Learn Italian with Culture Shot! “Too many people, when they think of Italy, think only of Tuscany, Venice and Rome”, says our loyal listener and friend Garret on an email we’ve received a few days ago, and he goes on: “How about a series of culture shots that explore the culture of the less well-known regions or cities?” Garret, we love you idea! Today we’re telling a story about the beautiful city of Bologna, and we’ll dig into some important verb constructions, like “indicativo imperfetto” (imperfect indicative) and “indicativo passato prossimo” (past tense indicative). Enjoy!
Culture Shot – Episode Nr. 13
My girlfriend and I are back from Bologna – We’ve spent a couple of days there and we just fell in love with the city! Very few tourists, we felt like true Italians – and the “tortellini”!
Luigi – I’m glad you liked Bologna. Click here to learn more about Bologna on Wikitravel’s website.
Secondo me, scegliere tra l’imperfetto o il passato prossimo e’ una delle cose piu’ difficili da imparare! Perche’ si dice: Massimo parlava = Massimo talked ? Non sarebbe meglio tradurlo con “Massimo was talking”? Come si spiega che un italiano direbbe “Volevo chiederti una cosa” mentre un persona di lingua inglese direbbe “I wanted to ask you something”. It’s not a habitual thing that you want to ask them something, no? Ma non si sente “Ho voluto chiederti qualcosa”. Capisco benissimo le regole grammaticali dai libri scolastici (re: l’imperfetto) ma ancora non mi e’ chiaro niente. Non me la sto prendendo con voi. Siete bravissimi! Siete meravigliosi!
Cinzia – hai ragione – scegliere tra l’imperfetto o il passato prossimo e’ una delle cose piu’ difficili da imparare! A mio parere, e’ questione di allenare “l’orecchio” a riconoscere quando e’ meglio usare l’uno o l’altro. Eventually, it will come natural without thinking about rules.
hi guys could you please tell me why in the lesson you use dai giovani italiani and and not dei giovani italiani ? thanks .
Dominic, “dei giovani” would be an example of “partitive article” (a partitive article indicates an indefinite quantity), in this case with the meaning of “some young people” – “dai giovani” means “by the young people”, so in this case “dai giovani” is correct.
ah! got it silvio. thanks mate