Conversation

[elgian]

Hi everyone;

grazie a David, o chi per esso, per aver aperto questo filone. Immagino che nei prossimi giorni abbandoneremo i vecchi filoni ('How about practicing written Italian', 'About talking Italian' eccetera) che furono iniziati in modo tentativo il mese scorso.

Thanks to David, or whomever in his place, for opening this thread. I guess that, during the next few days, we'll abandon the older threads ('How about practicing written Italian', 'About talking Italian' et cetera) that were started tentatively last month.

Just to refresh everybody's memory, I'm pasting the original post that suggested opening such a thread:

Originally Posted by elgian;

Hi all;

I have a far-from-innocent question: how many members do we have that are fluent, or almost fluent, in Italian?

Just in case you're wondering, I'm asking because I've come across quite a few posts from people admitting to their difficulties with the language, especially in order to accomplish daily tasks such as shopping, utility contracts, dealing with officialdom etc. Of course, they all then converge into this forum and happily continue using English, which doesn't do any good to their resolution of learning Italian.

So, here is my suggestion: use this forum to post all your queries (of whatever nature) and replies, in Italian. No matter how broken your sentences, you should feel free to post so that, eventually, we may just get a forum in more-or-less broken Italian. From my part, since Italian is my mother tongue, I'll try to post a few corrections, now and then, as the need and opportunity arises and provide help when requested. :roll: By the same token anyone else who's sufficiently fluent, should feel free to contribute corrections. All in a good spirit, of course.

And, just to see if this idea can fly, let's have a poll about it.

ciao

BTW, how do you like the word filone as a translation of forum thread? Seems better than filo, which calls for a literal translation (thread). However, filone applies to all sorts of things that are or can be threaded: e. g. a vein of gold ore, a school of thinking or research ... So, it works better for me to describe a thread of posts on a given subject.

ciao

Giancarlo

[caoimho]

ciao gian
ho un paio delle domande per te. sei nato in italia?sei mai stato in irlanda? sono irlandese ma io abito a londra. anche come si dice in italiano "i am just practising my italian"
ci parliamo
kevin

[elgian]

Hi Kev;

Si, nato e cresciuto in Italia. A Torino. Pero`, non sono mai stato in Irlanda. In Europa sono stato solo in Belgio, Francia, Inghilterra (London and Oxford), Lussenburgo e Svizzera. Non ho mai visto ne` la Scozia ne` il Galles. In Africa, naturalmente, conosco il Sudafrica ed ho visitato il Mozambico. Ho mancato di far visita al Zimbabwe, quando sarebbe stato facile e ancora non sono riuscito a visitare il Namibia. Ormai me li posso scordare perche` verremo ad abitare in Italia nel giro dei prossimi due o tre anni.

Yes, born and raised in Italy. In Turin. But, I've never been to Ireland. In Europe I've only been to Belgium, France, England, Luxembourg and Switzerland. I've not seen either Scotland nor Wales. In Africa, of course, I know South Africa and I've visited Mozambique. I missed-out on seeing Zimbabwe, when it would have been easy to go and I haven't yet managed to see Namibia. I may as well forget them now, because we'll be coming to live in Italy within the next two or three years.

I'm just practicing Italian = Sto solo facendo pratica (esercizio) d'italiano or Sto solo praticando l'italiano

There were also a couple of minor things I spotted in earlier posts of yours but, I've lost track of them now. Not really important, they'll probably crop up again at a later stage and we'll talk about them then.

Incidentally, where is everybody else?

ciao

G.

[caoimho]

ciao gian
grazie per i suoi risposti..dove tutti?.non lo so dove sono!!io penso che ci trovarano(?).non mi sono sicuro se questo e' giusto perche' non ho ancora studiato il futuro .sei di torino..la mia insegnante e' di torino..lei e' il migliore !
che viaggi!! mamma mia!!
sei in sudafrica per il tuo lavoro? hi gian
thank you for your answers...where is everybody? i don't know where they are!! i think they'll find us..i'm not sure if this part is correct because i haven't studied the future yet..you're from torino, my teacher is rom torino, she's the best!
amazing trips !
are you in s.a. for work
a presto
kevin

[elgian]

Originally Posted by caohimo;

grazie per i suoi risposti.

grazie per le sue (tue) risposte

Originally Posted by caohimo;

trovarano

troveranno Quasi giusto. It's actually easy: the desinence begins with an 'e' in the first two conjugations (regular verbs) and 'i' in the third. e. g. parl-are has parl- as the root and you just link it to the future desinences: -ero`, -erai, -era`, -eremo, -erete, -eranno.

