Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
Everything you need to know
to talk about Italian movies and love… in Italian!
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning how to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the language. Meraviglioso!
But have you tried to take the next step to speak Italian fluently? Can you talk about Italian movies? Or any movie, using Italian terms? Do you know the correct phrases to use to talk about love and relationships in Italian?
Can you speak Italian the way you would speak in your native language, with complex and varied sentences? This is more difficult than it may seem at first, and it’s something that I am always working on!
This series will focus on the situations that have come up most frequently in my everyday conversations with Italian instructors and friends. The “Speak Italian” blog series will focus on the type of sentence structure and vocabulary we all need to remember to be more fluent when we speak Italian!
To take that giant step from simple beginning sentences to more complex and fluid sentences in Italian, we must know how to use essential grammar, such as how to use the words “che” and “qualche,” how to make phrases to describe beginnings and endings, how to form Italian direct and indirect object pronouns, and how to make command phrases.
If you need to refresh your memory about how to say, “I love you” in Italian, please visit the third blog post in this series, Speak Italian: A Story About… Love!
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
In the “Speak Italian” blog series, a short essay or dialogue in Italian will be presented about a common topic of conversation. Then, we will review the Italian grammar that is necessary to talk about the particular topic in detail. And finally, the same material will be presented in Italian and English, with blanks for the reader to fill in with descriptions from his or her own life or to practice verb conjugation! Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you must speak Italian in your next conversation!
Enjoy the fourth topic in this series, “Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love”
—Kathryn Occhipinti
This material is adapted from our textbook, Conversational Italian for Travelers © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, found on www.learntravelitalian.com. Special thanks to Italian language instructor Simona Giuggioli.
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
In the dialogue to follow, we listen in on a telephone call between two good Italian friends who are sharing thoughts about a famous Italian movie. The movie is about a love story that takes place during World War II. Common idiomatic expressions used when talking with a friend, vocabulary related to the movies, and phrases about love have been underlined.
Listening to foreign films is a wonderful way to learn another language. The movie described contains short sentences spoken in clear Italian and is a good place to start to build a vocabulary about relationships and love. Spoiler alert: The only real violence is at the very end of the movie, although the movie title is Violent Summer.
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
Una sera, il telefono di Maria ha squillato. Era Francesca, la migliore amica di Maria.
One evening, Maria’s telephone rang. It was Francesca, Maria’s best friend.
“Maria! Sono io! Come stai? Puoi parlare per un attimo?”
“Maria! It’s me! How are you? Can you talk for a bit?”
“Ma, certo Maria. Che è successo?”
“But of course, Maria. What happened?”
“Niente. Voglio solamente fare due chiacchere.”
“Nothing. I just want us to chat for a bit.”
“Dimmi.”
“Tell me!”
“Stasera ho visto un bel film che si chiama, Estate Violenta di Valerio Zurlini.”
“Tonight I saw a wonderful movie called Violent Summer, by Valerio Zurlini.”
“Mamma mia! Che titolo terribile! Ma, dove l’hai visto? Non ho mai sentito parlare di questo film.”
“Wow! What a terrible name (title). But where did you see it? I’ve never heard about this film.”
“A casa mia. Ho comprato il DVD su Amazon. È un film del 1959, con Eleonora Rossi Drago e Jean-Louis Trintignant, due stelle del cinema europeo.”
“At my house. I bought the DVD on Amazon. It is a movie from 1959, with Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean-Louis Trintignant, two stars of European movies.”
“Non mi dire! E di cosa parla questo film?”
“You don’t say! And what is this film about?”
E questo è quello che Francesca le ha detto:
And this is what Frances said:
“È un film molto importante nella storia del cinema italiano perché è ambientato alla fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
“It is a very important film in the history of Italian cinema because it takes place at the end of the Second World War.
È un film molto lirico e appasisonato, perché è una storia d’amore.
It is a very lyrical and passionate film, because it is a love story.
La storia dei due personaggi principali è cominciata quando i due amanti si sono incontrati sulla spiaggia a Rimini.
The story of the two main characters started when the two lovers met each other for the first time on the beach at Rimini.
