Coffee Break Italian
Season 1, Lesson 2
Lesson notes
Introduction
Benvenuti a Coffee Break Italian - welcome to the lesson notes for the second episode
of Coffee Break Italian! In these lesson notes we’ll be listing all the words and phrases
covered in each lesson. The lesson notes also include material linked to the Review
episode.
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Review 1
This lesson begins with a review of the words covered in Lesson 1.
ciao
hello, hi
ciao
bye, goodbye (informal)
come stai?
how are you?
sto bene
I’m (feeling) well
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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sto male
I’m (feeling) bad
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Lesson notes
Greetings for different times of the day
In this lesson we’re learning the words and phrases used to greet people at different
times of the day.
buongiorno
good morning, good day
The word for “a day” is un giorno. Like in many languages, Italian nouns have gender:
each noun is either masculine or feminine. We have something similar in English: the
word “actress” is used for a female person who works in film or on the stage, and an
“actor” is the male equivalent. Likewise we know that a “hen” is a female chicken and a
“rooster” is the male equivalent.
In Italian, all nouns have gender so, for example, the word for “book” is masculine - un
libro - and the word for “house” is feminine: una casa. We’ll see lots more examples of
masculine and feminine words as we progress through the course.
buonasera
good evening
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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The word sera is feminine, so the masculine form buon which is used for giorno
becomes buona. The word for “night” is also feminine: una notte. So, to say “good
night”, we use buona again:
buonanotte
good night
There is a word for “afternoon” in Italian. It’s pomeriggio, and you may hear buon
pomeriggio, meaning “good afternoon”. However, it’s less common: you’re more likely
to hear buongiorno or buonasera, depending on the time of day.
Please note that you may also see buongiorno, buonasera and buonanotte written as
separate words:
buongiorno / buon giorno
good morning, good day
buonasera / buona sera
good evening
buonanotte / buona notte
good night
Introducing yourself and saying your name
To say “my name is…” you use the following phrase:
mi chiamo …
my name is
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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Literally this means “I call myself”. Similarly, we can ask, “how do you call yourself?”, or in
better English, “what is your name?”
come ti chiami?
what is your name?
Pay particular attention to the endings of the words chiamo and chiami. You’ll notice that
verbs change their endings depending on who they refer to.
Let’s put these phrases into a conversation.
Mark:
Come ti chiami?
Katie:
Mi chiamo Katie. Come ti chiami?
Mark:
Mi chiamo Mark.
Informal and formal forms of “you”
In Italian you need to change how you address people depending on how well you
know them. Just as in many other languages, there are different forms for the word
“you”. This also applies to verbs, so we need to learn an informal and formal version of
each question. The informal version would be used in situations where you’re talking to
a child, or you know the person. The formal version is used for situations where you
don’t know the person you’re addressing.
Using the formal form
So far we’ve learned the informal form of “what is your name?”:
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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come ti chiami?
what is your name? (informal)
To say “what is your name?” in the formal form, you need to change this phrase to:
come si chiama?
what is your name? (formal)
Likewise, we have already learned how to ask “how are you?”
come stai?
how are you? (informal)
There is a formal form of this question too:
come sta?
how are you? (formal)
An alternative to mi chiamo …
Katie points out that it’s possible to say “I am … “ or “I’m … “ as an alternative to “My
name is … “ or “I’m called … “ in English. This also works in Italian:
sono …
I am
We’ve actually already come across this word in the phrase sono stanco/a which was
part of the bonus vocabulary in Lesson 1.
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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It’s time to put the words and phrases from this lesson to the test in two conversations.
The first conversation is an informal situation where two people, Giorgio and Laura,
meet each other at a party. The second conversation is more formal where Alessandra
Pieroni and Giacomo Moretti meet each other at a business networking event.
b Conversation 1
Giorgio:
Ciao.
Laura:
Ciao. Come stai?
Giorgio:
Sto bene. E tu?
Laura:
Anch’io sto bene. Come ti chiami?
Giorgio:
Mi chiamo Giorgio.
Laura:
Piacere. Io mi chiamo Laura.
This conversation introduces some new words:
anch’io
me too, also I
piacere
pleasure, it’s a pleasure, nice to meet you
io mi chiamo …
I’m called
Note that mi chiamo means “I’m called … “ or “my name is … “. In the final phrase of this
conversation, Laura says io mi chiamo and here the word io is used to stress the “I”:
“you’re called Giorgio, but I am called Laura”.
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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b Conversation 2
A Pieroni:
Buongiorno.
G Moretti:
Buongiorno. Come sta?
A Pieroni:
Sto molto bene. E Lei, come sta?
G Moretti:
Sto benissimo. Come si chiama?
A Pieroni:
Sono Alessandra Pieroni. E Lei? Come si chiama?
G Moretti:
Mi chiamo Giacomo Moretti.
A Pieroni:
Piacere.
G Moretti:
Piacere mio.
This conversation introduces the following new words:
e Lei
and you? (formal)
This is the formal form of e tu?
piacere mio
my pleasure, the pleasure is mine
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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Review 2
This lesson begins with a review of the words covered in Lesson 1.
buongiorno
good morning, good day
buonasera
good evening
buonanotte
good night
buon pomeriggio
good afternoon (less used)
come ti chiami?
what is your name? (informal)
come si chiama?
what is your name? (formal)
mi chiamo …
I’m called … / My name is …
piacere
pleased to meet you
Saying goodbye
We already know that we can say ciao or ciao ciao for “goodbye” or “bye”. The normal
way to say “goodbye” is:
arrivederci
goodbye
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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Lesson 2 Review
The script of the opening section of the Review episode is as follows:
Mark:
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti a Coffee Break Italian. Mi chiamo Mark.
Francesca:
Sono Francesca.
Mark:
E siamo molto contenti di essere qua con voi.
a tutti
to you all, to everyone
benvenuti
welcome
siamo molto contenti di essere qua
we are very happy to be here
con voi
with you
The bonus episode includes some additional vocabulary and a translation challenge.
buongiorno
good morning, good day
buonasera
good evening
buonanotte
good night
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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It’s also possible to wish someone “have a good evening” or “have a good day”. The
expressions change slightly:
buona serata
have a good evening
buona giornata
have a good day
buon fine settimana
have a good weekend
buone vacanze
have a good holiday
a dopo
see you later
a domani
see you tomorrow
a presto
see you soon
Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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V
Translation test
1. Good morning. How are you today?
2. I’m very well. How are you? (formal)
3. My name is Giovanni. What is your name? (informal)
4. I’m Mario Franchetti. What is your name? (formal)
5. Good bye, Laura. Have a good evening.
Answers
1. Buongiorno. Come stai oggi?
2. Sto molto bene / benissimo. Come sta?
3. Mi chiamo Giovanni. Come ti chiami?
4. Sono Mario Franchetti. Come si chiama?
5. Arrivederci, Laura. Buona serata.
Gtu Join in!
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Coffee Break Italian, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Notes
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