Ok, enough of introductions… it’s time to move ahead and start going places! But where exactly? Well, we’ll start going to a pizza place, and then we’ll go home. After all, it’s been a long day, trying to master the Italian language!
5. Where Are You Going? (Beginner)
Jane e Massimo,
Grazie! I am having a lot of fun.
Hi, I’ve just downloaded first episodes of your podcast and I like your choice of topics (and the voices are very nice). I’m sure it will help me in my Italian studies.
The only problem as I see it is that you speak too slow. It’s great for deciphering the unfamiliar words, but it would be much better if later (at the end of the episode, for example) you repeat all these phrases at natural speed so we could try to imitate it. Otherwise it’s impossible (for me) to grasp natural Italian intonation and to learn understanding natives when they speak fast.
Probably you’ve solved that problem in more recent episodes, which I don’t have yet. Anyway, I find your podcast very useful. Thank you.
~Maria
Maria – as soon as you get to more recent episodes, you’ll find “regular speed” pronunciation.
Hi, i liking so much your site….can you, please have more vocabulary (as those popular words) because in the end of the 3 lesson i couldn’t deciphrated after the “ciao ciao”
is ” ci vidiamo”? Can you answer me.
Thank you !!!!
oh, my english a so bad cause i’m brazilian..kkkk
Jose’ – It’s “ci vediamo”. You can find all the vocabulary of every lesson (and more) by becoming a LearnItalianPod VIP subscriber (see image at the top of this page – click “Get Started”)
Jane and Massimo,
Many thanks for your great lessons. I have a question about prepositions. I noticed from your examples that both a and in mean ‘to’. How do you know which one to use? I am guessing from your examples that you use ‘a’ when going to a city, but ‘in’ for a country? Is that correct?
Io vado a Napoli. Io vado in Italia.
But what about other place names? in montagna, al mare, in pizzeria, a casa?
Ciao,
I have the same question that Amy posed on Nov 12, 2007…ie, when to use ‘a’ vs ‘in’. It would be helpful in your dialogue if you provided such information whenever that grammatical concept is introduced.
I hope my question (unlike Amy’s) receives a reply!!!
Ciao Marvin,
The Italian prepositions are: di (of), a (at, to), da (from), in (in, to, into), con (with), su (on, over, on top of), per (for), tra, fra (between).
Keep in mind that knowing when to use which preposition can be somewhat difficult, and even after years of studying Italian you will occasionally make mistakes.
The best way to learn prepositions is not to obsess about it, and to use what makes most sense. A useful thing to do is to read a lot of Italian (see the learning center for this) so you can get a “feel” for the use of prepositions and you’ll notice that they will eventually just come.
Here are a few more examples:
a mezzanotte – at midnight
a mezzogiorno – at noon
in Italia, in Spagna, in America
(in, with singular countries, but note that for example you would say “nelle Filippine”)
a Roma, a Tokio, a Parigi
(a, with cities and towns)
Note that you will hear “Io sono a casa” as well as “Io sono in casa” – Both sentences mean “I’m home”, and they are both widely used. As said by many great teachers of Italian, the best way to learn propositions is to train the ear, get a “feel” for what’s right, and they will come.
You’ll find other lessons dealing with prepositions clicking the link below:
https://www.learnitalianpod.com/index.php?s=prepositions
Ciao! I’ve just completed your first five lessons (well done to you!) and I was wondering if I am missing something – when I go to the lesson I don’t seem to be able to get to all the different sections, only the transcript and the supplementary vocabulary. It seems I always have to return to the main lesson list to choose the next icon. Is there a way I can collapse the lesson menus for each other section (eg. Advanced etc) and just have Beginners listed? Or, alternatively, access all five icons from within the lesson? (It’s just a little tedious to keep going back to the main full menu and scrolling down the list – sorry). Thanks.