La donna, che si chiamava Roberta, aveva i capelli biondi e una bellezza naturale, anche senza trucco. Lei aveva quasi trent’anni.
The woman, called Roberta, had blond hair and a natural beauty, even without makeup. She was about thirty years old.
Suo marito, che era un capitano nell’esercito italiano, era appena morto. Roberta aveva una figlia di tre anni e viveva con la madre a Rimini, per scappare dalla guerra a Bologna.
Her husband, who was a captain in the Italian army, had just died. She had a three-year-old daughter and lived with her mother at Rimini, in order to escape from the war in Bologna.
Roberta ha incontrato un ragazzo che si chiamava Carlo e che era molto più govane di lei, durante un’incursione aerea sulla spiaggia.
Roberta met a boy who was called Carl and who was much younger than her, during an air raid on the beach.
Il momento in cui Carlo ha visto Roberta, gli è piaciuta subito. Dopo il primo incontro sulla spiaggia, lui ha perso la testa per lei.
When Carl first saw Roberta, he liked her right away. After their first meeting on the beach, he lost his head over her (English = fell head over heels for her/fell madly in love with her).
Cosi, Carlo ha incominciato a fare la corte a Roberta.
So, Carl started to court Roberta. (English = Carl tried to get Roberta to be his girlfriend.)
Dopo un po’, i due hanno cominciato a uscire insieme. Si sono visti ogni giorno. A Roberta piaceva molto il suo rapporto con Carlo. Lo amava.
After a while, the two of them started to go out together. They saw each other every day. And Roberta really liked her relationship with Carl. She loved him.
Ma alla madre di Roberta non piaceva il comportamento di Roberta, perché era insieme a un ragazzo molto più giovane di lei. Sua madre esigeva che Roberta smettesse di frequentare Carlo.
But Roberta’s mother did not like Roberta’s behavior, because she was with a boy much younger than her. Her mother demanded that Roberta stop seeing Carl.
Roberta non ascoltava la madre. Si era resa conto che solamente Carlo era l’uomo per lei.
Roberta didn’t listen to her mother. She realized that Carl was the man for her.
A un certo punto, gli amanti hanno provato a scappare a Bologna in treno.
At a certain point, the lovers tried to escape to Bologna on the train.
Ma è successa una cosa brutta che io non ti dirò perché spero che tu guaderai questo film.”
But something bad happened that I will not tell you because I hope that you will watch this film.”
“Dai, dimmi!”
“Come on, tell me!”
“Sfortunamente la loro storia si è chiusa in malo modo. Invece, speravo che la loro storia fosse terminata bene. Non ne voglio parlare.”
“Unfortunately, their romance ended in a bad way. I wish that their story had ended in a good way instead. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Capisco. La fine della storia fra Roberta e Carlo era molto triste. Non mi piace quando la fine di un film è cosi.”
“I understand. The end of the relationship between Roberta and Carlo was very sad. I don’t like when a film ends like this.”
“Ma gli attori hanno ricitato le loro parte molto bene in questo film. Se vuoi, ti lo do e puoi vedere per te stessa.”
“But the actors played their parts very well in this film. If you want, I will give it to you, and you can see for yourself.”
“Grazie. Dammelo! Mi è piaciuto l’ultimo DVD che mi hai dato il mese scorso. Parliamone dopo!”
“Thank you. Give it to me! I really enjoyed the last DVD that you gave me last month. We’ll talk about it later!”
“Si certamente vale la pena guardare questo fillm! Ed anche per capire l’Italia durante il dopoguerra.”
“Yes, it is certainly worth it to see (watch) this movie! And to understand Italy during the aftermath of the war.”
“Ci parliamo dopo e tu dimmi che ne pensi!”
“We’ll talk to each other later, and you tell me what you think (about it)!”
