Italian Phrases For Dummies E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 155

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Everyday conversations in Italian made easy Italy is a perennially popular destination for Americans, with three cities (Florence, Rome, and Venice) among the top ten in Travel & Leisure's 2003 "World's Best Cities" poll. This concise, easy-to-use guide helps travelers and students get up to speed fast on conversational Italian, showcasing the most commonly used words and phrases. Francesca Romana Onofri is an Italian translator and teacher. Karen Moller is a writer who has worked on several Italian-language projects for Berlitz.

Leseprobe

Italian Phrases For Dummies

by Francesca Romana Onofri and Karen Antje Möller

Italian Phrases For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750- 8400, fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax [phone], or e-mail [email protected].

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762- 2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2004108051

ISBN: 0-7645-7203-2

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1O/RU/QX/QU/IN

About the Authors

After her university studies in linguistics and Spanish and English language and literature, Francesca Romana Onofri lived abroad for several years to better her understanding of the cultures and languages of different countries. In Spain and Ireland, she worked as an Italian and Spanish teacher, as well as a translator and interpreter at cultural events. In Germany, she was responsible for communication and special events at a museum of modern art, but even then she never gave up her passion for languages: She was an Italian coach and teacher at the Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera House and did translations — especially in the art field. Back in Italy, Francesca has edited several Italian books and works as a translator of art books, as well as a cultural events organizer and educator.

Karen Möller is currently studying Italian and English linguistics, literature, and culture. Before entering academia, Karen worked in the field of public relations and wrote articles for all kinds of fashion magazines and newspapers. She has had the occasion to work on German-Italian projects, including verb, vocabulary, and grammar handbooks and Italian exercise books.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Compilation Editor: Pam Mourouzis

Senior Project Editor: Alissa Schwipps

Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy

Copy Editor: Kristin DeMint

Technical Editor: Laura Barbolini

Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich

Editorial Assistants: Courtney Allen, Melissa Bennett

Cartoon: Rich Tennant, www.the5thwave.com

Composition

Project Coordinator: Nancee Reeves

Layout and Graphics: Heather Ryan, Jacque Schneider, Julie Trippetti

Proofreaders: Susan Moritz, Dwight Ramsey, Robert Springer, Brian H. Walls

Indexer: Steve Rath

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel

Brice Gosnell, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents

Title

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Chapter 1: I Say It How? Speaking Italian

You Already Know Some Italian

Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation

Stressing Words Properly

Chapter 2: Grammar on a Diet: Just the Basics

Setting Up Simple Sentences

Coping with Gendered Words (Articles and Adjectives)

Talking about Pronouns

Asking Questions

Introducing Regular and Irregular Verbs

Presenting the Simple Tenses: Past, Present, and Future

Chapter 3: Numerical Gumbo: Counting of All Kinds

Counting Cardinals

Ordering Ordinals

Talking about Time

Getting Addresses and Phone Numbers

Money, Money, Money

Chapter 4: Making New Friends and Enjoying Small Talk

Looking at Common Greetings and Good-byes

Finding Out Whether Someone Speaks English

Begging Your Pardon?

Making Introductions

Getting Acquainted

Chapter 5: Enjoying a Drink and a Snack (Or Meal)

Eating and Drinking, Italian Style

The Start and Finish of Dining Out

Having Breakfast

Eating Lunch and Dinner

Savoring Dessert

Chapter 6: Shop ’til You Drop!

