Scenes from the Coffee Break Italian Café, Lesson 4. Salve a tutti! Ciao a tutti e bentornati al Caffè di Tullio. Io sono Francesca. Io sono Mark. Come stai, Francesca? Benissimo, Mark. Non vedo l'ora di scoprire cosa succede in questa puntata. I'm also very curious to know what happens. Can you explain us a little bit about SINS? Sins è una serie di brevi racconti ambientati in un tipico bar, caffè italiano, in questo caso il caffè di Tullio. Esatto.
episode in ogni puntata scopriamo dei nuovi personaggi con storie interessanti avventure curiose e anche molte parole e strutture grammaticali nuove. Certo, certo. This is indeed a scene, every episode is a scene from the cafe so we can find ourselves eavesdropping on what's happening in the cafe and in doing so practice our Italian. Allora, questo è il capitolo 4? Sì, esatto. Allora, cominciamo con l'ascolto del capitolo 4 e poi ne parliamo un po'.
Capitolo 4 La domenica è il giorno più impegnativo al bar. Bisogna aprire presto per la consegna della pasticceria e si finisce di lavorare tardi, dopo l'aperitivo. Intorno alle 12 arrivano le vecchiette che si fermano al bar dopo essere andate a messa. Tra queste c'è anche la signora Rachele, che mi porta sempre una bella crostata.
Ormai le conosciamo bene e sappiamo cosa prendono. Quindi, ogni volta che arrivano, mia sorella si mette a preparare l'ordine, mentre io... vado a fare i saluti la signora rachele e le sue amiche erano di buon umore quando sono felici mi inondano di complimenti a quanto pare La bella stagione le fa sentire giovani. In più, oggi, erano anche molto contente di aver visto nuove persone in chiesa. Molte giovani famiglie, infatti.
Si sono trasferite qui da noi per vivere lontano dallo stress della metropoli. Le signore dicevano che era bello vedere la città così viva, piena di negozi e nuovi volti. Questa atmosfera vivace le riporta alla loro gioventù, quando la nostra città era il centro della vita provinciale. Angelica è arrivata con i cappuccini e i cornetti. Le vecchiette hanno ricoperto di complimenti anche lei. La signora Raquel le ha chiesto se aveva già un ragazzo. Così, dal nulla.
Angelica ha fatto finta di non sentire ed è subito andata a servire Gianni, Mario e Anselmo, i tre signori che vengono al bar per giocare a carte. Le signore si sono messe a rivere. Io ho detto di non sapere niente. Non voglio mica fare la spia. Oh, che carino, anche questo episodio, Mark, vero? Okay, so what we'll do now, of course, is go through each sentence and talk about any interesting aspects of the language and translate it all so that everyone understands exactly what's happening.
OK, cominciamo. La domenica è il giorno più impegnativo al bar. OK, la domenica is Sunday and Sunday is the day più impegnativo. So it's the busiest day at the bar. Esatto. Dopo l'aperitivo. So starting here, we've got this bisogna. Bisogna is a verb. It comes from bisognare, to be necessary. And in this sense, it's a little bit impersonal in this use, bisogna aprire, so bisogna plus an infinitive.
See, it's often used in its impersonal way, meaning it's necessary, it's needed. So there is not a specific person who is doing that, but it's a generic need. Could we say... Lorenzo bisogna aprire. No, and then we would say Lorenzo deve aprire. But could we say Lorenzo ha bisogno di aprire? Sì, sì, sì, sì. Ha bisogno di can be used with all the different persons of the... but bisogna tends to be used in its impersonal way. Perfetto. Okay, so bisogna aprire presto.
we need to open early or one needs to open early, per la consegna della pasticceria, for the delivery of the pastries. Sì. Buona. Si finisce di lavorare tardi. And we're staying in a kind of impersonal form here. Si finisce di lavorare tardi. We finish working late or one finishes working late. dopo l'aperitivo, after the aperitivo. Sì, esatto. And the word pasticceria is really interesting because it means all the pastries that you're eating, but it can also be the shop itself. So it can be...
confusing if someone doesn't know that this word can have two possible meanings. So either the shop itself or all the baked goods. Wonderful baked goods that you get in the shop. tardi. That's a sì impersonale there. Sì, literally one finishes. Okay, give us another example of that impersonal sì. La domenica si inizia a lavorare molto presto. So one starts working very early on Sundays. Perfetto. Okay, let's continue.
