Italian All-in-One For Dummies (25 page)

In other cases, nationalities have feminine, masculine, plural feminine, and plural masculine forms, and end in
-a, -o, -e,
and
-i,
as
Table 3-2
shows.

Table 3-2 Gender-Specific Nationalities and Countries

Instead of saying
sono americano
(
soh
-noh ah-meh-ree-
kah
-noh) (
I'm American
), you can also say
vengo dall'America
(
vehn
-goh dahl-lah-
meh
-ree-kah) (
I'm from America
). The same is true for all countries.

The following examples give you more practice with this construction.

Veniamo dall'Italia.
(veh-nee-
ah
-moh dahl-lee-
tah
-lee-ah.) (
We come from Italy.
) (
We're from Italy.
)

Vengono dalla Spagna.
(
vehn
-goh-noh
dahl
-lah
spah
-nyah.) (
They come from Spain.
)

Vengo dal Giappone.
(
vehn
-goh dahl jahp-
poh
-neh.) (
I come from Japan.
)

Veniamo dal Canada.
(veh-nee-
ah
-moh dahl
kah
-nah-dah.) (
We come from Canada
.)

Veniamo dagli U.S.A. (
or
Stati Uniti)
(veh-nee-
ah
-moh
dah
-lyee
ooh
-sah [or
stah
-tee ooh-
nee
-tee].) (
We come from the U.S.A.
[or
United States
]
.
)

Extending and Responding to Invitations

You may be asked to join an Italian friend for a meal in a restaurant, or even at his home after you've become friends. When you want to invite someone to dinner, you can use the following phrases:

Andiamo a cena insieme?
(ahn-
dyah
-moh ah
cheh
-nah een-
syeh
-meh?) (
Should we go to dinner together?
)

Posso invitarti stasera?
(
pohs
-soh een-vee-
tahr
-tee stah-
seh
-rah?) (
Can I invite you for this evening?
)

To accept an invitation, you can use the following expressions:

Volentieri, grazie!
(voh-lehn-
tyeh
-ree,
grah
-tsyeh!) (
I'd like to, thank you!
)

Con piacere, grazie!
(kohn pyah-
cheh
-reh,
grah
-tsyeh!) (
With pleasure, thank you!
)

Of course, you can't accept every invitation you receive. Following are expressions you can use to decline an invitation:

Mi dispiace ma non posso
.
(mee dees-
pyah
-cheh mah nohn
pohs
-soh.) (
I'm sorry, but I can't.
)

Magari un'altra volta, grazie.
(mah-
gah
-ree oohn-
ahl
-trah
vohl
-tah,
grah
-tsyeh.) (
Perhaps another time, thank you.
)

Mi dispiace, ho già un altro impegno.
(mee dees-
pyah
-cheh, oh jah oohn
ahl
-troh eem-
peh
-nyoh.) (
I'm sorry, but I already have another appointment.
)

Chapter 4

Making Small Talk

In This Chapter

Working with interrogative pronouns

Sharing a little about your family

Talking about your job

Discussing the weather

W
hether you're speaking with someone you know or someone you just met, your conversation is likely to include some small talk. This type of back and forth chatting often involves asking and answering simple questions as well as discussing yourself, your family, and what's going on around you, like the weather. This chapter presents some of these basic essentials that deserve some space of their own, starting with interrogative pronouns (
who, what, where
) to help you find out exactly what you need to know.

Discovering Interrogative Pronouns

In Italian, at least one thing is easier than in English: forming questions. In English, you usually need a form of
to do, to be,
or
to have
to form a question. You also (mostly) have to invert part of your sentence construction. For example, “He goes to the movies” becomes “Does he go to the movies?” In Italian, you simply ask
Lui va al cinema?
(
looh
-ee vah ahl
chee
-neh-mah?) (
Does he go to the movies?
) There's no word for
does,
just as there's no word for
are
in the following sentence:
Vai alla partita?
(vahy
ahl
-lah pahr-
tee
-tah?) (
Are you going to the game?
)

In Italian, forming questions is easy: A question has the same structure as an affirmative statement. You identify a question only by the intonation in your voice and by the use of a question mark in written language. For example:

Luca va a scuola.
(
looh
-kah vah ah
skwoh
-lah.) (
Luca goes to school.
)

Luca va a scuola?
(
looh
-kah vah ah
skwoh
-lah?) (
Luca goes to school?
) (
Does Luca go to school?
)

Mangi la carne.
(
mahn
-jee lah
kahr
-neh.) (
You eat/You're eating meat.
)

Mangi la carne?
(
mahn
-jee lah
kahr
-neh?) (
Do you eat/Are you eating [the] meat?
)

Italian also has interrogative pronouns (
when, where, what,
and so on). You use these pronouns to start questions.

Chi?
(kee?) (
Who?
)

Che?
(keh?) (
What?
)

Cosa?
(
koh
-sah?) (
What?
)

Quando?
(
kwahn
-doh?) (
When?
)

Quanto/a?
(
kwahn
-toh/tah?) (
How much?
[masculine/feminine])

Quanti/e?
(
kwahn
-tee/teh?) (
How many?
[masculine/feminine])

Quale/i?
(
kwah
-leh/ee?) (
Which/what?
[singular/plural])