Lesson #6 – Lunch break Giugno 20, 2007

Today, once again, I skipped lunch. That got me thinking about discussing lunch break and food choices in Italian! So… feast yourselves ^_^

“Hai fame?” – Are you hungry?
“Si, ho una fame cane!” - Yes, I’m darn hungry!
“Sto morendo di fame!” – I’m starving! (literally: I am dying from hunger)
“Ho sete” -  I’m thirsty
“Tra un po’ andiamo a mangiare” – In a little while, we’ll go and eat

“E’ ora di pranzo” – It’s lunch time
“Andiamo al bar?” – Shall we go to the bar/café?
“No dai, mangiamo la pizza oggi” – No come on, let’s eat pizza today
“Vieni al cinese con noi?” – Are you coming to the chinese (restaurant) with us?
“No, mi fa schifo il cibo cinese” – No, chinese food disgusts me
“Ok, però io prendo il sushi” – Ok, but I’m having sushi
“Adoro il wasabi!” – I love wasabi!
“Quella roba verde? Ma come fa a piacerti?” - That green stuff? But how can you like it?

“Buon appetito!” – Bon appetit!
“Hmmm… che buon odorino..” – Hmmm… what a nice smell..
“Mi passi il sale/il pepe/l’olio/l’aceto?” – Can you pass the salt/pepper/oil/vinegar?
“Non ho la forchetta/il cucchiaio/il coltello/il cucchiaino” -  I don’t have a fork/spoon/knife/teaspoon
“Che buono!” – So good!
“E’ troppo freddo/caldo” – It’s too cold/hot
“Quasi quasi, faccio il bis” – I think I might have a second helping

“Qual è il tuo cibo/piatto/dolce preferito?” – What’s your favorite food/dish/dessert?
“Ti piace il pesce (crudo)?” – Do you like (raw) fish?
“Sono intollerante al latte/ai latticini” – I am intolerant to milk/dairy
“Sono vegetariano” – I am a vegetarian
“Preferisco il dolce/il salato” – I prefer the sweet/salty taste

So, what’s good to eat for lunch in Italy? Or better, what do people normally eat during lunch break (pausa pranzo)?

• un panino - a sandwich
• una focaccia  – a “focaccia” (similar to pizza, but without tomato and cheese on it) 
• una pizzetta  -  a small pizza
• un piatto di pasta / un primo – a plate of pasta / a first course
• un’insalata – a salad
• un gelato – an ice-cream
• un ghiacciolo – an ice lolly
• una macedonia – a fruit salad
• primo, secondo e contorno – first course (can be pasta, ravioli, risotto, etc.), second course (usually some meat, fish or cheese) and side dish (vegetables)

Anyway, lunch break is over and I am starving!!! Guess I’ll have to wait for dinner (cena) or hope for an afternoon snack (merenda).  Sighhhhh!!!! :-/

Lesson #4 – Yesterday, today and tomorrow Maggio 20, 2007

“Oggi è domenica” – Today is sunday
“Che cosa fai oggi?” – What are you going to do today?
“Io ho dormito tutto il giorno” – I have slept all day

“Ieri è stata una giornata strana” – Yesterday was a strange day
“Che cos’hai fatto ieri?” – What did you do yesterday?
“Ieri sera ho fatto una passeggiata al parco” – Last night I took a walk in the park

“Domani è un altro giorno!” – Tomorrow is another day
“Che fai domani?” – What are you going to do tomorrow?
“Domani cercherò di diventare vegetariana” – Tomorrow I’ll try to become a vegetarian

I giorni della settimana: (The days of the week)
Lunedì - monday
Martedì – tuesday
Mercoledì – wednesday
Giovedì - thursday
Venerdì – friday
Sabato - saturday
Domenica - sunday

Note
“Dì” is an old way to say “day” in italian.. for example, you can say “buondì” instead of “buongiorno”.

The days of the week take their names from the planets:
Lunedì —> day of the moon (la luna)
Martedì —> day of Mars (Marte)
Mercoledì —> day of Mercury (Mercurio)
Giovedì —> day of Jupiter (Giove)
Venerdì —> day of Venus (Venere)
Sabato —> comes from the jewish “Shabbath”, meaning day of rest, although it never really is, since saturday is officially shopping day for most Italians.
Domenica —> means “day of the Lord”, meaning that it should be a day in which to praise the Lord – and in fact, it is so for many catholics. Many Italians, though, also praise another deity on sunday, that is, the god of soccer! Sunday therefore becomes a day to spend at the soccer stadium, or in front of the tv watching the game. If, like me, you are not a practicing catholic nor a soccer fan, sunday becomes a true day of rest! Yay ^_^

Buona domenica a tutti!