Intorno alle dodici arrivano le vecchiette che si fermano al bar dopo essere andate a messa. Okay, so we're talking here about le vecchiette. So these are the old ladies. It's not said in a nasty way. It's quite... It's sweet. It's like a term of endearment in a way. You can imagine these lovely ladies dressed up to go to church being very smiley and happy.
Okay, so, intorno alle dodici, so around about twelve, arrivano le vecchiette, so the nice old ladies arrive, che si fermano al bar, who stop in at the bar. Dopo essere andate a messa.
after having gone to mass or after going to mass. Let's break this up a little because it's nice. Dopo plus, well, an infinitive here, but it's a past infinitive. Si, it's a past infinitive. So when we have Dopo after... we need to use a past infinitive, which means either essere or avere, following the rules we are already familiar with when it comes to choosing between essere and avere.
and the past participle. In this case, because we're using essere, the past participle andato changes to andate in order to agree with le vecchiette, which is a feminine plural noun. Perfetto. Okay, and Messa Mass, so the Catholic service, religious service, which normally happens on a Sunday morning. Sì, di solito sì. Okay, let's continue. Okay, allora. Tra queste c'è anche la signora Rachele. Okay, so tra queste, among these, referring to le vecchiette.
So among these, c'è anche la signora Rachele. There's also signora Rachele. che mi porta sempre una bella crostata, who always brings me a delicious pastry. It's a type of pastry. We met, we encountered the word crostata in previous episodes. So it seems to be a scent. A central element here, I think. And this is nice because we see da dividere. And that's that use of the da when it's got its purpose. Si, si, si. It's some sort of...
Passive structure, but condensed in these two words, the and the infinitive. The idea is which has to be divided, which is worth dividing or sharing. In this case. Because we've seen other examples of this. C'è molto da fare. There's lots that must be done. Esatto. to be divided with Angelica and with her parents. Perfetto, sì. Ormai le conosciamo bene e sappiamo cosa prendono. Quindi... Ogni volta che arrivano, mia sorella si mette a preparare l'ordine mentre io vado a fare i saluti.
Quite a long sentence here, Mark. A long sentence, but so typical. I can imagine my mother and her friends and family who all frequent a particular cafe, a local cafe here in Scotland, and they all have their orders. that they know that they are going to ask for. And I think when they arrive, the staff in the cafe already know what they're going to make. So this is exactly the same situation here. Or my, I love this word, or my by now.
Le conosciamo bene. So, le, referring to still le vecchiette. Direct object pronoun there. Le conosciamo bene. We know them well. E sappiamo cosa prendono. And we know. what they take, what they are going to order. Quindi, therefore, ogni volta che arrivano, every time they arrive, My sister starts, that's mettersi a fare qualcosa. She starts preparing the order. Mentre io vado a fare i saluti, while I go and...
make the greetings while I go and welcome them. Sì, esatto. And here it's interesting to see the two verbs meaning to know in Italian conoscere and sapere coexisting within the same sentence. Le conosciamo bene e sappiamo cosa prendono. Esatto. Can we go by to mettersi a fare qualcosa, Francesca? Can you...
Give us a little more explanation of this and perhaps an example or two. We have seen this structure already, mettersi a plus the infinitive. So we have the verb mettere, which literally means to put, but used. somehow in a reflexive structure. So metter si, literally to put oneself to do something. So we have the reflexive pronoun si because it's referred to the sister.
We have to conjugate the verb mettere, mette, and then we have the preposition a plus the infinitive. The idea is that she starts doing something. the action that will continue later on. So there is the idea of warming up to do an action which is prolonged. Yeah, I always kind of get the feeling it's like, you know, you're kind of putting yourself in motion.