Originally Posted by caohimo;

non mi sono sicuro

non sono sicuro

Er ... what else? Ah! Of course, Torino uber alles! Well, actually, Juventus uber alles

Si, per lavoro. Emigrai negli anni '70 in cerca di lavoro.
Emigrai. passato remoto = I emigrated

ciao

[bella_ciao]

Ciao a tutti,

Sono qua! Non sono in tardi ma sto aspettandoli! (Mi non securo di cominciare questo "filone"! Hmmmm..........mi piace molto questa parola.............Bravo, Giancarlo! E femminile o maschile? Penso e maschile, si?)

Hi everyone,

I'm here! I'm not late but I have been waiting for you! I'm not confident enough to start this "filone"! Hmmmm...........I like this word very much............Well done, Giancarlo! Is it feminine or masculine? I think it's masculine, right?)

I'm going to continue with the same format I used in my other posts - first the Italian (of sorts!) and then the translation. Once you get into these verbs I find it is a whole different ballgame. I am trying to get a handle on them with the aid of my books and the websites (including this one). Apart from the Italian Verb Drills by Paola Nanni-Tate - Second Edition (a little bit advanced for me at the moment), I find the Collins Easy Learning Italian Verbs very good because it shows you how to apply the same rule to different words. Please feel free to correct my scribbles as it's the only way I'm going to learn! (As and when you're able, of course.)

Tante grazie.

Ciao,
Francesca.

[elgian]

Ciao;

Si, "il filone" e` maschile. Naturalmente, "filo" e` perfettamente accettabile. Dopotutto, si usa dire "perdere il filo del discorso" o anche "il filo della logica". Pero`, per me "il filone" funziona meglio.

Yes, "il filone" is masculine. Of course, "filo" is perfectly acceptable. After all, one usually says "to loose the thread of a conversation" or even "logical thread". But, to me, "il filone" works better.

Incidentally:

Non sono in tardi ma sto aspettandoli! (Mi non securo di cominciare ...

this should read: Non sono in ritardo ma stavo aspettandovi! (Non mi sento abbastanza sicura per cominciare ...

ciao

[bella_ciao]

Grazie, Giancarlo,
Mi scusi, ma ho una domanda tecnica:

Thank you, Giancarlo,
Excuse me, but I have a technical question:

"Stavo" is in the imperfect tense, right? What does this mean and am I to understand that "aspettandovi" is the plural form - as in "have been waiting for (all of) you?" This may sound very basic, but so is my knowledge of Italian!

Grazie,
Francesca.

[elgian]

Ciao Francesca;

good guess! If your claimed level is basic for real, you worked it all out much better than you might think.

So, using the imperfect tense puts the gerundive, or progressive (in English), form into the past: I was waiting for you. And, of course, you're correct again with the plural, since you were waiting for more than one user to start the thread.

Send us some more!

P.S. making an edit here.

Neglected to remind you that, of course, stare (as in stavo) literally means to stay but is used in place of essere especially when associated with the gerundive.

ciao

Gian

[bella_ciao]

Ciao Giancarlo,
Grazie, ma e la verita: il mio italiano e molto basico! Comunque, ho capito qualcosa circa le regole perche il mio inglese non e male pero adesso, sfortunatamente, anche ho dimenticato molte regole dalla grammatica inglese!

Hi Giancarlo,
Thank you, but it is the truth: my Italian is very basic! However, I understand something about the rules because my English isn't bad but these days, unfortunately, I also forget many rules of English grammar!

I guess this is what you call the real "nuts and bolts" of a language which makes the difference between being able to make yourself properly understood to the native Italians and simply "getting by" with pidgin and a few gestures. In English, of course, we have phrases such as "might be" or "will do" that govern the sense of a sentence, whereas with Italian it is mostly a matter of learning verb conjugations and word endings.....at the end of the day, Italian is quite an economical language, if only you can remember the variety of conjugations and tenses.
Off my podium now!
Ciao,
Francesca.

