Conversational Italian for Beginners | Full Course

Ciao! In the next two sessions you will learn some basic phonics to get your head around Italian pronunciation. This way you will be easily able to read and write in Italian. Italian is a phonetic language which means that you can look at a word and know how to pronounce it straight away. So it's important to start with these sessions on phonics to get it right from Let's start with the vowels. Italian vowels are Let's repeat them. So, A as in bat or cat, an example is the Italian word Repeat after me. An example is the Italian word Repeat after me. Then we have E as in need or feed and an example is the Italian word Repeat after me. O as in lot or pot, an example is the Italian word Repeat after me. Finally U as in pool or cool, as in the Italian word Repeat after me. So let's recap on these first few Italian words that will help us to familiarise with Italian vowels. Let's try some more words to practice these sounds a bit more. Now with E Now with O You have now learned the sounds of the Italian vowels. As you can see, Italian is all about pronouncing the words just the way they look. And you can download a copy of my worksheet and of the resources I've created to practice at your own pace. Thank you so much for watching and see you in the next lesson. This session follows up on the one on vowels, so check that one out before embarking on this journey for Italian consonants. Some Italian consonants, consonanti in fact, have a peculiar behaviour depending on what vowels they are followed by. This is all going to help you with your pronunciation and will make reading and understanding words and phrases much easier. Remember that Italian is a phonetic language, which means that it is all pronounced just the way it looks. And once you learn how vowels and consonants are correctly pronounced, then you will be able to start enriching your vocabulary and develop your knowledge of Italian words and phrases in a few quick steps. So let's have a look. First consonant is Repeat after me When CHI is followed by vowel it makes the soft sound as in the English word church. So repeat after me An example is the Italian word Repeat after me When CHI is followed by vowels it changes into a hard consonant and will make the sound as in core So repeat after me An example is the Italian word Repeat after me When CHI is followed by the consonant H and normally followed by the vowel E and E makes a hard sound Repeat after me Think of the English word Same as in Italian with a CH Consonant G Consonant G followed by vowels E and E makes a soft sound as in jeans Repeat after me An example is Repeat after me G followed by vowels turns into a hard consonant Repeat after me An example is Repeat after me G can also be followed by another consonant GN makes the sound as the English word So Repeat after me Or it can also be followed by L GL followed by vowel E sounds as in million Repeat after me Then we have consonant H in Italian H is always silent So let's take a word such as hotel This word in Italian would be pronounced Repeat after me Let's now move on to R R in Italian is Repeat after me So it's quite strong as the Scottish R So an example is Repeat after me After R we're going to have a look at S In Italian Repeat after me So when at the beginning of a word the sound of S is comparable to the S sound in soup So we would say Repeat after me When in between two vowels and normally in the middle of a word then the sound is a bit more delicate as the S sound in rise So we would say Repeat after me S can be followed by consonant and vowels E and F In this case the sound produced is As in the English word ship So repeat after me Let's have a look at an example Repeat after me Could be followed by vowels such as And it will change into a harder sound So the SC sound as in school Repeat after me Let's have a look Repeat after me Finally letter Z In Italian So if at the beginning of a word Z sounds as in the Z sound in pads So I would have to say Repeat after me When in the middle of a word and normally doubled we will have a sound a harder sound as in So think of the English word fits Repeat after me Another example is Repeat after me We're going to have a look at these vocabulary again We're going to repeat them again just to practice the pronunciation And we're going to start with Quoco Chilo Gelato Gioia Guardia Gondola Signora Coniglio Otel Ragazzo Roma Sei Asia Pesce Sciare Scontrino Zucca Zucchero Pizza So you have now learned the sound of some peculiar Italian consonants and are ready to move on to the next step Remember to download the worksheet and the resources I've created And thank you so much for watching and see you in the next lesson Ciao e a presto Ciao and welcome back In this lesson you will learn how to greet and say goodbye in Italian Let's start by saying there are two expressions that we can use at any time of the day and these are Ciao Repeat after me Ciao And salve Repeat after me Salve So let's focus on ciao Ciao is informal and we use it both to say hello and goodbye So repeat after me Ciao Salve is a bit more formal We do not use it to say both hello and goodbye We use it only to say hello Repeat after me Salve So whilst ciao is used exclusively with people that you know so family and friends Salve which is a bit more formal is used with people that you do not know So for example shop assistants, waiters and so on So let's have a look at the rest of the greetings From when we wake up until about 1.30pm we would use the expression Buongiorno Repeat after me Buongiorno From 1.30 until about 6pm we would greet by using the expression Buon pomeriggio Repeat after me Buon pomeriggio From 6pm onwards we would greet by saying Buonasera Repeat after me Buonasera Bear in mind these expressions are a bit more formal so you wouldn't say Buonasera or Buongiorno or Buon pomeriggio to a friend We probably say ciao Although you can greet by saying Buongiorno first thing in the morning to a friend What do we say when we need to say goodbye? When we need to say goodbye we use the expression Arrivederci Repeat after me Arrivederci And finally an expression that we use to say goodnight when we go to bed and only when we go to bed is Buonanotte Repeat after me Buonanotte So let's have another look and practice the pronunciation of these greetings So the first one, quite informal and used both to say hello and goodbye is ciao Repeat after me Ciao Another greeting used only to say hello and not goodbye and a little bit more formal is salve Repeat after me Salve Then we have Buongiorno Buon giorno Buongiorno Buon pomeriggio Buonasera Arrivederci Buonanotte So you have learned how to greet and say goodbye in Italian Remember to download the worksheet and the resources that I've created for this lesson to practice the vocabulary and the phrases at your own pace Thank you so much for watching and see you in the next lesson Ciao, a presto Let's have a look at family members Remember to repeat after me because this is new vocabulary marito moglie padre madre figlio figlia fratello sorella nonno nonna zio zia cugino cugina One more time to practice your pronunciation marito moglie padre madre figlio figlia fratello sorella nonno nonna zio zia cugino cugina So if I wanted to introduce my husband, I would say questo è mio marito Repeat questo è mio marito And I could add Si chiama Jason Repeat Si chiama Jason Questo è mio marito Si chiama Jason If I wanted to introduce my wife, I would say Questa è mia moglie Repeat Questa è mia moglie And I could add Si chiama Carla Repeat Si chiama Carla Questa è mia moglie Si chiama Carla If I wanted to introduce my son, I would say Questo è mio figlio Si chiama Guido Repeat Questo è mio figlio Si chiama Guido If I wanted to introduce my daughter, I would say Questa è mia figlia Si chiama Roberta Let's practice Questa è mia figlia Si chiama Roberta So you have now learned how to introduce your friends and family Remember to download the resources and the worksheet that I've uploaded with some activities for you to practice words and phrases at your own pace Thank you for watching and see you in our next lesson Grazie e a presto!