Speak Italian: Grammar You Will Need to Know About Italian Movies and Love…
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
Commands That Use “Fare”
We will now revisit the verb fare, which often comes up when someone needs to/must do something or requests that someone else do something. To ask for a favor politely, you could use the (by now, well-known) verb può with fare to make the phrase, “Mi può farmi un favore?” for “Could you do me a favor?” More often, the same request is made between two people who know each other well using the familiar command form of this phrase: “Fammi un favore!” for “Do me a favor! Piacere also works interchangeably with favore in this expression, as in, “Fammi un piacere!”
Notice that, when attaching an object pronoun or reflexive pronoun to the familiar command verb fa, the first letter of the pronoun is doubled. This holds true for all indirect object pronouns except gli (mi, ti, le, ci, vi) and all direct object pronouns (mi, ti, lo, la, ci, and vi). Below are some commonly used expressions that combine the command form of fare with different pronouns.
Fammi un favore! | Do me a favor! |
Fammi un piacere! | Do me a favor! |
Fatti vedere! | Come and see me! (lit. Make yourself seen!) |
Fatti sentire! | Call me! (lit. Make yourself heard!) |
Fallo! | Do it! |
Fammi can also be used in an idiomatic way, with the meaning, “let me,” when followed by an infinitive verb, such as “Fammi vedere” for “Let me see” or “Fammi chiamare” for “Let me call.”
Fammi vedere… | Let me see… |
Fammi chiamare… | Let me call… |
Two additional important familiar commands with indirect direct object pronouns:
Dimmi! | Tell me! |
Dammi! | Give me! |
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
How to Say “Myself, Himself, Herself”
To emphasize that one has done something for “himself,” we can use the following phrases in Italian listed below. Stesso(a) is the singular form for “self,” and stesso(i) is the plural form. The usual rules for Italian masculine (o,i) and feminine (a,e) endings apply. Remember that the “i” ending applies to a group of all males and to both males and females.
me stesso(a) | myself |
te stesso(a) | yourself |
se stesso(a) | himself/herself |
noi stessi(e) | ourselves |
voi stessi(e) | yourselves |
loro stessi(e) | themselves |
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
How to Talk About Beginnings and
What Comes Before
- When the reference is about something that has happened “in the beginning,” we can use one of the following three phrases. These phrases can be placed at the beginning or the end of the sentence.
all’inizio | at the beginning |
al principio | at the beginning |
All’inizio del film, Roberta e Carlo si sono incontrati.
Roberta e Carlo si sono incontrati al inizio del film.
Roberta and Carlo meet each other at the beginning of the film.
- When the reference to “beginning” is about the beginning of a career, the following phrase is appropriate:
l’esordio | the beginning |
L’esorido della mia carriera era molto difficile.
The beginning of my career was very difficult.
- The word primo means first and is one of the ordinal numbers (the ordinal numbers are first, second, third…). Remember that the endings of the ordinal numbers will change in Italian to reflect the gender and number of the noun modified. So when talking about the first of several things, we can use primo and change the ending to match the noun it follows, as below:
il primo | first |
(la prima, i primi, le prime) | first |
il primo piano | the first floor (one up from the ground floor in an Italian building) |
il primo tempo il secondo tempo |
the first part/the second part (phrases used in early Italian movie theaters when a movie would be shown with an intermission) |
la prima volta | the first time (general phrase to refer to the time something happened) |
la prima classe | the first class |
la prima cosa | the first thing |
Per prima cosa… | (For) the first thing… (use per to show intent) |
La prima cosa è molto importante.
The first thing is very important.
Per prima cosa di mattino, mi preparo un buon caffè..
First thing in the morning, I will make myself a good (cup of) coffee.
Here are some additional important expressions that use prima to denote important “firsts”:
a prima vista | at first sight/at a glance |
a tutta prima | at first sight/on first impression |
prima visione | first run of a movie or show (premiere) |
prima puntata | first episode (TV series) (premiere) |
prima serata | first night of a performance (show) (premiere) |
prima squadra | first team (sports) |
prima base | first base |
prima pagina | first page/front page (newspaper, magazine) |
opera prima | first work/debut of a novel or film |
in prima battuta | as a first step |
in prima istanza | in the first place, as a start |
in prima persona | in first person (grammar)/personally |
- The feminine word prima is also often used in phrases to denote the following ideas: earlier/early, previously, once, at one time. With regard to time, prima means before; with regard to space, prima means in front of and before (something). In these cases, prima is part of an expression, and its feminine “a” ending may or may not agree with the noun in the phrase.
