CBI 1-01 | Saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in Italian

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. Here's how to stay alive longer so you can enjoy Boost Mobile's unlimited plan with a price that never goes up. Do not mistake a wasp nest for a piñata. Stay alive and switch now at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigs, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan.

Buongiorno. My name is Mark and I'm here to help you learn Italian. Welcome to Coffee Break Italian. Now, I'd like to introduce you to someone here. Buongiorno, Katie. Hello. So tell us a little about yourself, Katie. Well, my name's Katie and I'm going to be learning Italian along with all of you at home. I have been to Italy a few times and I'd love to go back. There are so many beautiful places I really want to visit. So I'm really looking forward to...

improving my Italian with this course. Allora, Katie, parli italiano. Do you speak any Italian? A few words, but not much at all. I do speak French and Spanish, so I'm hoping I'll be able to spot some similarities between the languages. I'm sure you will. And in fact, if any of our listeners have already learned French or Spanish, they'll notice that there are lots and lots of similarities between

French, Spanish and Italian. Now, Katie is going to be learning with all of our listeners and this means that Katie gets to make the mistakes. Katie gets to try things out. And by listening to Katie and listening to me teaching you, hopefully you'll make great progress. But it's not just about me as a speaker of Italian and Katie as a learner of Italian, because we've also got someone else here and I'd like to introduce you to Francesca. Salve Francesca!

Ciao, Mark. Come stai? Sto bene, grazie. E tu? Sto benissimo, grazie. Molto bene. Now, by the end of this lesson, you will understand exactly what we've just said to each other. Francesca is here to help us in this course and Francesca is, as you can hear, a native speaker of Italian. Francesca, can you tell us a little about yourself? Si.

My name is Francesca and as you know I'm Italian. I come from the very northwest of Italy near the Alps. I'm a language lover and I did English and Russian at uni and now I work as a teacher of Italian. In Scotland? Perfetto. So, Mark, how come you speak Italian? Well, my grandmother was actually Italian. She came from a little town, or her family came from a little town in the Tuscan Hills called Barga, and her family moved to Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century.

So when I was young, we used to speak some Italian at home and I then went on and studied Italian at university. Some of our listeners may be familiar with Coffee Break French or Coffee Break Spanish, but I am absolutely delighted to be working on Coffee Break Italian. And it's even better to have a native speaker here with us. So, grazie Francesca.

Grazie a voi. Okay, I think it's time to get started learning some Italian. So we're going to use a word that is a word that we'll hear lots and lots on this show and that is let's begin. Francesca, how do we say let's begin? Cominciamo! Cominciamo! Now the very first word that we are going to learn is the word for hi, or an informal hello. In Italian you say ciao. Ciao. Ciao. Now be careful with the pronunciation of this word. Quite often people think it's ciao.

almost as if it's spelled C-H-O-W, but it's not. It's ciao. Ciao. Let's listen to Francesca pronounce this word. Ciao. Ciao. Now, the interesting thing about this word is that it also means bye. So you can say ciao to say hello or goodbye. Try saying it one more time. Ciao. Ciao. And when it means bye, very often we say ciao ciao. Ciao ciao. Ciao ciao. So Katie, I have a question for you. And that question is...

Listen again. Now this means, how are you? Try saying it after me. Now, just to explain, when I say a word or when Francesca says a word, then we're going to leave some space for our listeners to repeat so that you can get used to repeating these words and phrases and learning Italian with us. So, let's try saying, again. So, how would I answer this? Well, there are lots of ways to answer the question, The easiest one is perhaps to say bene. Bene. Listen again. Bene. Bene.

So let's try the question and answer. I'll ask you, how are you? And you can answer, well. Come stai, Katie? Bene. And how can I say, what about you? Well, you could say, et tu? Try that again. So let's try it.

Now, I've added a couple of new words in there. I said sto bene. That means I'm well. Sto bene. Sto bene. Sto bene. Okay, please remember, and I'm talking to all of our listeners here, that you should be repeating along after me and before Katie. So I'll give you some time, I'll say the word, and then Katie's going to say the word after you have repeated. So let's think about that other word that I used. I said sto bene, grazie. Grazie. Grazie. There are three syllables there, almost. Grazie.

Grazie. Okay, perfetto. Grazie. It means thank you. So I can say sto bene, grazie. Sto bene, grazie. Okay, it's time now to repeat these words and phrases that we've been learning. And for this, we're going to turn to Francesca. Francesca, with your perfect pronunciation, can you repeat each of the words and phrases here?