The first things done for that particular job is getting ready to do something. Okay, let us continue on and find out what happens next. La signora Rachele e le sue amiche erano di buon umore. This is lovely. So, signora Rachele and her friends. Erano di buon umore. They were in a good mood. Quando sono felici, when they are happy, mi inondano di complimenti. They fill me, they flood me with compliments.
Una bella parola, inondare. The core of the word is onda, wave. So you can imagine this wave of compliments going towards Lorenzo. A quanto pare la bella stagione le fa sentire giovani. La bella stagione, the beautiful season, so I'm guessing it's springtime, summer. Spring, si, si. Le fa sentire giovani. So them, le, fa, makes, sentire, to feel giovani.
young. So springtime makes them feel young. We've had here Giovanni and Felici, two examples of adjectives which have their singular form in The ending in the letter E. And of course the plural form ends in... I, which is the letter I. Si, esatto. As we know, in Italian, there are different types of adjectives. Some of them have four endings, like, for example, bello. So if we were to talk about le vecchiette, would say le belle vecchiette o le vecchiette belle.
But with adjectives like felice and giovane, the endings are only two. And for the plural form, we are using the ending I or Italian E, which at first looks like a masculine plural ending. But in fact, in this case, can be used for both genders in the plural form. So we could say le vecchiette belle e felici, or le vecchiette belle e giovani.
Perfecto. OK, we're going to pause there for a moment before we find out more about how these old ladies are getting on this morning. And we'll be back in just a moment. In each episode of the Scenes from the Coffee Break Cafe podcast, you'll enjoy listening to the story and our discussion of key words and phrases from each chapter. But what if you could explore the language even further and take your learning to the next level? That's where the Scenes online course comes in.
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Okay, we're back and we have just seen Le Vecchiette arrive in the bar. Francesca, can you take it on from here? Certo, continuiamo. In più, oggi erano anche molto contente di aver visto nuove persone in chiesa. Okay, this is sounding so like my grand. In più, what's more, oggi... Erano anche molto contente. They were also very happy. And we're seeing contente there. Adjective ending in e, contente, because it's a four ending adjective. They're happy to have seen new people at church.
Perfetto. And we have again another past infinitive. In this case, with the auxiliary avere, we have seen essere before. Here we have aver visto. And it's very common when we have... past infinitives to use ESSER and aver instead of essere and avere, just for phonetic reasons, because it flows a little bit better. So we could have said sono contente di avere visto, but aver visto sounds nice. Making the already beautiful Italian language even more beautiful. Sì, è vero. Okay, let's continue.
So, molte giovani famiglie... Infatti, in fact, si sono trasferite qui da noi, so they have moved here to where we live, da noi, per vivere lontano dallo stress della metropoli. in order to live far away from the stress of the metropolis, the city. So again, a lot of interesting things here, Mark. I really like the use of da noi. We need to remember that the preposition da does not only mean from, but it also means towards.
or at someone's place. Here we are considering the village or the town somehow as like a big house where all the people live. Come in tutti i paesi italiani. Esatto, sì, una grande famiglia. So that's why we are using da noi. If we're talking about Il Caffè di Tulio, we could actually say da Tulio, couldn't we? Sì, sì, sì. And many restaurants and bars and cafes and so on. We'd start with da. Da, si. So, at the cafes of Julia. Okay. Anything else in here? I like transferirsi.
Transferirsi, again, is a verb which has a reflexive structure, so we can look at it as literally meaning to move. themselves. So they moved themselves to the village. Perfecto. There's something in here, Francesca, that I think... quite a lot of learners might be wondering about. And it's the use of the word lontano, because we're talking about familie, and that's feminine plural.
And we've seen the feminine plural agreement with si sono trasferite. And then we see per vivere lontano dallo stress della metropoli. So this lontano here, it's not an adjective, is it? Yeah, it's used more as... an adverb in this context, although I must say it could also be possible to say per vivere lontane as an adjective. So it's very common with vicino and lontano to have the possibility of use them either as
an adverb or as an adjective. Perfetto. So the reason that we know it's being used as an adverb here is that there's no agreement because adverbs don't agree. Sì, otherwise we would say per vivere lontane le famiglie. Okay, I guess it's really, it's describing the verb vivere as opposed to the people being lontane. It's a really subtle nuance. But that's what we love here at Coffee Break. We love it. Okay, continuiamo.
