Lymbery Sylvia. Colloquial Italian. Parte 1
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210 Unit 14: Alla salute!
gli occhi
l’orecchio
la bocca
i denti
il collo
la testa
i capelli
la spalla
il polso
il viso
il braccio
la gamba
la caviglia
il piede
la mano
The human body: il corpo humano
Vocabulary
Altre parole utili
la gola throat il cuore heart
lo stomaco stomach la pelle skin
il sangue blood i polmoni the lungs
i reni the kidneys il fegato the liver
It is usual not to use the possessive adjective with parts of the body
unless it is necessary to make clear whose body the part belongs
to (i.e. in rather unusual circumstances).
Elena è accanto a me con il piede su un cuscino.
Si è fatta una brutta distorsione alla caviglia.
There is no doubt whose foot is on the cushion – Elena’s. And the
same goes for the ankle. Similarly:
Mi lavo le mani.
I am washing/wash my hands.
Dialogue 2
Dal medico
1 What are the patient’s symptoms?
2 What is the doctor’s diagnosis?
3 What treatment does he recommend?
MEDICO: Buongiorno, signore.
P
AZIENTE: Buongiorno, dottore. Ho mal di gola, e mal di testa
e mi fa male anche lo stomaco, non ho appetito e mi
sento stanco da morire.
M
EDICO: Vediamo un po’. (He takes the patient’s temperature
and examines him.) Lei ha la febbre alta. Dovrebbe
essere a letto.
P
AZIENTE: Che cosa è, dottore?
MEDICO: E solo questa brutta influenza che c’è in giro
quest’anno. Le do delle pastiglie e uno sciroppo ma
è molto importante tornare a casa, mettersi a letto e
riposarsi bene. Bisogna anche bere molto: acqua, tè
leggero, eccetera. Niente alcool. E non deve tornare
a lavorare se non quando non avrà più la febbre.
Unit 14: Here’s to your health! 211
Vocabulary
mi sento stanco da morire I feel dead tired
vediamo un po’ let’s see, let’s have a look
Lei ha la febbre alta you have a high temperature
(avere la febbre)
questa brutta influenza che this nasty influenza that is going round
c’è in giro
niente alcool no alcohol
se non quando non avrà until you no longer have a temperature
più la febbre
Saying you are not well
stare male to be unwell
sto meglio I feel/am better
sto bene I’m well
sentirsi bene/male to feel well/ill
non mi sento bene I don’t feel well
si sente male he feels poorly
ti senti meglio? do you feel better?
ho mal di testa I have a headache
stomaco stomach-ache
schiena back ache
denti toothache
gola sore throat
mi fa male la caviglia my ankle hurts
mi fanno male gli occhi* my eyes hurt
* ‘Eyes’ are of course plural, hence also the plural verb.
The word for ‘pain’ is dolore (m.). ‘A prescription’ is una ricetta.
And you have already met the false friend: essere ricoverato/a ‘to
be admitted to hospital’. ricoverare qualcuno d’urgenza means
‘to admit someone to hospital as an emergency case’.
212 Unit 14: Alla salute!
Language point
Using non . . . più ‘no longer,
not any more’
Quando non avrà più la febbre
When you no longer have a high temperature
Avrà is the future of ‘have’ – see Unit 16.
Una volta Paolo mi scriveva regolarmente ma da un po’
non mi scrive più.
At one time Paolo used to write to me regularly but for a
while he hasn’t written any more.
As with the other negatives, you must put non before the verb.
With a passato prossimo the più goes before the past particple:
Non ha più detto niente.
He didn’t say anything (any) more.
Exercise 5
You are being asked by your doctor about your habits. Answer
saying you used to do all these things but you don’t any more.
Example: Mangia cioccolata?
Answer: Una volta, sì, ne mangiavo ma ora non ne
mangio più.