prima luce del giorno | daybreak/the first light of day |
prima mattina | early morning/early in the morning |
prima maniera | early style (reference to art) |
prima o poi | sooner or later |
ancora prima | even earlier/even before |
della prima ora | from the very beginning/immediately |
amici come prima | friends again (like before) |
ancora prima | even before |
il giorno prima | the day before, the previous day |
mai visto prima | never seen before |
non prima di | not before |
prima d’ora | before now, beforehand |
prima linea | front line (of battle) |
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
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How to Talk About Endings and
What Comes Next, After, and Last
- The word prossimo(a,i,e) means next and is often used to refer to time. Prossimo follows the usual rules for adjectives and changes depending on the noun modified.
il giorno prossimo | the next day |
la settimana prossima | the next week |
l’anno prossimo | the next year |
- Dopo means after. Dopo always ends in the masculine “o”—its ending will not change, no matter what noun it modifies.
domani | tomorrow |
dopodomani | the day after tomorrow |
la settimana dopo | the week after |
l’anno dopo | the year after |
Italians often refer to the years after World War II with the phrases below. In this case, there is no need to mention the exact name of the war (Seconda Guerra Mondiale), which most Italians still remember took place from 1939 to 1945.
dopo la guerra | after the war |
il dopoguerra | the aftermath of the war |
- Scorso(a,i,e) means last. The ending of the adjective scorso will change to match the noun it is modifying in the sentence.
ieri | yesterday |
l’altro ieri | the day before yesterday |
la settimana scorsa | last week |
l’anno scorso | last year |
- Use recentemente and più recentemente to mean recently and most recently.
recentemente | recently |
più recentemente | most recently |
- L’ultimo means the last (one) or final (one), and per ultimo is the adverb that means lastly or finally. Finalmente also means finally.
Perhaps the most famous Italian phrase to use this word is “L’Ultima Cena,” or “The Last Supper,” from the Christian religion.
l’ultimo | the last |
per ultimo | lastly, finally |
per l’ultima volta | for the last time |
non più da… | not since… (a long time has passed since…) |
Liu è l’ultimo uomo che io sposerei.
He is the last man that I would marry.
Lui è arrivato per ultimo./Finalmente, lui è arrivato!
He arrived finally./Finally, he has arrived!
Ho visto Michele ieri per l’ultima volta.
I saw Michael for the last time yesterday.
Non ho più visto Michele da molto tempo.
I haven’t seen Michael since yesterday.
- So, finally, finalmente, how do we say, “the end” in Italian? We use the word fine, but depending on the situation, we must modify fine with a masculine or a feminine definite article—il or la. Here is how it works:
il fine | the end – when the reference is to purpose |
Il fine giustifica i mezzi. (Famous quote from Macchiavelli in his book The Prince)
The end justifies the means.
Important exception to this rule:
il fine settimana = the end of the week
la fine | the end – when the reference is to time of a relationship, movie, or book |
Non è la fine del mondo.
It is not the end of the world.
È un film molto importante nella storia del cinema italiano perché è ambientato alla fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
It is a very important film in the history of Italian cinema because it takes place at the end of the Second World War.
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
Che Means “That” and “What”
How to Use “Che” with Exclamations
The Italian word “che” has many, many uses as a conjunction to link one phrase to another in Italian and can never be omitted!
- One of the most important meanings for che is “that.” Remember how important the word che is when we are using the subjunctive to refer to what someone else wants/likes/thinks? See our previous blog posts about the subjunctive for more information on this use of che.
- Che is also commonly used as an interrogative expression meaning “What?” “Che?” “Che cosa?” and “Cosa?” all mean “What?” in Italian and are used interchangeably.
Here are two examples from our dialogues:
“Ma, certo Maria. Che è successo?”
“But of course, Maria. What happened?”