I'll say the English, you can say the Italian. We'll leave some space for our listeners to repeat and then it's over to Katie. Okay, so to begin with, we learned, how are you? Come stai? Come stay? Let's hear that again. Come stay? Come stay? And one answer to that is fine or well. Bene Bene Okay, we also learned how to say I am well using that little word meaning I'm. Sto bene Let's try that one again. Okay, and we were also being polite with a nice word for thank you.

How do we say thank you in Italian? Grazie. Grazie. And remember those three syllables there, they're all run together quickly, but there are three syllables. Grazie. Grazie.

Grazie. Perfetto. Now that's a word I'll say quite often. Perfetto means perfect. Perfetto. Perfetto. Okay, so we now know how to say how are you and... I'm well, thanks. What about other answers? How can I say I'm very well? To say I'm very well, we use the word molto, molto, as in... Sto molto bene. Molto. Try saying that again. Molto. Molto. So let's practice this. If I ask you how are you, you can answer I'm very well, thanks. Come stai, Katie? Sto molto bene, grazie. E tu? Sto benissimo.

What does that mean? Well, I think you can probably guess what it means. Sto benissimo. Fantastic by any chance. Absolutely, yeah. The isimo ending means very, very, very something. Benissimo. Stop. Benissimo. Okay. Stop. Benissimo. Okay. Try to bounce on the s sound. So stop. Benissimo. Stop. Benissimo. Perfetto. OK, so we've got... Sto bene. Sto bene. Sto molto bene. So far we've learned benissimo, molto bene, bene, but...

What's the opposite of bene? Well, if bene is good, the word for bad is male. Male. So to say I'm... not feeling so good or I'm feeling bad, you would say sto male. Sto male. Can you work out how you would say I'm feeling very bad? Molto male. That's right. So how do you say I'm feeling very bad?

That's right. I'm putting in a feeling in there. I'm feeling very bad because that's really what we would say in English. If you say I'm very bad, it probably means you're naughty. So I'm feeling very bad would be. Sto molto male. And can you work out how you would say I'm feeling really, really, really bad, the opposite of benissimo? Would it be malissimo?

Perfetto! Sto malissimo! Sto malissimo! And I think, to be honest, that most Italians there would probably throw in a mamma mia, sto malissimo! Mamma mia, sto malissimo. Very good. Just watch mamma mia, mamma. Mamma. Yeah, because in Italian, we've got a double M in there. It's M-A. M-M-A. Mamma. Mamma. That's it. In Italian, when you've got a double consonant, you need to bounce on that consonant. So it's Benissimo.

Mamma. And of course, mamma is the word, it's a familiar word for mother. So like mum or mummy or mommy. Mamma mia is like saying my mummy. Mamma mia, sto malissimo. Mamma mia, sto malissimo. Mamma mia, sto malissimo. Perfetto. Okay, we're going to take a short break there and we'll be back in just a moment. If you'd like to make faster progress with your Italian, don't forget that you can use the premium version of this course.

which features video versions of the lessons, comprehensive lesson notes and bonus listening materials. Allora, cosa aspetti? What are you waiting for? This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. I have some very exciting news about an ethical phone carrier I just switched to. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Forget about all these other phone companies. Forget about Verizon. Forget about AT&T. Forget about T-Mobile. There's this new carrier called Noble Mobile. And they actually...

pay you to stay off your phone. You can earn real money up to 20 bucks back every month just for putting your phone away. If you're like me and you're tired of feeling controlled by your phone, social media, or just disgusted by those screen time alerts, this is... the answer. Go to noblemobile.com slash Chelsea and try it for $10. That's noblemobile.com slash Chelsea.

Hi, it's Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad. You ever stand in front of your closet and just say, I have nothing to wear while you're literally surrounded by clothes? Because same. So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop. And honestly, it's been amazing. you can sell what you're done with and someone out there will love it and the best part about it is there's no seller fee so the money you make

actually stays in your pocket, which feels very chic. It's also insanely easy. I listed something while watching TV and it sold before the episode even ended. So download the Depop app and list your first item today because your old outfit could be someone else's new favorite. Depop, where taste recognizes taste. Payment processing fees, boosting fees still apply. For more info, visit depop.com.

Okay, let's get on with the lesson. Okay, it's time now for something a little different. And this is something that we're going to be doing in every second Coffee Break Italian episode. And that's where we turn to Francesca for our Café Culturale. in which Francesca is going to be sharing some of the interesting aspects of Italian culture and, of course, helping us with her pronunciation and, indeed, our language skills at the same time. So, it's over to you, Francesca.

That's right Mark. At the end of every lesson, I will spend a few minutes talking to you about an aspect of Italian culture, un aspetto della cultura italiana, so while you are learning the language. You can learn a little about the country too. I thought it would be important in this first lesson to tell you exactly where Italian is spoken and then to teach you how to say some of the country's main cities in this beautiful language.