[caoimho]

ciao francesca
c'e' un buon sito di web dove puoi imparare i verbi.il si chiama "learnverbs" e puoi imparare molti verbi in tanti tempi! lo mettero' qui presto..
hi frances
there is a good website where you can learn verbs. it's name is "learnverbs and you can learn lots of verbs in lots of tenses. i will put it on here soon.

it also speaks to you.so for example if you have the verb andare ,and you click on the past in the ïo section,its says.."sono stato"..etc..
ciao kevin

[bella_ciao]

Ciao Kevin,
Io trovato il sito - e fantastico! E molto utile quando e necessario di scrivere rapidamente. Piano, piano, e forse imparero tutti i verbi e i tempi un giorno!

Hi Kevin,
I have found the site - it's fantastic! It is very useful when it is necessary to write quickly. Slowly, slowly, and perhaps I will learn all the verbs and tenses one day!

(Hope I got those verbs right!)

Just go to www.learnverbs.com and choose Italian.

Grazie mille,
Francesca.

[caoimho]

ciao francesca
che giorno sara'
hi frances
what a day it will be!!

come hai messo il "url" sul filone perche' non potrei farlo?
how did you put the "url"on the thread ços i couldn't do it
ciao kevin

[Lynn]

Ecco un sito fantastico e utile www.italian.typeit.org It will be invaluable when posting in Italian. Just copy and paste.

Lynn

[Lynn]

Questo filone ha fatto Scalea Info Forum molto interessante. Si è divento più vivace più utile. Una buona idea, Giancarlo. Ora devi incorraggiare Elaine fare un post

[bella_ciao]

Ciao a tutti,

Kevin,

Penso che una bouna giornata al Inghilterra - in ogni caso, e molto sole ad este al momento! Io aspetto la primavera con speranza!!

I think that it's a great day in England - anyway, there is a lot of sunshine in the east at the moment! I await the springtime with hope!!

I just typed in www.learnverbs.com and the software converted it to the url automatically when I posted the message (clever stuff, David!) However, I couldn't reach the url for the
italiantypeit website from the link she posted because you have to miss out the "www" bit. Here is the link copied and pasted from my browser:

http://italian.typeit.org/

Hope it works!

Ciao - a presto,
Francesca.

Lynn,

Tante grazie per suo messagio anche l'informazione. Mi piace molto l'idea di "copiare e incollare? appiccicare?" (e le parole correcto, o no? Giancarlo, auitami, per favore!) da questo sito perche non posso ottenere gli accenti usando il metodo "Ctrl" sulla mia tastiera.

Lynn,

Many thanks for your message and the information. I very much like the idea of "copying and pasting" (Giancarlo, you will have to help me with the correct translation of this phrase, please!) from this site because I am not able to get the accents by using the "Ctrl" method on my keyboard.

I hope other members will be encouraged to post here - it's always helpful to post the translation in English underneath for those of us who are still struggling to read in Italian. Personally, I try to do as much as I can for myself before I resort to other methods, including reading the message in Italian before I look at the translation. I also think it makes this thread more appealing to others who are struggling with the language, or simply want to practise their writing or conversational skills.

P.S. I just tried out the above link when I previewed my post and it does work.

Grazie mille,
Francesca.

[elgian]

Ciao a tutti;

tante cose a cui rispondere! La prima che viene a mente (viene in mente is also good) e` la doamnda di Kev sul come far visualizzare un link. Ci sono due metodi. Il primo e` automatico, come dice Frances. Se tu guardi il riquadro "Additional Options" sotto la finestra dell'editore, noti che c'e un'opzione chiamata "Automatically parse links in text". Se attivi questa, le URL vengono inserite automaticamente. Il secondo metodo e` manuale: scrivi la URL dentro le due "tags" [ url ] e [ /url ] senza spazi dentro le parentesi quadre. La prima, [ url ], richiede al tuo browser di visualizzare le lettere che seguono come se fossero un web link. La seconda, [ /url ] dice al browser di smettere la visualizzazione come link. Nello stesso modo puoi visualizzare l'italico [ i ] e [ /i ], il grassetto, [ b ] e [ /b ]. e altre cose. Questo e` gonzo perche` lo puoi usare per fare risaltare le versioni Italiana e Inglese dei tuoi messaggi.

oops! Sorry ... let me start again. There are three ways ..... There's no such a thing as a Monty Python smiley, is there? OK, mi sono appena reso conto che c'e` un terzo modo: usa le icone sulla barra utensili in testa alla finestra "editore".

Eish! (very South African expression) now for the translation.