E questo è quello che Francesca le ha detto:
And this is what (that) Frances said:
- By now, you have no doubt heard the exclamation “Che bello!” or “How beautiful!” from anyone who has seen the rolling hills of the Italian countryside or a famous work of Italian art or architecture. “Che brutto!” and “Che fortuna!” are also popular Italian exclamations. In short, che, when used in an exclamation of this type, takes on the meaning of how. Of course, “Com’è bello?” means “How beautiful is it?” because the word come is the most often used to mean how.
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
When to Use “Che and “Chi” for “Who” and “Whom”
If we want to ask who has done something at the beginning of the sentence, we usually use the word “chi,” meaning “who.” Remember our common telephone greeting from our last blog post:
Pronto. Chi è? Chi parla? | Hello? Who is it? (telephone greeting uses essere) |
But even more often, Italians use che to mean “who” or “whom.” If we want to refer to someone who has done something after an introductory phrase in a sentence, we must use che! In this case, our multitasking word che means “who” or “whom.”
Now let’s look at the many times che is used with the meaning of who or whom in the dialogues from this blog post. Don’t forget this very important use for the simple word che. And remember that although the che may be omitted in English, it is always needed to link phrases in Italian!
La donna, che si chiamava Roberta, aveva i capelli biondi e una bellezza naturale, anche senza trucco.
The woman, called Roberta, had blond hair and a natural beauty, even without makeup.
Suo marito, che era un capitano nell’esercito italiano, era appena morto.
Her husband, who was a captain in the Italian army, had just died.
Roberta ha incontrato un ragazzo che si chiamava Carlo e che era molto più govane di lei, durante un’incursione aerea sulla spiaggia.
Roberta met a boy (who was) called Carl who was much younger that her, during an air raid on the beach.
Carlo è un ragazzo che Roberta ha visto prima alla spiaggia.
Carl is a boy whom Roberta first saw on the beach.
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
The Partitive: Some, Any, a Few
Qualche and Alcune/Alcuni
When speaking of a part of a whole, or an undetermined number of things, in English, the idea is rendered with the words some or any, as in “some of the” or “any of the.” In English, the translation with the partitive is always in the plural, which makes sense if you think of the partitive as the plural of the indefinite article a (un, uno, una, or un’).
Things are a little bit different in Italian, however, with two important Italian words that are often used to express the meaning of some, any or a few, a certain amount: qualche and alcuni/alcune.
Below are the rules of use for these two partitives, which are actually quite simple.
The word qualche, which is invariable, is always followed by a singular noun. |
The words alcune or alcuni are always followed by a plural noun. |
Qualche and alcuni/alcune are frequently used in everyday conversation to talk about a broad spectrum of situations and things. Time, for instance. Or groups of people. Qualche and alcuni/alcune are often used to start a sentence, but of course are also used in dependent phrases.
For qualche: Just put qualche in front of the Italian singular noun for the segment of time or the people you are referring to. Never mind that in English, we would use the plural (and that this is the correct translation).
For alcuni/alcune: Just put alcuni or alcune in front of the Italian plural noun for the segment of time or the people you are referring to, matching alcuni with the male gender noun and alcune with the female gender noun, of course.
Notice that in every situation below, the English translation will be the same, and always in the plural, no matter which partitive is chosen!
Qualche volta… | Sometimes… | Alcune volte… |
Qualche giorno… | Some days… | Alcuni giorni… |
qualche ora | some hours | alcune ore |
qualche minuto | some minutes | alcuni minuti |
qualche persona | some people | alcune persone |
qualche amico | some friends (male or male/female group) | alcuni amici |
qualche amica | some friends (female) | alcune amiche |
Qualche is used in some very common expressions where alcuni/alcune are not used. These expressions make general statements about things or places. Use the table below to see how these expressions work.
An exception to the rules we’ve mentioned occurs with the first expression, where the meaning is in the singular in Italian and the translation is singular in English. So by definition, the plural words alcuni/alcune cannot be used!
qualche cosa | something | |
qualche cosa | some things | alcune cose |
qual cos’altro | something else | |
qualsiasi cosa | anything | |
da qualche parte | somewhere |
******************************
When it comes to use of qualche and alcuni/alcune, it should be noted that…
Neither qualche nor alcune/alcuni can be used in every situation. Qualche and alcune/alcuni can be used to talk about portions of food or other things.
