1. Wake Up, It’s Getting Late! (Upper Intermediate)

November 10th, 2008

LearnItalianPodLearn Italian with LearnItalianPod! You asked, we listened: the brand new Upper Intermediate Level Italian Course is finally here! This series continues right where the Intermediate Level left off, and it features conversations on useful and practical topics, as well as a comprehensive review of the Italian grammar focusing on those “not so easy” subjects, like pronouns, difficult verb constructions, and so on.

One thing you will love about this new series is the way we present it - in fact, we could have called it “a day in the life of an Italian”, as each episode will be about a different moment of a day of our Italian friend Italo and his family - think of it as a cool “Italian reality show”!

This first episode is entitled “Wake Up, It’s Getting Late!” Let’s listen to our “hero” Italo, a salesman for a clothing company who lives in Milan, and his wife Lucia, as they wake up and get ready for another looooong day!

Upper Intermediate - Episode Nr.1

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 11:31 pm and is filed under Upper Intermediate. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

13 Responses to "1. Wake Up, It’s Getting Late! (Upper Intermediate)"

Gina Says:
November 11th, 2008 at 12:30 am

That’s exactly what I needed to finally understand i pronomi - grazie, grazie, grazie! The quiz in the learning center is so useful - nice!

Marino Says:
November 11th, 2008 at 12:32 am

Mi piace il nome del protagonista… Italo! E’ veramente un nome comune in Italia?

dominic Says:
November 11th, 2008 at 8:30 am

 great episode!! i am coming to the end of the intermediate lessons, and i thought the leap to the advanced lessons would be a bit daunting, but this is just right . well done guys!

Nessa Durcan Says:
November 11th, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Questa nuova leziona é molto buona grazie. Mi piace il quiz and the glossary but would still love if you would give gender of nouns
baci  

LearnItalianPod.com Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

Marino, Italo used to be a common first name - not anymore, but still used…

Nessa, thanks for the good suggestion

Bill Says:
November 17th, 2008 at 12:28 am

 In the expanded vocabulary section is the entry, “L’insegnante sta guardando me. Si’, mi sta guardando.”. The translation for the second sentence is “Yes, he is looking at me.” What in these two statements tell me the teacher is male?
Thanks

LearnItalianPod.com Says:
November 17th, 2008 at 11:50 pm

Bill - great point! Actually, there is nothing in those two statements that tell if the teacher is male or female - we probably should have used “he/she is looking at me” when translating the sentence.

Signe Says:
November 20th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

 Concerning Direct object pronouns, this example is given: Hai preparato la presentazione per oggi? Si, la ho preparata.
Why is it “la ho preparata” and not “preparato”?

LearnItalianPod.com Says:
November 20th, 2008 at 11:52 pm

Signe, “presentazione” is a female noun in Italian - therefore, the sentence becomes “la ho preparata” - Remember that in a compound tense the past participle agrees with the direct object pronoun.

Bill Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 1:04 am

 Does the PP always agree in gender for both those verbs conjugated with essere and avere? Is it - “Maria ha preparato la torta” or “Maria ha preparata la torta”? I thought it was only those conjugated with essere.

LearnItalianPod.com Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Bill, no - it’s only those conjugated with essere - But there are exceptions when the PP is used with “direct object pronouns” — “hai preparato la torta?” “si la ho preparata”

Daniel Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

I’ve never seen the word ‘che’ being used in expressions like “Che si fa tardi”, “Che perdi il treno”, “Che mentre ti fai la doccia”, etc. It sounds a bit weird/redundant, at least to me. Does ‘che’ affect the meaning or its use is just emphatic?

Grazie in anticipo e Buon Natale!

LearnItalianPod.com Says:
December 25th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

Daniel - great question. Yes “che” is just emphatic - you could have said “alzati, si fa tardi”. But “alzati che si fa tardi” is way more used and popular - it’s just the way Italians speak.

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