Lesson #2 – Greetings Maggio 16, 2007

“So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye..”
So goes the famous song in the classic musical “The Sound of Music”.. which in Italian, by the way, is called “Tutti insieme appassionatamente”. Oh well.

So, today we’ll talk about greetings and short catch-phrases that you can use with your italian friends, colleagues and random italian people that you might meet.

The basic greeting you need to learn is the omnipresent “ciao”. Ciao means both hello and goodbye; it is always used in informal situations and can also have other side meanings depending on intonation. Let’s see some examples.

You meet someone you know:
“Ciao! Come va?” (Hello! How’s it going?)
“Non male, e tu?” (Not bad, and you?)
“Bene, dai..” (Yeah, fine..)

No strings attached, generic meeting with friendly person:
“Ciao!” (Hello!)
“Heila, ciao” (Hello there)

When saying goodbye to a group of friends:
“Ciao, io vado!” (Bye, I’m leaving!)
“Ciao, a domani / a dopo” (Bye, see you tomorrow / later)

Saying goodbye to a friend or someone you are on good terms with:
“Ciaoooo” (See yaaaa)
“Ciao bella/bello” (See you, pretty)

Note on calling people names:
They don’t need to be actually pretty to call them “bello” or “bella”. Of course if they’re downright ugly perhaps you’ll get a weird aftertaste after saying this… An alternative is to call your friend (expecially among girls) any other name that is similar to “bella”, for example: ”bellina” (diminutive of pretty), “bellissima” (gorgeous), “bellezza” (beauty), “tesoro” (lit. treasure, but means, like, honey, darling), even “amore” (love). This does in no way indicate a lesbian attitude, it’s only a cute way to greet your girlfriends.
Another variation of this is to call your friend some ugly name, but you have to be on *very* good terms. When used, it can be heard among guys, not girls. Example: “Ciao vecchia checca” (Hello old fag).
Never call a girl a bad name, like, “ciao mostro” (hello monster), “ciao brutta racchia” (hello ugly — “racchia” means like monstruously ugly), unless you are ready to have your butt kicked and your reputation ruined! If you can’t stand the sight of her, just don’t say anything. At least not to her face!

When you want to greet someone that is not your pal, like a salesman, the cleaning lady, your direct boss or the ticket-collector, you can say “salve” instead of “ciao”. Some examples:

When buying a bus ticket:
“Salve, vorrei un biglietto dell’autobus.” (Hello, I’d like a bus ticket.)

At the bakery:
“Salve, mi da due brioches e un chilo di pane? Grazie.” (Hello, could you give me two croissants and a kilo of bread? Thank you.)

The more formal way to greet someone, which can also be used with your friends if you like, depends on the time of the day: “buongiorno” (good morning) or ”buonasera” (good evening) are the two possible options. This is used when greeting your mother in law, when calling up a government official, when saying hello to your elderly neighbor.

Wishing a fabulous day to the old lady who lives next door
“Buongiorno signora Lina! Ha visto che bel sole oggi?” (literally: Good morning ms. Lina! Have You seen what a beautiful sun today?)

When calling up the UK embassy for a tourist visa
“Buongiorno, parla inglese?” (Good morning, do You speak english? Yeah.. don’t even try to speak italian with a beurocrat, at least until you’ve reached lesson 100 of this course!!)

When greeting a group of older people as you walk down the street on the way back home // also to greet your friends sounding formal in a funny way:
“Buonasera..” (smile a little and make a small nod or hint of a bow with your head. That will win you the ladies over if you are a nice guy, and will fill the boys’ hearts with warmth if you are a girl.)

And last but not least, here’s how to say goodbye as in I Will Never See You Again. The word is “Addio!”. “Addio” is a word charged with meanings, of sadness, definitive parting, leaving, sorrow, and so on. It is usually spoken in bad movies and soap-operas. Normally, when italian people have to say goodbye to a friend or relative, they just say “ciao”, maybe with a sad face, or even “a presto” (see you soon). In  a more formal way, like when speaking to your mother in law, or to your professor, you can also say “arrivederci!” (see you again, farewell). It’s a little white lie that we say, nobody likes to say goodbye :-(

How to be theatrical when saying goodbye, for example, before pretending to kill yourself:
“Addio, mondo crudele!” (Farewell, cruel world!)

That’s it for today! E’ tutto per oggi! We’ll leave the catch-phrases to another lesson, man I never realized that greetings can be so complicated.. :-P

Buona giornata a tutti! (A good day to all of you!)