1 Fuma? 3 Mangia carne rossa?
2 Beve molto? 4 Dorme male?
Exercise 6
Things have changed. Write a new sentence based on the one given
saying that it’s not happening any more. Say what the resulting
sentence means.
Example: Ci parlavamo spesso.
Answer: Non ci parliamo più.
We don’t talk to each other anymore.
1 Lo vedevo spesso. 3 Lo aiutavo.
2 Mi scriveva spesso. 4 Ci telefonavamo.
Unit 14: Here’s to your health! 213
Cultural point
Italy has a National Health Service, under the Minstero della Salute
British health service, although it was introduced well over thirty
years later. It is financed by contributions paid by workers but, as
in other countries, is struggling to cope with increasing demands
on it.
Prescription charges (il ticket) have long been payable. They
vary according to the patient’s means and also are frequently
changed by governments in the annual budget provisions. Sufferers
from certain, usually long-term, illnesses, are exempt. There are
also charges for various services such as blood tests, X-rays etc.
There is no parallel private service but there are many private
organizations, which have agreements with the National Health
Service to carry out such tests. Many people prefer to use them
because they are quick and efficient, whereas the waiting time for
tests in hospital is long. The patient again pays il ticket, the stan-
dard charge.
Italians tend also to go straight to a specialist they trust (uno
specialista di fiducia) rather than going first to their general prac-
titioner. They will usually do this privately, i.e. they will pay a fee.
Voluntary workers also play a part in provision. For instance, the
main organization collecting blood from donors, AVIS, is a volun-
214 Unit 14: Alla salute!
(www.ministero.salute.it), which, in conception, was based on the
tary organisation (www.avis.it).
15 Buona fortuna!
Good luck!
In this unit you will learn about:
• Saying what you would do if: the conditional
• How to say ‘never’, ‘not yet’, ‘no one’ and ‘neither . . .
nor’
• Offering to do something, insisting on doing something
• The imperfect subjunctive: saying if something were the case
• The subjunctive and other moods/modes
• The pluperfect subjunctive and the past conditional
• Ways of saying ‘perhaps’: forse, può darsi and magari
• A way of expressing doubt: chissà?
Dialogue 1
La lotteria
In Italy there are various lotteries, some of which have very big
prizes. One is the lotteria gratta e vinci – scratch and win. You
buy a card and scratch the pictures on it with a coin: you see immedi-
ately whether or not you have won. Three friends, Edoardo, Filippo
and Elisa, are enjoying a coffee on the terrace outside a bar . . .
1 Does Filippo often buy lottery tickets?
2 What would he do if he won?
3 And Elisa?
EDOARDO: Compriamo dei biglietti della lotteria?
FILIPPO: Io non vinco mai niente alla lotteria.
E
LISA: Compri spesso i biglietti?
FILIPPO: Raramente.
ELISA: Per questo non vinci mai. Come vuoi vincere se non
compri biglietti? Dai, compriamo dei biglietti.
F
ILIPPO: Va bene.
E
DOARDO: Vado io a prenderli.
ELISA: Che cosa faresti se vincessi?
FILIPPO: Mah, non lo so. Comprerei una macchina nuova.
Magari vi porterei a fare il giro del mondo. E tu Elisa?
E
LISA: Comprerei una casa al mare. Ci metterei un pianoforte
a coda. Prenderei delle lezioni di piano e passerei le
mie giornate a suonare. Inviterei anche gli amici.
Quando non suonassi, starei in cucina a preparare dei
buoni piatti. Sarebbe una festa continua . . .
EDOARDO: Allora, ecco il tuo biglietto, Elisa. E il tuo, Filippo.
Gratta e vedi se hai vinto.
F
ILIPPO: Sì, ho vinto!
ELISA: Oh, che bello. Facciamo il giro del mondo!
FILIPPO: Macchè giro del mondo! Ho vinto cinquanta euro!
