk to her?
When used with an infinitive, the object pronoun follows the infini-
tive with its final e removed and since the two run together in the
sound, they are written joined to it:
Carlo sta suonando il pianoforte. Mi piace sentirlo.
Carlo’s playing the piano. I like to hear him.
Dicono che il nuovo film è molto bello. Andiamo a vederlo
stasera.
They say the new film is very good. Let’s go and see it this
evening.
Pronto, Carla? Ciao. Senti, è arrivato Bernardo. Perché non
vieni a trovarlo domani da noi?
Hello, is that Carla? Hi. Bernardo’s arrived. Why don’t you
come and see him at our house tomorrow?
Usually the infinitive will follow another verb as in the above exam-
ples, but not necessarily:
Dargli la mia macchina? Neanche per sogno.
Give him my car? Never in a thousand years
(lit. ‘not even in a dream’).
When the first verb is one from that useful trio volere, dovere,
potere, the pronoun may be put either before that verb or after
the infinitive:
– Hai telefonato a Giorgio?
– Non ancora. Gli devo telefonare oggi.
Devo telefonargli oggi.
– Have you telephoned Giorgio?
– Not yet. I must ring him today.
– Hai finito il libro che stavi leggendo?
– No. Lo vorrei finire oggi. /Vorrei finirlo oggi.
– Have you finished the book you were reading?
– No. I’d like to finish it today.
– Quando può fare questa riparazione?
– La posso fare domani. /Posso farla domani.
– When can you do this repair?
– I can do it tomorrow.
Unit 14: Here’s to your health! 205
It is simpler for the learner to stick to the second model, thus treat-
ing all verbs the same way, but be prepared for the other usage.
(2) The direct object pronouns are also attached to ecco:
– Eccomi.– Eccoci.
– Here I am. – Here we are.
– Dov’è Giorgio? – Sta arrivando. Eccolo.
– Where’s Giorgio? – He’s coming. Here he is.
Dove abbiamo lasciato la macchina? Ah, eccola.
Where did we leave the car? Ah, there it is.
(3) Imperatives: the object pronouns, including reflexive pronouns,
are attached to the ends of imperatives (although there is one
exception).
Scusami, Maria. Ti ho fatto male?
Forgive me, Maria. Did I hurt you?
Non preoccuparti.
Don’t worry.
In this case you have an imperative formed with the infinitive.
Ditelo coi fiori. Say it with flowers.
Accomodatevi. Take a seat.
Divertiamoci. Let’s enjoy ourselves.
Dimmi, Gianni, cosa pensi?
Tell me, Gianni, what do you think?
Note: The doubling of the m in dimmi is a small point. The verbs
in which this happens are andare (va’), dare (da’), dire (di’), fare
(fa’) and stare (sta’). The tu form of the imperative of these verbs
is a monosyllable. The initial consonant of any object pronoun
doubles when it is attached to these monosyllables. This applies to
all the object pronouns except gli. However, the one most
commonly heard is mi:
Fammi vedere la foto.
Show me the photo (make/let me see the photo).
Facci un piacere. Do us a favour.
Dammi la tua valigia. Give me your suitcase.
Dammi la mano. Give me your hand.
Dagli la mia chiave. Give him my key.
206 Unit 14: Alla salute!
The exception to the rule that the object pronoun is attached to
the end of the imperative is the formal, third person imperative.
In this case the pronoun precedes the verb:
Mi scusi, signore. Le ho fatto male?
I am sorry, sir. Did I hurt you?
Mi dica. Tell me. (see below)
S’accomodi. Take a seat/ sit down.
It helps to use commonly heard forms as models for these rather
tricky points. You will hear:
From your friends From people you do not
(tu form) know well (Lei)
Scusami Mi scusi
Dimmi Mi dica
Siediti
Si sieda
S’accomodi
dimmi/mi dica are often heard. When you claim a friend’s atten-
tion by saying his/her name, the response will very often be dimmi
or dimmi tutto. And it is very common for a waiter, a shop assist-
ant etc. to say mi dica to indicate he/she is ready to listen to you.
Exercise 1
Finish these remarks as indicated. You will need to use a pronoun.
Example: Ho finito di leggere il giornale.
(Do you want to see it?)
Answer: Vuoi vederlo tu?/Lo vuoi vedere tu?
1 Gianni è un amico molto caro.
(He comes to see us often.)
2 Sabato è il compleanno di Andrea.
(I’d like to invite him to supper.)
3 Hai già scritto al signor Lombardi?
(No, I must write to him today.)
4 Buongiorno, signora.
(Can I help you?)
5 Sei mai stato a Parigi?
(No, I hope to go there this year.)
Unit 14: Here’s to your health! 207
Exercise 2
Answer the following using ecco and a pronoun:
1 Dove sono i bambini? 3 Dove sei?
2 Ha il passaporto, signore? 4 Mi dà le chiavi, per piacere?
Exercise 3
How would you say the following (a) to a person you do not know
well, i.e. using Lei, and (b) to a friend?
1 Enjoy yourself! 3 Give me the key, please.
2 Do me a favour. 4 Tell him to come tomorrow.
Combining pronouns
You saw in Unit 12 that when ci and ne occur in the same sentence,
ci comes first and changes to ce: Ce ne sono tre. This also happens
with mi, ti, ci (‘us, to us’), vi and the reflexive pronoun si before
another object pronoun. Piero says:
Te la passo.
I’ll pass her to you.
Similarly:
Me lo dici?
Are you going to tell me?
(lit. ‘Are you telling me?’)
Ce li manda.
He’s sending them to us.
The order is always:
(1) mi, ti, si, ci, vi, si
followed by:
(2) lo, la, li, le, ne.
Note: Remember: Ce n’è per tutti, Unit 13, where ci is a subject
pronoun. The change to ce applies to ci whether used as subject
or object, referring to a person or an object, or meaning ‘there’ if
there is another pronoun following.
208 Unit 14: Alla salute!
What about gli, le singular and gli plural? All three become:
glie and precede lo, la, li, le. The resulting sound group is written
as one word:
Glielo dico domani. I’ll tell you (it) tomorrow.
him
her
them
Without a context the Italian phrase could mean any of the English
versions. How are you going to learn this? Find some model
sentences. A once popular song with the ‘orchestrine’ in Venice
went:
Me lo dai? me lo dai? me lo dai un bel bacin?
Will you give me . . . a nice little kiss?
(bacin is a diminutive of bacio ‘a kiss’.) The line from the song
could be transformed:
Me la dai? Me li dai? Me le dai? Me ne dai?
Will you give it/them/some of them to me?
Te lo do. Te la do. Te li do. Te le do. Te ne do.
I am giving (will give) it/them/some of them to you.
Glielo do. Gliela do. Glieli do. Gliele do. Gliene do. ecc.
I am giving it/some of it to him/her/them. etc.
Exercise 4
Complete the following using a double pronoun:
Example: – Pronto. C’è il signor Rossi?
(I’ll put you through straight away)
Answer: – Glielo passo subito.
1 – Hai fatto quel lavoro per me?
(I’ll do it for you tomorrow.)
2 – Scusi, signorina. Non capisco questo modulo.*
(I’ll explain it to you.)
3 – Ho comprato un nuovo frigo.
(They are bringing it to us tomorrow.)
4 – Sai che Alberto ha un nuovo lavoro?
(Yes, he told me about it
†
on Saturday)
* modulo ‘form’ (to fill in)
†
use parlare di
Unit 14: Here’s to your health! 209