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Vocabulary Speed Dates

eravamo stipati, le sardine, piccola, macchina, arancione, le cinture di sicurezza

— eravamo stipati {from the verb stipare – to cram/overcrowd} – We were were crammed

— Le sardine – sardines

— Piccola – small

— Macchina – car

— Le cinture di sicurezza – seatbelts

— arancione – orange

Key phrases

eravamo quattro, una pizzeria aperta, visto che avevamo fame, siamo andati via dalla cantina

— Eravamo quattro – Essere + # to talk about number of people

— Una pizzeria aperta – an open pizzeria

— Visto che avevamo fame – Visto che + verb = Since, seeing that we were hungry

— Siamo andati via da + – We went away from

Grammar Bombs

I want to point out a piece of grammar that is often confusing for many language learners and that’s indirect and direct object pronouns.

You heard one in this sentence: Ci hanno detto che c’era una pizzeria aperta e, visto che avevamo fame, siamo andate con loro.

“Ci hanno detto” – They told us.

“Ci” means “us.”

“Hanno detto” means “they told.”

The “us” part of the sentence often goes before the verb and that’s a really common way to structure Italian sentences.

In this case, it’s an indirect object pronoun, and these types of sentences answer the question “to what?” or “to whom?”

So in this case if you ask “to whom?” You would answer “to us.”

— mi – me

— ti – you

— gli – him

— le – her

— ci – us

— vi – you all

— gli or loro – they (gli is used far more often, but loro is grammatically correct. With loro, you have to put it after the conjugated verb)

Indirect object pronouns are used for verbs that have to do with giving.

These are verbs like: to give (dare), to offer (offrire), to send(mandare), to deliver (portare), to gift (regalare), to return (restituire), to lend, and to loan (prestare).

Your task

See if you can remember the list of indirect object pronouns.

Resources mentioned

The Colors in Italian (or how to talk about her bright red lips and his skintight white shirt)

The Grand Difference Between Indirect and Object Pronouns (& yes you have to know them)

Ten Ways to Laugh in Italian – from Mirella at Parlatè

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