Italian is, of course, the official language of Italy, and we say Italia in Italian. It is also one of the four official languages in Svizzera, Switzerland. But did you know that it's also spoken in Malta, Croatia, Slovenia and France and that there are 63 million Italian speakers around the world? That's a lot! Molti italiani, no? Let's now look at the names of some well-known places in Italy and find out how to say them in Italian. Now!

I'm sure you all know the capital city, Rome, which is in the middle of the country, on the west. In Italian we say Roma. Roma. which is quite similar to the English. If we go north of the capital, we are sure you will have heard of Florence, but do you know what it is in Italiano? Firenze we say. Firenze or Florence is in the Toscana region. Can you guess what that is?

Si, Tuscany. And that's also where you find Pisa. If you continue further north... or to the east coast, you find Venezia, which is very popular with tourists as they like to stroll through the narrow streets or take a gondola ride on the canals. Can you guess where we are? Molto bene! Venice! Venezia! If we travelled south of Roma, we would find ourselves in Napoli, Naples.

And you will probably know that Italy is shaped like a boot. So where would we be if we went all the way to the south, to the toe of the boot? Sicilia! which of course is Sicily. Now... Obviously, there are many more beautiful Italian cities that we are sure you will know, but we are going to leave it there for now and perhaps we will talk about more in future episodes. Let's practice those names in Italian one more time. Toscana Pisa Venezia Napoli

Sicilia. Molto bene! Benissimo! Grazie, Francesca! Prego!

Now that's another word that we've not learned. It's the response to thank you. Let's try it again. Grazie. Prego. So it literally means I pray. But it's the very natural response when anyone says grazie. So let's try singing it one more time. Prego. Katie? Prego. Fantastic.

Now, before we finish this first lesson of Coffee Break Italian, we've got time to go through some of the words and phrases that we've learned. So, I'll say the English, Francesca will say the Italian, we'll give our listeners some time to repeat. And then Katie will say the word finally. Does that sound okay, Francesca? Va bene. Okay, so the first word or the first new phrase that we've learned here is I'm very well.

Sto molto bene. Okay, and I'm really, really, really, really well. Sto benissimo. Sto benissimo. And the phrase for I'm feeling bad. Sto male. Sto male. And if you're feeling very bad. Sto molto male. Sto molto male. And when you're feeling really awful. Sto malissimo. Sto malissimo. And adding in that other little expression, oh my goodness, I feel awful. Mamma mia, sto malissimo.

Mamma mia, sto malissimo. Okay, it's time to put some of this language to the test. What we're going to do is have a conversation. Francesca and I are going to discuss how we're feeling and Katie, you're going to have to... Decide who's feeling well and who's feeling not so well. Va bene? Okay. Va bene just means okay. Is that okay? Va bene? Va bene. Okay. And you can indeed answer it with va bene.

Va bene. Okay, let's try it. Ciao Francesca, come stai? Ciao Mark, sto bene. E tu? Oggi sto male. Oh mamma mia! Let's listen again. Ciao Francesca, come stai? Ciao Mark, sto bene. E tu? Oggi sto male. Oh, mamma mia! Okay, Katie, not too difficult, but can you tell us who was feeling well and who wasn't feeling so well?

I think Francesca was the lucky one. She was feeling well. And I think, Mark, you were having a bad day. I was indeed. Indeed, I used another word there that we've not learned yet. And that word is odgy. Odgy. It means today. So I can say, How would you ask the question, how are you today? Kitty? Come stai oggi? Benissimo! Come stai oggi? Come stai oggi?

OK, now this is really the end of our first episode of Coffee Break Italian and we hope that you've enjoyed it. Let us know what you think. Head over to iTunes where you can leave a review and of course subscribe to our podcast to receive every episode automatically. And you can also go to coffeebreakitalian.com where you can find out how to get more out of the course.

And why not come and join me to practice your Italian even more on the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page. And if you use Twitter, we are at Learn Italian on Twitter. Ok, è tutto per oggi. Katie, what do you think that means? È tutto per oggi. I'll have a guess. That's all for today? Sì, perfetto. Ci sentiamo presto. Bye. Ciao, ciao. This is a production

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

Hi, it's Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad. You ever stand in front of your closet and just say, I have nothing to wear while you're literally surrounded by clothes? Because same. So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop. And honestly, it's been amazing. You can sell what you're done with and someone out there will love it. And the best part about it is there's no seller fee. So the money you make actually stays in your pocket, which feels very chic.

It's also insanely easy. I listed something while watching TV and it sold before the episode even ended. So download the Depop app and list your first item today because your old outfit could be someone else's new favorite. depop where taste recognizes taste payment processing fees boosting fees still apply for more info visit depop.com