Lezione Numero Tre/Lesson Number Three
Watch a video:
Lesson 3, Part 1: Opening Lecture
Come State?/How Are You?
-
Come state? (Literally "How do you stay?")/How are you?"
- Spero bene! /I hope well!
You may be wondering whether am I talking to you as a single person, or to you as a group. In English you would know it from the context. In Italian you would know it from the structure of the sentence itself, because I would use a different form of the verb stare.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH FORM OF "YOU" |
|---|---|
| (voi) come state? | You-plural |
| (tu) come stai? | You-singular |
| (lei) come sta? | You-singular, formal (like Usted in Spanish) |
Here is how you can answer:
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Bene. Or benissimo/molto bene. | Very well. |
| Non c'è male, grazie. | Not bad, thank you. (Literally "There isn't bad.") |
| Cosi cosi. | So so. |
| Male | Bad. |
| Note: If we are in a formal relationship, you should say E Lei? instead of E tu? | |
Listen to Dialogue: Come Stai?
Come Stai?
Essere O Stare? Questo è il Dilemma!/Using the Verbs Essere or Stare? That is The Question!
- We ask come stai, not come sei.
- As a general rule, essere means "to be", and stare means "to stay".
- However, stare, not essere is always used, when followed by the adverbs bene, male, meglio, or peggio (worse). Stare bene with an indirect pronoun (dative) means "it suits you".
- Questo vestito ti (=a te) sta bene/This dress suits you. (Literally "this dress stays well to you").
Stare followed by the gerundive expresses the continuous tenses:
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Sto cucinando. | (I) am cooking. |
| Stavo leggendo. | (I) was reading. |
Essere is used in general to indicate more permanent aspects of people or things.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Sono Daria. | I am Daria. |
| Sono di New York. | I am from New York. |
| Mike è Americano. | Mike is American. |
| Mia mamma è bionda. | My mom is blond. (Used with identity, origin, nationality, aspect, religion, etc.) |
Sometimes it's also for transitory conditions/emotions.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Giovanni è ammalato. (not sta ammalato) | John is sick. |
| Alice è innamorata. | Alice is enamored (in love). |
| Sei felice? | Are you happy? |
Essere is also used as a verbo ausiliare (auxiliary verb, or helper) in the passive form:
- La pizza è cotta nel forno./The pizza is baked (literally "cooked") in the oven.
When talking about a location, essere and stare are mostly the same:
Siamo in cucina or stiamo in cucina./We are in the kitchen.
Listening Exercise
Essere e stare: Indicativo presente
Ascolta come si coniuga l'indicativo presente dei verbi essere e stare./Listen to how the verbs essere and stare are used.
Essere e stare
Il Verbo "Essere" / The Verb "To Be"
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| (io) sono. | (I) am. |
| (tu) sei (informal)/ (Lei) è (formal). | (you) are. |
| (lei/lui) è. | (she/he) is. (We don't have the neutral pronoun "it".) |
| (noi) siamo. | (we) are. |
| (voi) siete. | (you) are. |
| (loro) sono. | (they) are. |
Il Verbo "Stare"/The Verb "To Stay"
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Sto. | (I) stay. |
| stai (informal) sta (formal). | (you) stay. |
| sta. | (she/he) stays. |
| stiamo. | (we) are. |
| state. | (you) stay. |
| stanno. | (they) stay. |
If you want to talk about something you enjoy doing, you use the verb piacere followed by the infinitive:
A Giorgio piace cucinare./George likes cooking. (Literally "cooking is pleasing to George.")
As we started planning what to cook next, we made the list of what toppings we like on pizza.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Cosa ti (= a te) piace sulla pizza? | What do you like on your pizza? (Literally "What is pleasing to you on pizza?") |
| Mi (=a me) piace la mozzarella. | I like mozzarella. (Literally "Mozzarella is pleasing to me.") |
| Mi piacciono le melanzane e i peperoni, | I like eggplant and peppers. (Literally "Eggplants and peppers are pleasing to me.") |
Compiti/Assignments
Listening Exercise
Mi piace!/I like it!
Listen and repeat.
Mi piace!/I like it
Listening Exercise
We'll conjugate the following verbs:
Irregular
- Avere-To have
Regular
- Mangiare-To eat
- Ridere-To laugh
- Dormire- To sleep
- We will conjugate the present tense of another important irregular verb, il verbo avere (to have) and three regular verbs, one per kind, whose infinitive end in are, ere and ire (mangiare, ridere and dormire).
Leggi, ascolta, e ripeti./Read, listen, and repeat.
Leggi, ascolta, e ripeti
List of verbs to conjugate (PDF)
Esercizi/Exercises
Complete the following exercises (PDF)