Departmentalizing Your Shopping

Talking with a Sales Clerk

Sizing Up Italian Sizes

Choosing Colors and Fabrics

Accessorizing

Stepping Out in Style

Shopping for Food

Paying for Your Purchases

Chapter 7: Making Leisure a Top Priority

Acquiring Culture

Inviting Fun

Getting Out and About

Chapter 8: When You Gotta Work

Talking Shop

Chatting on the Phone

Asking for People and Leaving a Message

Chapter 9: I Get Around: Transportation

Getting through the Airport

Renting a Car

Navigating Public Transportation

Asking for Directions

Chapter 10: Finding a Place to Lay Your Weary Head

Reserving a Room

Checking in and Getting Settled

Using Plurals and Pronouns

Chapter 11: Dealing with Emergencies

Dealing with Car Trouble

Talking to Doctors

I’ve Been Robbed! Knowing What to Do and Say When the Police Arrive

When You Need a Lawyer

Chapter 12: Ten Favorite Italian Expressions

Chapter 13: Ten Phrases That Make You Sound Like a Local

Introduction

As society becomes more and more international in nature, knowing how to say at least a few words in other languages becomes more and more useful. Inexpensive airfares make travel abroad a more realistic option. Global business environments necessitate overseas travel. You may have friends and neighbors who speak other languages, or you may want to get in touch with your heritage by learning a little bit of the language your ancestors spoke. Whatever your reason for wanting to learn some Italian, this book can help. We’re not promising fluency here, but if you need to greet someone, purchase a ticket, or order from a menu in Italian, look no further than Italian Phrases For Dummies.

About This Book

This isn’t a class that you have to drag yourself to twice a week. You can use this book however you want, whether your goal is to pick up some words and phrases to help you get around when you visit Italy or you just want to be able to say “Hello, how are you?” to an Italian-speaking neighbor. Go through this book at your own pace, reading as much or as little at a time as your heart desires. You don’t have to trudge through the chapters in order, either; just read the sections that interest you.

If you’ve never taken Italian before, you may want to read Chapters 1 and 2 before you tackle the later ones. These chapters give you the basics that you need to know about the language, such as how to pronounce the various sounds and form simple sentences.

Conventions Used in This Book

To make this book easy for you to navigate, we’ve set up a few conventions:

Italian terms are set in boldface to make them stand out.

Pronunciations, set in italics, follow the Italian terms.

Verb conjugations (lists that show you the forms of a verb) are given in tables in this order: the “I” form, the “you” (informal, singular) form, the “you” (formal, singular) form, the “he/she/it” form, the “we” form, the “you” (formal/informal plural) forms, and the “they” form. Pronunciations follow in the second column, along with the English translations in the third column.

In conjugation tables, we list the pronouns next to the verb forms simply to help you remember which form is which—in conversation, you don’t say the pronoun (flip ahead to Chapter 2 for more on that subject).

Memorizing key words and phrases is important in language learning, so we collect the important words in a chapter or section in a black box titled “Words to Know.” Because Italian nouns have genders, which determine the article that the noun takes, how you form the plural, and so on, we indicate the gender with either [f] for feminine nouns or [m] for masculine nouns.

Next to the Italian words throughout this book, you find the pronunciations in parentheses. We separate syllables with a hyphen, like this: casa(kah-zah) (house). We also underline the stressed syllable, which means that you put the stress of the word on the underlined syllable. (See Chapter 1 for information about stresses.)

Because each language has its own ways of expressing ideas, the English translations that we provide for the Italian terms may not be exactly literal. We want you to know the gist of what’s being said, not just the words that are being said. For example, the phrase Mi dica (mee dee-kah) can be translated literally as “Tell me,” but the phrase really means “Can I help you?” This book gives the “Can I help you?” translation.

Foolish Assumptions

To write this book, we had to make some assumptions about who you are and what you want. These are the assumptions we made:

You’ve had little or no exposure to the Italian language—or if you took Italian back in school, you remember very little of it.

You’re not looking for a book that’ll make you fluent in Italian; you just want to know some words and phrases so that you can communicate basic information.

You don’t want to memorize long lists of vocabulary words or a bunch of boring grammar rules.

You want to have fun and learn a little bit of Italian at the same time.

If these statements apply to you, you’ve found the right book!

Icons Used in This Book

You may be looking for particular information while reading this book. To make important points easier to find, we’ve placed the following icons in the margins throughout the book:

This icon highlights tips that can make picking up Italian words and phrases easier.

To ensure that you don’t forget important stuff, this icon serves as a reminder, like a string tied around your finger.

Languages are full of quirks that may trip you up if you aren’t prepared for them. This icon points to discussions of weird grammar rules.

If you’re looking for information about the Italian culture, look for this icon. It draws your attention to interesting tidbits about Italy.

Where to Go from Here

Learning to speak a language is all about jumping in and giving it a try, no matter how bad your pronunciation is at first. So make the leap! Start at the beginning or turn to a chapter that interests you. Before long, you’ll be able to respond Sì! when people ask, Parla italiano?

Chapter 1

I Say It How? Speaking Italian

In This Chapter

Taking note of the Italian you know

Appreciating cognates