Lezione Numero Tre/Lesson Number Three
Watch a video:
Lesson 3, Part 1: Opening Lecture
Come State?/How Are You?
-
Come state? (Literally "How do you stay?")/How are you?"
- Spero bene! /I hope well!
You may be wondering whether am I talking to you as a single person, or to you as a group. In English you would know it from the context. In Italian you would know it from the structure of the sentence itself, because I would use a different form of the verb stare.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH FORM OF "YOU" |
|---|---|
| (voi) come state? | You-plural |
| (tu) come stai? | You-singular |
| (lei) come sta? | You-singular, formal (like Usted in Spanish) |
Here is how you can answer:
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Bene. Or benissimo/molto bene. | Very well. |
| Non c'è male, grazie. | Not bad, thank you. (Literally "There isn't bad.") |
| Cosi cosi. | So so. |
| Male | Bad. |
| Note: If we are in a formal relationship, you should say E Lei? instead of E tu? | |
Listen to Dialogue: Come Stai?
Essere O Stare? Questo è il Dilemma!/Using the Verbs Essere or Stare? That is The Question!
- We ask come stai, not come sei.
- As a general rule, essere means "to be", and stare means "to stay".
- However, stare, not essere is always used, when followed by the adverbs bene, male, meglio, or peggio (worse). Stare bene with an indirect pronoun (dative) means "it suits you".
- Questo vestito ti (=a te) sta bene/This dress suits you. (Literally "this dress stays well to you").
Stare followed by the gerundive expresses the continuous tenses:
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Sto cucinando. | (I) am cooking. |
| Stavo leggendo. | (I) was reading. |
Essere is used in general to indicate more permanent aspects of people or things.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Sono Daria. | I am Daria. |
| Sono di New York. | I am from New York. |
| Mike è Americano. | Mike is American. |
| Mia mamma è bionda. | My mom is blond. (Used with identity, origin, nationality, aspect, religion, etc.) |
Sometimes it's also for transitory conditions/emotions.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Giovanni è ammalato. (not sta ammalato) | John is sick. |
| Alice è innamorata. | Alice is enamored (in love). |
| Sei felice? | Are you happy? |
Essere is also used as a verbo ausiliare (auxiliary verb, or helper) in the passive form:
- La pizza è cotta nel forno./The pizza is baked (literally "cooked") in the oven.
When talking about a location, essere and stare are mostly the same:
Siamo in cucina or stiamo in cucina./We are in the kitchen.
Listening Exercise
Essere e stare: Indicativo presente
Ascolta come si coniuga l'indicativo presente dei verbi essere e stare./Listen to how the verbs essere and stare are used.
Il Verbo "Essere" / The Verb "To Be"
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| (io) sono. | (I) am. |
| (tu) sei (informal)/ (Lei) è (formal). | (you) are. |
| (lei/lui) è. | (she/he) is. (We don't have the neutral pronoun "it".) |
| (noi) siamo. | (we) are. |
| (voi) siete. | (you) are. |
| (loro) sono. | (they) are. |
Il Verbo "Stare"/The Verb "To Stay"
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Sto. | (I) stay. |
| stai (informal) sta (formal). | (you) stay. |
| sta. | (she/he) stays. |
| stiamo. | (we) are. |
| state. | (you) stay. |
| stanno. | (they) stay. |
If you want to talk about something you enjoy doing, you use the verb piacere followed by the infinitive:
A Giorgio piace cucinare./George likes cooking. (Literally "cooking is pleasing to George.")
As we started planning what to cook next, we made the list of what toppings we like on pizza.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Cosa ti (= a te) piace sulla pizza? | What do you like on your pizza? (Literally "What is pleasing to you on pizza?") |
| Mi (=a me) piace la mozzarella. | I like mozzarella. (Literally "Mozzarella is pleasing to me.") |
| Mi piacciono le melanzane e i peperoni, | I like eggplant and peppers. (Literally "Eggplants and peppers are pleasing to me.") |
Compiti/Assignments
Listening Exercise
Mi piace!/I like it!
Listen and repeat.