Lots of things to reply to. The first one that comes to mind is Kev's question on how to display a link. There are two ways. The first one is automatic, as Frances said. If you look at the panel below the editing window, you'll notice an option called "Automatically parse links in text". If you check this, the URLs will be automatically inserted. The second method is manual: you write the URL (the link) inside the two tags [ url ] and [ /url ] without spaces inside the square brackets. The first, [ url ] instructs your browser to display all the letters that follow as if they were a web link. the second one, [ /url ] tells your browser to stop displaying things as a web link. In the same way, you can display italic, with [ i ] and [ /i ] bold, [ b ] and [ /b ] and other things. This is neat (not literally gonzo) because you can use them to differentiate the Italian and English versions of your posts.

OK. I've just realized that there is a third way to do all this: use the icons on the tool bar at the top of the editing window.

I think I'm going to leave the other queries for later.

ciao

[elgian]

Originally Posted by Lynn

Questo filone ha fatto Scalea Info Forum molto interessante. Si è divento più vivace più utile. Una buona idea, Giancarlo. Ora devi incorraggiare Elaine fare un post

Ciao Lynn;

Si. E adesso si fa pure pratica di programmazione in html! In ogni caso, Elaine dovra` venire forzata a partecipare. Magari fra un paio di settimane.

A risentirci

G.

[elgian]

Originally Posted by bella_ciao;

Tante grazie per suo messagio anche l'informazione. Mi piace molto l'idea di "copiare e incollare? appiccicare?" (e le parole correcto, o no? Giancarlo, auitami, per favore!) da questo sito perche non posso ottenere gli accenti usando il metodo "Ctrl" sulla mia tastiera.

Hi Francesca;

"copia e incolla" va benissimo. Naturalmente, essendo entrambi verbi della prima coniugazione, l'espressione viene coniugata a seconda del contesto.

Se la tua tastiera ha un metodo "Ctrl" per gli accenti, significa che usi una tastiera Italiana? In tal caso, potrebbe darsi che non hai caricato il metodo (driver?) tastiera Italiana in memoria. Non ti posso consigliare sul come farlo perche` non uso MSWindows da molti anni (presumendo che tu usi Windows).

Il sito raccomandato da Kevin sembra ottimo. Purtroppo non mi funziona perche` il mio sistema operativo, al momento, ha il JRE (Java Runtime Environment) rotto e quindi mi visualizza i risultati di quel sito come caselle vuote. A meno che il sito usi Macromedia Flash, nel cui caso non mi funziona perche` ho la testa dura e mi rifiuto di scaricare e installare M. Flash.

copia e incolla is fine. Of course, both being first conjugation verbs, the expression can be conjugated according to the context.

If your keyboard has a "Ctrl" method for the accents, does it mean that you use an Italian keyboard? In which case, maybe you didn't load the Italian keyboard in your computer memory. I can't counsel you on how to do it because I haven't used MSWindows for many years (presuming that you use Windows).

The web site recommended by Kevin seems excellent. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me because my operating system has a broken JRE at the moment so, it displays the results from that site as blank boxes. Unless the site uses Macromedia Flash, in which case it doesn't work because I'm a knuckle-head and I refuse to download and install M. Flash.

A risentirci

G.

[bella_ciao]

Ciao Giancarlo,
Grazie per la tua consiglio. No, non ho una tastiera italiano - e inglese o americana (e una scelta). Penso io bisogno di usare il sito che Lynn abbia suggerito - anche devo esercitasi in usando. Penso che il sito Pat MC abbia suggerito sia inoltre molto buono. Per me, e soltanto il momento di visitare questi siti che mi da un problema! Mi dispiace che non e possibile per te di vistare il sito che Kevin abbia suggerito perche, si, e un sito molto buono. E meriviglioso essere in grado per ascoltare i verbi parlati correttamente.

Hi Giancarlo,
Thank you for your advice. No, I don't have an Italian keyboard - it is English or American (there is a choice). I think I need to use the site that Lynn has recommended - I also
need to practise using it. I think that the site Pat MC has suggested is also very good. For me, it's just having a moment to visit these sites that gives me a problem! I am sorry that it is not possible for you to see the site that Kevin has recommended because it certainly is a very good site. It is marvellous to be able to listen to the verbs spoken correctly.

I have one small technical question: When is it more appropriate to use "pure" rather than "anche", or are these words interchangeable?

Tante grazie.

Ciao,
Francesca.