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6 Livello tre. mercoledì, l'undici febbraio. Sesta Lezione.

Level three. Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Sixth lesson.

-compiti (homework) is at the bottom of this page.

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-Gli argomenti (the topics): What we did in class, and more.

-Warmup: "Che cosa hai fatto la settimana scorsa?" "Com'è andata la settimana?" (Practicing the passato prossimo)

- Passato prossimo, irregular past participles. We practiced the first four boxes of our "irregular past participles" handout. We put together sentences using cue cards, a verb and a direct object.

- Avverbi. We went over the homework (handout 9, pink). Sentences with "No, non mai...", "No, non ancora..." and "No, non più."


- Verbi: one subject and two verbs.

Some examples of two-verbs-in-a-sentence:

Preferisco sciare.
Sono andato in palestra a correre.
Mi piace dormire.
Quando ho cominciato a studiare...
Smette di fumare.

Some verbs (preferire, mi piace..., dovere, potere, volere) do not take a preposition before the following infinitive.
Some verbs (andare a, cominciare a) take the preposition "a" before the following infinitive.
Some verbs (smettere di, sperare di, dimenticare di, cercare di (to try to) , ricordare di, imparare di...) take "di" before the following infinitive.


We used our handout number 11 to construct some sentences:
Mi sono abituata a parlare italiano.
Ho aiutato Mario a fare la spesa.

- Imperfetto. The imperfetto expresses the idea of an action in the past that was ongoing.
(You can also find an introduction to the imperfetto in Italian: the Easy Way on page 237. Practice Set 95.)

The imperfetto can be translated into English with:
Suonavo il piano.
I used to play the piano.
I would play the piano... (meaning: "I used to play the piano.")
I was playing the piano... (when suddenly something else happened)*
I was playing the piano. (ongoing in the past, with no mention of starting or stopping)
*Nowadays, some Italians use the imperfetto of "stare plus the gerund" for this construction, rather than the imperfetto: "Stavo suonando il piano..."

Here's a comparison with the other past tense we have studied, the passato prossimo.
L'imperfetto: Leggevo un buon libro. - I was reading a good book.
Il passato prossimo: Ho letto un buon libro. - I read a good book. (or) I have read a good book.
L'imperfetto: Cantavamo ogni sera. - We used to sing every evening.
Il passato prossimo: Abbiamo cantato ieri sera. - We sang last night.

L'imperfetto is a one-word conjugation, formed by taking the stem of the verb and adding these endings:

-vo_____-vamo
-vi______-vate
-va_____-vano

If you want to practice saying the imperfetto out loud, make sure you put the stress on the right syllable. Most grammar books have it marked. Here (parlare) is an example of the location of the stress:

parlare (l'imperfetto):
parlavo____parlavamo
parlavi____parlavate
parlava____parlavano
_
leggere:
leggevo_____leggevamo
leggevi_____leggevate
leggeva_____leggevano
_
dormire:
dormivo_____dormivamo
dormivi_____dormivate
dormiva_____dormivano

Some irregular verbs:
essere:
ero_____eravamo
eri_____eravate
era_____erano
fare:
facevo_____facevamo
facevi_____facevate
faceva_____facevano


To practice the imperfetto, we described an imaginary trip that we took together, and what we did every day. (We would... I would... You would...) The imperfetto is used when talking about habitual actions in the past.

Paola ci preparava colazione...c'era il sole ogni giorno...Facevamo una passeggiata tutte le mattine...


To practice using imperfetto and the passato prossimo together, we acted out simple scenes in which one person was doing something, and the other person interupted that action:

Michela dormiva quando Mary-Linn è uscita.

Brisa scriveva quando Marco ha rubato la penna.


- "Pesca una carta!" We played a game based on the card game "Fish", using the regions of Italy.
Vai in Sardegna?
Non più!
Ci vado io!
Teresa e Susanna hanno vinto!

- Parole da ricordare (words to remember)
le tasse - the taxes
la stagione - the season
mentre - while (before a verb)
durante - during (before a noun)
bussare - to knock
Hanno bussato alla porta. - They knocked at the door

- Handouts. These are the handouts for this week:
11. Constructions with the infinitive, pages 325,326. (white)
12. Verbs. "Appendix" (white)
13. Imperfetto (white)
14. Imperfetto "Practice" (yellow)

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-Compiti.

1. More irregular past participles: memorize the fifth box: more irregular past participles from handout 3.

2. Imperfetto. Read page 196, 197, 198. Do the esercizi A, B, and C. (I will e-mail you if I post some answers to these.) Here are the directions in English.
A. "Marco's youth". Read the description of Marco when he was young, and decide if the sentences that follow the passage could be True.
B. "Transformations". Substitute the subject of the sentence with the subjects in parentheses, and change the verb accordingly.
C. Complete the story of Margherita with "essere" or "avere".

3.. Bring a picture of yourself as a child to class next week (to talk about "what you used to do" in the imperfetto). See part D on page 199.

4. Verb practice: imperfetto. Do the yellow 2-sided handout for practice. (click here for the answers).

5. We'll practice "Ora, volta, tempo" next week.