Vocabulary notes
dai ‘go on, come on’. From dare and used to encourage someone to do
something.
vado io a prenderli ‘I’ll go and get them’
ho vinto ‘I’ve won’. vincere has an irregular past participle: vinto.
macchè ‘You’re joking!’ (rough translation). It expresses strong
contradiction of what has just been said.
cinquanta euro 50 euros. At the time of writing this might buy a
modest restaurant meal for the three friends.
216 Unit 15: Buona fortuna!
Language points
Saying what you would do if: the
conditional
You have met this quite often: vorrei, dovrei, potrei, mi piacerebbe
etc. And now you have heard people talk about what they would
do if they won money in a lottery. The base for the conditional is
the infinitive without the final -e. Here are several verbs: pick out
the ending:
dire fare dare prendere partire
direi farei darei prenderei partirei
diresti faresti daresti prenderesti partiresti
direbbe farebbe darebbe prenderebbe partirebbe
diremmo faremmo daremmo prenderemmo partiremmo
direste fareste dareste prendereste partireste
direbbero farebbero darebbero prenderebbero partirebbero
The stress falls on the penultimate syllable, except in the third per-
son plural when it falls on the antepenultimate syllable (ebbero).
Note: In the first person singular, the -e- of the -ei ending is a
syllable.
A complication is that -are verbs make an additional change.
The a in the infinitive ending becomes an e, so that they work like
-ere verbs:
comprare
comprerei compreremmo
compreresti comprereste
comprerebbe comprerebbero
Predictably, essere is irregular:
sarei saremmo
saresti sareste
sarebbe sarebbero
Unit 15: Good luck! 217
A handful of other verbs, some of which you have already met
and got used to, are irregular. They fall into three groups:
1 Verbs like potere which forms potrei: the e between the t and
the r has disappeared. Other common verbs like this are:
dovere → dovrei vedere → vedrei
andare → andrei sapere → saprei
vivere → vivrei avere → avrei
2 Other verbs, like volere which forms vorrei, not only have the
shortened form but the first consonant changes and becomes the
same as the second, giving -rr-. Common ones are: rimanere →
rimarrei; venire → verrei. bere is a bit of an oddball and can
be thought of as being in this group: berrei.
3 The verbs dare, fare, stare, make their conditional form thus:
dare → darei fare → farei
stare → starei
The conditional is used to:
• express what you would do if . . .
• ask politely, make requests seem less assertive, make sugges-
tions in a way that is more polite, even charming, as you have
already seen:
Dovresti riposarti domani.
You ought to rest tomorrow.
Saresti molto gentile se . . .
You would be very kind if you . . .
Potresti aiutarmi?
Could you help me?
Dovrebbe essere a letto
(Unit 14, Dialogue 2)
Exercise 1
This is what Marco would do if he won a really big prize in a
lottery. Write it in Italian.
Example: He would go to Australia.
Answer: Andrebbe in Australia.
218 Unit 15: Buona fortuna!
1 He would move house. (cambiare casa)
2 He would buy a house with a garden.
3 He would marry Anita. (sposarsi con)
4 They would learn to play golf.
5 He would not give up work. (smettere di lavorare)
Exercise 2
Well, what would you do if you won the big prize in a lottery?
This is an open-ended exercise.
Using non . . . mai ‘never, not ever’
Here is another negative. As with niente, mica, più, you must have
non before the verb:
Non escono mai la sera. A loro non piace lasciare i bambini
con una babysitter.
They never go out in the evening. They don’t like leaving
the children with a babysitter.
Non beve mai alcool.
He/she never drinks alcohol.
Non ho mai capito perché.
I never understood/have never understood why.
Exercise 3
You are being asked whether you do certain things. They are things
you would never dream of doing! Say so using mai.
1 Lei fuma?
2 Beve vodka?
3 Va spesso in discoteca?
4 Compra cibi surgelati (frozen food)?
5 Cammina per la strada a piedi nudi?
Other negative expressions
You have now met several negative expressions. The remaining
ones are:
Unit 15: Good luck! 219