But if the noun being modified is made up of a quantity that is not easily divisible, such as a liquid like milk, water, or soup, or an indivisible mass, like a loaf of bread or a cake, qualche and alcune/alcuni cannot be used. Instead, the idea of “some” is rendered by “di + definite article” or “un po’ di.”
Speak Italian: You Will Need to Know…
Italian Pronouns
Reflexive, Direct, Indirect, and Disjunctive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns | Direct Object Pronouns | Indirect Object Pronouns | |||
mi | myself | mi | me | mi | to me |
ti | yourself (fam.) | ti | you (fam.) | ti | to you (fam.) |
si | yourself (pol.) | La (L’) | you (pol.) | Le | to you (pol.) |
si | herself | la (l’) | her, it (fem.) | le | to her |
si | himself | lo (l’) | him, it (masc.) | gli | to him |
ci | ourselves | ci | us | ci | to us |
vi | yourselves | vi | you all | vi | to you all
|
si | themselves | le | them (fem.) | gli | to them (fem.) |
si | themselves | li | them (masc.) | gli | to them (masc.) |
The reflexive, direct, and indirect object pronouns come before the verb or are attached to the end of an infinitive verb after dropping the final infinitive –e. |
Disjunctive Pronouns | with prepositions | ||
me | me | a/con/per me | to/with/for me |
te | you (fam.) | a/con/per te | to/with/for you (fam.) |
Lei | you (pol.) | a/con/per Lei | to/with/for you (pol.) |
lei | her | a/con/per lei | to/with/for her |
lui | him | a/con/per lui | to/with/for him |
sè | itself, herself, himself
yourself |
a/con/per sè | to/with/for itself, herself, himself
to/with/for yourself |
noi | us | a/con/per noi | to/with/for us |
voi | you all (fam.) | a/con/per voi | to/with/for you all |
loro | them | a/con/per loro | to/with/for them |
sè | themselves | a/con/per sè | to/with/for themselves |
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
Double Object Pronouns
The verb dare (to give) is commonly used in conversation while dining and asking for food and other items to be passed around the table. In this situation, it also becomes necessary to say not only what item we are giving away, but to whom we are giving the item. In effect, we are combining direct and indirect object pronouns in the same sentence!
The use of double object pronouns comes up frequently in many, many other situations as well.
When both object pronouns refer to the same verb, the word order in Italian and rules are as follows in the table below:
Double Object Pronouns |
(1) The indirect object pronouns mi, ti, ci, and vi will change their –i to an –e when placed before the direct object pronouns lo, la, li, le, and ne, to become me, te, ce, and ve (see Chapters 17 and 18 of Conversational Italian for Travelers for how to use ne). |
(2) Gli will add an e and become glie when placed before the direct objects lo, la, li, le, and ne. The direct object will then be added directly to glie to make glielo, gliela, glieli, and gliele.
Use glie for men and women (to replace le for women, as well as gli for men). |
(3) When using a helping verb + infinitive verb combination, simply drop the –e from the end of the infinitive verb, combine the objects in the usual order, and attach the combined objects to the end of the infinitive verb. |
Let’s give this a try by changing some example sentences without pronouns into sentences with pronouns. We will list the English first, then the Italian, one step at a time, so that by the last example, both sentences will contain double object pronouns. Watch the placement of the pronouns, which stay after the verb in English, but take a position before the verb in Italian. To help you follow this process, the verbs will be in green, the direct object pronouns will be in brown, and the indirect object pronouns will be in red.