Le signore dicevano che era bello vedere la città così viva, piena di nuovi negozi e nuovi volti. So, le signore, the ladies, dicevano, they were saying, and this is the imperfect tense here, so they were saying che era bello, it was beautiful, it was lovely. to see the town so alive, full of new shops. Nuovi volti and new faces too. Si, si. I really like the word volto, meaning face. Obviously in Italian there is the word faccia, but volto…
add a little extra. It's probably nicer. It's more sophisticated in a way. For example, if you describe a painting, if you have a painting in front of you, you would probably talk about il volto della persona nel dipinto instead of la faccia, which is more like technical in a way. And there is also the word viso to describe.
to talk about the face. And where does Viso sit there between Fats and Volto and Viso? Viso, probably you would use it for skincare, for example, when you talk about creams or products. La cura del viso. La cura della faccia. Sounds a little bit ugly, doesn't it? Sì, sì, sì, esatto. Okay, good. And it's great that it's returning to Biso as well. Questa atmosfera vivace, this lively atmosphere, le riporta, so le still referring back to le signore or le vecchiette, le riporta.
returns them alla loro gioventù, so to their youth, quando la nostra città, when our town, when our city was a town or village, era il centro... Della vita provinciale. It was the center of provincial life, of country life. Si, si. Francesca, this business of cita. And I know that having a family who were from La Città di Barga, it always makes me a little laughing inside when I think of La Città di Barga.
Barga is not a large city. So tell us a little about the difference between Città and then we had Metropoli, but we've also talked about Paese and so on. Si, I guess it's very personal and it's probably also a... stylistic thing. Probably because in Italy, most cities are not very large cities. We tend to call them città. even if they're not New York or London. So there is probably...
a difference between the Italian città and the English city. And it's also true that in Italian we don't have a word for town, so we don't see that difference between a city and a town. Città covers different sizes. There is a question I have to ask you. Okay. How do you describe Pettinengo? Ah, il centro del mondo! So a paese is the word that we use for a smaller...
dwelling, so a village. For those who don't know Pettinengo, Pettinengo is the village where I come from. And if you don't know it, make sure you see our tour of Pettinengo on YouTube. Just search for Coffee Break in Piemonte. Sì, in Piemonte con Francesca, I think it was called. Oh, I really loved that. It was a very good date. Sì. Okay, let's continue.
Angelica è arrivata con i cappuccini e i cornetti. So Angelica arrived with the cappuccini, the coffees and the cornetti. So these are like croissants. Sì, sì, sì, not the ice cream. So the older ladies also covered her in compliments. Now, could we say here, L'hanno ricoperta Di complimenti. Si, si, si, si. We have two options here. We can opt for a more standard structure with the direct object pronoun la, replacing Angelica. And well done for getting your...
agreement, la hanno ricoperta di complimenti. But here it's more emphatic and because we are using, we are including the word anche. To make it sound better and also for extra emphasis, we are using the so-called disjunctive pronoun or the stronger alternative to the direct object pronoun, which is lei in this case. La signora Rachele le ha chiesto se aveva già un ragazzo. Mmm, che curiosa. Curiosa, sì. La signora Rachele le ha chiesto, asked her, se aveva già un ragazzo.
Typical question for a vecchietta. Tipico, tipico della vecchietta, sì. Così, dal nulla. Just like that, out of nowhere. Angelica ha fatto finta di non sentire ed è subito andata a servire Gianni, Mario e Anselmo, i tre signori che vengono al bar per giocare a carte. Brava, Angelica. Sì, bella mossa. So, Angelica ha fatto finta. Fare finta di fare qualcosa means to pretend to do something. And in this case, ha fatto finta di non sentire. Sì. she pretended not to hear
Ed è subito andata a servire Gianni, Mario e Anselmo. And she immediately went off to serve Gianni, Mario and Anselmo. And they are i tre signori, the three gentlemen, che vengono al bar per giocare a carte. who come to the bar to play cards. Una domanda, Francesca. One of the things I'm thinking about here is that in English it may have felt a little more natural to say Angelica pretendi to not have heard.
