tav-oh-loe, or-din-art-oh la chain-er ey poy pag-art-oh eel kon-toe)
And let’s add the final bit onto it all. Again, how would you say “what thing?”
Che cosa
(ke koe-ser)
And, as I mentioned earlier, “you have done” in Italian is:
Ha fatto
(a fat-oh)
So, how would you say “what have you done?” / “what did you do?” (literally “what thing you have done?”) ?
Che cosa ha fatto?
(ke koe-ser a fat-oh)
Now let’s combine absolutely everything together and (taking your time to think it out) say “I booked a table, ordered dinner and then paid the bill. What did you do?”.
Ho prenotato un tavolo, ordinato la cena e poi pagato il conto. Che cosa ha fatto?
(o pray-no-tart-oh oon tav-oh-loe, or-din-art-oh la chain-er, ey poy pag-art-oh eel kon-toe. ke koe-ser a fat-oh)
How did you find that final, complex sentence? Try it a few more times, even if you got it right, until you feel comfortable constructing it. Every time you practise building these long sentences, the naturalness and fluidity of your spoken Italian will improve and your confidence in speaking will get better along with it.
Building Blocks 2
It’s time to add some new building blocks to the mix. As before, it will be just six new ones. Here they are:
* literally “a chamber”
Once more, these new building blocks have been put into four piles below. As previously, what I want you to do is to make sentences with them, each time using one building block from the first pile, one from the second, one from the third and one from the fourth. Make as many sentences as you can!
* literally “a chamber”
Checklist 2
You have now reached your second checklist. Remember, don’t skip anything! The checklists are essential if you want what you’ve learnt to remain in your memory for the long term.
So again, cover up the English words on the right-hand side while you read through the list of Italian words on the left, trying to recall what they mean in English. If you can go through the entire list, giving the correct English meaning for each of the Italian words / expressions without making more than three mistakes in total, then you’re done. If not, then go through the list again. Keep doing this, either working from the top of the list to the bottom or from the bottom to the top (it doesn’t matter which) until you can do it without making more than three mistakes.
Okay. Ready, set, go!
| il weekend (eel weekend) | the weekend |
| romantico (roe-man-teek-oh) | romantic |
| fantastico (fan-tass-teek-oh) | fantastic |
| politico (pol-ee-teek-oh) | political |
| illogico (ee-lodge-eek-oh) | illogical |
| Ho (o) | I have |
| visitato (visit-art-oh) | visited |
| Ho visitato (o visit-art-oh) | I have visited / I visited / I did visit |
| Roma (roam-er) | Rome |
| Napoli (nap-oh-lee) | Naples |
| Ho visitato Napoli. (o visit-art-oh nap-oh-lee) | I have visited Naples / I visited Naples / I did visit Naples. |
| passato (pass-art-oh) | spent |
| Ho passato (o pass-art-oh) | I have spent / I spent / I did spend |
| Ha (a) | You have |
| Ha passato (a pass-art-oh) | You have spent / You spent / You did spend |
| Abbiamo (ab-ee-arm-oh) | We have |
| Abbiamo passato (ab-ee-arm-oh pass-art-oh) | We have spent / We spent / We did spend |
| settembre (se-tem-bray) | September |
| il Natale (eel nat-arl-ay) | Christmas |
| a Roma (a roam-er) | in Rome |
| in Italia (een eet-al-yer) | in Italy |
| in Svizzera (een zvee-tser-er) | in Switzerland |
| Abbiamo passato il Natale in Svizzera. (ab-ee-arm-oh pass-art-oh eel nat-arl-ay een zvee-tser-er) | We have spent Christmas in Switzerland / We spent Christmas in Switzerland / We did spend Christmas in Switzerland. |
| Ha passato settembre in Italia. (a pass-art-oh se-tem-bray een eet-al-yer) | You have spent September in Italy / You spent September in Italy / You did spend September in Italy. |
| e (ay) | and |
| Era (air-ah) | It was |
| Era fantastico. (air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) | It was fantastic. |
| Il tempo era fantastico. (eel-tem-poe air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) | The weather was fantastic. |
| Ho passato il weekend a Roma – e wow, il tempo era fantastico. (o pass-art-oh eel weekend a roam-er ay wow, eel-tem-poe air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) | I spent the weekend in Rome – and wow, the weather was fantastic. |
| preparazione (prep-are-atz-ee-oh-nay) | preparation |
| preparato (pray-par-ato) | prepared |
| prenotazione (pray-no-tatz-ee-oh-nay) | reservation |
| prenotato (pray-no-tart-oh) | reserved / booked |
| ordinato (or-din-art-oh) | ordered |
| pagato (pag-art-oh) | paid |
| fatto (fat-oh) | done |
| il conto (eel kon-toe) | the bill |
| la cena (la chain-er) | the dinner |
| il caffè (eel ka-fe) | the coffee |
| un tavolo (oon tav-oh-loe) | a table |
| una camera (oon-a cam-air-a) | a room |
| un taxi (oon taxi) | a taxi |
| Ho preparato la cena. (o prep-are-art-oh la chain-er) | I have prepared the dinner / I prepared the dinner / I did prepare the dinner. |
| Ho ordinato il caffè per la cena. (o or-din-art-oh eel ka-fe pair la chain-er) | I have ordered coffee for dinner / I ordered
|