Kathy gives the butter to me. | Caterina da il burro a me. | |
Kathy gives me the butter. | Caterina mi da il burro. | |
Kathy gives it to me. | Rule (1) | Caterina me lo da. |
The waiter gives the menu to Peter. | Il cameriere da il menù a Pietro. | |
The waiter gives him the menu. | Il cameriere gli da il menù. | |
The waiter gives it to him. | Rule (2) | Il cameriere glielo da. |
The waiter gives the menu to Kathy. | Il cameriere da il menù a Caterina. | |
The waiter gives her the menu. | Il cameriere le da il menù. | |
The waiter gives it to her. | Rule (2) | Il cameriere glielo da. |
(I) want to give my bread to you. | Voglio dare il mio pane a te. | |
(I) want to give it to you. | Rule (3) | Voglio dartelo. |
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
You Will Need to Know…
Direct Object Pronouns and the Passato Prossimo
Several rules must be followed when using the Italian direct object pronouns with the passato prossimo form of the Italian past tense.
(1) The direct object pronoun is placed before the passato prossimo compound verb. |
(2) The third person singular direct object pronouns (lo, la, and La) usually drop their vowel before the letter h, especially in conversation. |
(3) The last vowel of the past participle must agree in gender and number with the object that it refers to when using the third person singular and plural. |
Let’s see how this works if we want to shorten the answer to a commonly asked question: “Hai visto Pietro?” (“Have you seen Peter?”) We could answer, “L’ho visto,” for “I saw him,” following rules (1) and (2).
Hai visto Pietro? | Have (you) seen Peter? | |
Lo ho visto. | Rule (1) | I saw him. |
L’ho visto. | Rule (2) | I saw him. |
So far, so good. The words “L’ho” flow easily together and are spoken as one word, short and sweet. However, if we were looking for Caterina, we would need to also change the ending of the past participle of the verb to agree with the feminine direct object pronoun ending, which we have just dropped! So our phrase would instead be “L’ho vista,” for “I saw her.” We have to follow rules (1), (2), and (3) to make one short sentence!
Hai visto Caterina? | Have (you) seen Kathy? | |
La ho vista. | Rules (1) (3) | I saw her. |
L’ho vista. | Rule (2) | I saw her. |
And, finally, for the plural forms, when referring to two males or a male and a female, we need to use the direct object li and the letter i for the past participle. If we should see two women, we would use the direct object le and the letter e for the past participle. These examples below follow Rules (1) and (3).
Hai visto Pietro e Michele? | Have (you) seen Peter and Michael? | |
Li ho visti. | Rules (1) (3) | I saw them. |
Hai visto Caterina e Francesca? | Have you seen Kathy and Frances? | |
Le ho viste. | Rules (1) (3) | I saw them. |
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
How well do you remember phrases to use when chatting with a friend or talking about the movies or love? Fill in the blanks for the phrases in the Italian sentences in the exercise below, then check your work with the dialogue in the first section. If you like, write about an Italian love story of your own!
Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love
Una sera, il telefono di Maria ha squillato. Era Francesca, la migliore amica di Maria.
One evening, Maria’s telephone rang. It was Francesca, Maria’s best friend.
“Maria! Sono io! Come stai? ____________________________?”
“Maria! It’s me! How are you? Can you talk for a bit?”
“Ma, certo Maria. Che è successo?”
“But of course, Maria. What happened?”
“Niente. Voglio solamente _____________________________.”
“Nothing. I just want us to chat for a bit.”
“_____________________!”
“Tell me!”
“Stasera ho visto ___________________ che si chiama, Estate Violenta di Valerio Zurlini.”
“Tonight I saw a wonderful movie called Violent Summer by Valerio Zurlini.”
“Mamma mia! Che _________ terribile! Ma, dove l’hai visto? _______________________ questo ____________________.”
“Wow! What a terrible name (title). But where did you see it? I’ve never heard about this film.”
“A casa mia. Ho comprato il DVD su Amazon. È ________________________________ 1959, con Eleonora Rossi Drago e Jean-Louis Trintignant, due stelle _______________________.”
“At my house. I bought the DVD on Amazon. It is a movie from 1959, with Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean-Louis Trintignant, two stars of European movies.”
“Non mi dire! E _______________________________________?”
“You don’t say! And what is this film about?”
E questo è quello che Francesca le ha detto:
And this is what Frances said:
“È un film molto importante _________________________________________________________ perché _________________________________ alla fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
“It is a very important film in the history of Italian cinema because it takes place at the end of the Second World War.
