In today’s episode, we are going to learn how to describe something that used to happen in the past on a regular basis. We’ll study and practice the past tense of the verb “Essere” (To Be), and some very helpful expressions you can use when talking about the past.
Intermediate Level – Lesson Nr. 8
I love your podcast!
I am traveling to Italy to see my son who studying in Rome and wanted to cram for a little language understanding. I am so happy to find your podcast to put on my iPod!
Thanks
Christine
Hello,
I discovered your podcast just a few days ago and think it’s great. I speak French, studied Latin, and even Italian for a very short time, but MANY years ago. So I can guess my way through most of the time on my trips to Italy. I have always wished I could study it properly — but no time or opprtunity. So this is a really good solution for me, at least for the time being.
I do have one request: Could you, as you repeat the sentences, say them faster and faster, and maybe end the lesson with the conversation spoken at normal speed? (for the intermediate lessons at least)
Thank you!
Hoan
You made a good point, Hoan. We’ll certainly take that into consideration.
Hi Jane,
Great podcast.I am really benefitting from it.You have a good style of teaching.Keep it up!!
I find that the intermediate lessons which are read at speeds slower than normal are not effective.
I think the goal is to comprehend Italian as spoken by Italians. Slow speeds are great for beginners,but are a distraction to higher level students. Just my opinon
Ron, you will find that as you progress through the Intermediate level lessons, the speed of the dialogue gets faster.
We have decided to use slower speeds for the first Intermediate level episodes to make the transition between Beginner and Intermediate as smooth as possible.
For the quiz question number 2, I think all the possible answers would be correct. Ieri sera ___ molto stanco. Ieri sera ero molto stanco (last night I was very tired). Ieri sera eri molto stanco (last night you were very tired). Ieri sera era molto stanco (last night he/she was very tired). ???
Chris, the quiz was supposed to read like “Ieri sera io ___ molto stanco”. We have corrected it and now only one answer is valid. Thank you for pointing it out.