Could we have said here, Angelica ha fatto finta di non aver sentito? Yes, it could also work if you want to stress on the fact that the... The action of hearing. happened slightly before the action of pretending. So ha fatto finta di non aver sentito. That would also work in Italian too. Okay, good to know. In this case... The idea is that the two actions are happening at the same time. We're kind of getting the recounting of each of these actions as they're happening.
No, that makes sense. She pretended not to hear and went straight to serve Gianni and so on. Okay, good. Le signore si sono messe a ridere. So the ladies started laughing. They began to laugh. And again, we see the structure mettersi a plus infinitive here. Io ho detto di non sapere niente. I said I didn't know a thing. And it's nice here because we were not seeing... I didn't know a thing. We don't need to see.
We could also say io ho detto di non saperne niente, so we could also add the ne meaning about it. Sì, that would also work. Non voglio mica fare la spia. And we've got a lovely mica in here. Mica, that lovely word that is... It's so Italian, isn't it? It's very Italian. We use it very often, I would say, in the spoken language, not in the written language. I wouldn't really use it in the written language unless, obviously...
it's written to convey an informal conversation as it is in our notes. But we use it in informal spoken Italian to add a little bit more emphasis. especially when there is a negative sentence like, non sono mica stupida, non ho mica detto questa cosa.
So it's giving this emphasis, as you see it, it's colloquial. And ultimately, it can be quite difficult to translate into... perfect English because the context depends so much but I'm by no means stupid in that case or in this particular sentence there's no way I'm going to be the spy
That kind of idea. It's a beautiful word. Very useful. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, we've gone through the whole text. Now it's time to listen once more. And hopefully now that we've gone through everything, it will all make perfect sense. And listen out for... that mica towards the end. Sì. You have to open it soon for the delivery of the pastry, and you end up working late, after the luncheon. Around 12 o'clock arrive the Vecchiette, which stop at the bar after going to the mess.
Tra queste c'è anche la signora Rachele, che mi porta sempre una bella crostata, da dividere con Angelica e i nostri genitori. Ormai le conosciamo bene e sappiamo cosa prendono. Quindi, ogni volta che arrivano, mia sorella si mette a preparare l'ordine mentre io vado a fare i saluti. La signora Rachele e le sue amiche erano di buon umore. Quando sono felici mi inondano di complimenti. A quanto pare la bella stagione le fa sentire giovani. In più...
Oggi erano anche molto contenti di aver visto nuove persone in chiesa. Molte giovani famiglie, infatti, Si sono trasferite qui da noi per vivere lontano dallo stress della metropoli. Le signore dicevano che era bello vedere la città così viva, piena di negozi e nuovi volti. Questa atmosfera vivace le riporta alla loro gioventù, quando la nostra città era il centro della vita provinciale. Angelica è arrivata con i cappuccini e i cornetti.
Le vecchiette hanno ricoperto di complimenti anche lei. La signora Raquel le ha chiesto se aveva già un ragazzo. Così, dal nulla. Angelica ha fatto finta di non sentire ed è subito andata a servire Gianni, Mario e Anselmo, i tre signori che vengono al bar per giocare a carte. Le signore si sono messe a rivere. Io ho detto di non sapere niente. Non voglio mica fare la spia.
Allora e tutto per oggi. That is it for this episode of Scenes from the Coffee Break Café. Now, if you have access to our premium version, you can go straight on and use our lesson notes, the exercises and the vocabulary lists to build your knowledge of the language covered.
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Benissimo. Grazie mille, Francesca. Grazie a te, Mark. Grazie a tutti i nostri ascoltatori, come sempre. And we'll be back soon with the next installment in Scenes from the Coffee Break Cafe. A presto! Ciao, ciao! You have been listening to a Coffee Break Languages production for the Radiolingua Network. Copyright 2025, Radiolingua Limited. Recording copyright 2025, Radiolingua Limited. All rights reserved.