È un film molto lirico e appasisonato, perché è ______________________________________.
It is a very lyrical and passionate film, because it is a love story.
La storia ______________________________________________ è cominciata quando _______________ _______________________________ per la prima volta sulla spiaggia a Rimini.
The story of the two main characters started when the two lovers met each other for the first time on the beach at Rimini.
La donna, che si chiamava Roberta, aveva i capelli biondi e una bellezza naturale, anche senza trucco. Lei aveva quasi trent’anni.
The woman, called Roberta, had blond hair and a natural beauty, even without makeup. She was about thirty years old.
Suo marito, che era un capitano nell’esercito italiano, era appena morto. Roberta aveva una figlia di tre anni e viveva con la madre a Rimini, per scappare dalla guerra a Bologna.
Her husband, who was a captain in the Italian army, had just died. She had a three-year-old daughter and lived with her mother at Rimini, in order to escape from the war in Bologna.
Roberta ________________________________________ che si chiamava Carlo e che era molto più govane di lei, durante un’incursione aerea sulla spiaggia.
Roberta met a boy called Carl who was much younger than her, during an air raid on the beach.
Il momento in cui Carlo ha visto Roberta, _________________________________________. Dopo _________________________________ sulla spiaggia, lui _________________________________ per lei.
When Carl first saw Roberta, he liked her right away. After their first meeting on the beach, he lost his head over her (English = fell head over heels for her).
Cosi, Carlo ha incominciato ______________________________ Roberta.
So, Carl started to court Roberta. (English = Carl tried to get Roberta to be his girlfriend.)
Dopo un po’, i due hanno cominciato a uscire insieme. Si sono visti ogni giorno. A Roberta piaceva molto _____________________________ con Carlo. _____________________.
After a while, the two of them started to go out together. They saw each other every day. And Roberta really liked her relationship with Carl. She loved him.
Ma alla madre di Roberta non piaceva ______________________________________________, perché ___________________________________ un ragazzo molto più giovane di lei. Sua madre esigeva che Roberta _______________________________________________ Carlo.
But Roberta’s mother did not like Roberta’s behavior, because she was with a boy much younger than her. Her mother demanded that Roberta stop seeing Carl.
Roberta non ascoltava la madre. Si era resa conto che solamente Carlo era l’uomo per lei.
Roberta didn’t listen to her mother. She realized that Carl was the man for her.
A un certo punto, _________________________ hanno provato a scappare a Bologna in treno.
At a certain point, the lovers tried to escape to Bologna on the train.
Ma è successa una cosa brutta che io non ti dirò perché spero che tu guaderai questo film.”
But something bad happened that I will not tell you because I hope that you will watch this film.”
“________________, dimmi!”
“Come on, tell me!”
“Sfortunamente __________________________ ___________________ in malo modo. Invece, speravo che ______________________ fosse _____________________ bene.
_________________________________________________.”
“Unfortunately, their romance ended in a bad way. I wish that their story had ended in a good way instead. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Capisco. _________________________________________ fra Roberta e Carlo era molto triste. Non mi piace quando la fine di un film è cosi.”
“I understand. The end of the relationship between Roberta and Carlo was very sad. I don’t like when a film ends like this.”
“Ma gli attori _________________________________ molto bene in questo film. Se vuoi, ti lo do e puoi vedere per te stessa.”
“But the actors played their parts very well in this film. If you want, I will give it to you and you can see for yourself.”
“Grazie. Dammelo! _____________________ l’ultimo DVD che mi hai dato il mese scorso. Parliamone dopo!”
“Thank you. Give it to me! I really enjoyed the last DVD that you gave me last month. We’ll talk about it later!”
“Si certamente è ___________________ _______________________! Ed anche per capire l’Italia durante il dopoguerra.”
“Yes, it is certainly worth it to see (watch) this movie! And to understand Italy during the aftermath of the war.”
“Ci parliamo dopo e _________________________________!”
“We’ll talk to each other later and you tell me what you think (about it)!”
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Speak Italian: About Italian Movies and Love