In this lesson we are going to see how to ask how people are, how to introduce a friend of yours and how to talk about jobs.
During this lesson you will listen to dialogues and you will learn useful situational expressions. Then you will find easy grammar focuses and vocabulary. If it’s not enough, challenge yourself in our Open Class and talk to our teachers, it’s free!
Listen to this dialogue:
[A.] Ciao Carlo, come va?
[C.] Ciao Alessandra, bene, grazie e tu come stai?
[A.] Mah, così così, sono un po’ stanca. Arriva il Professor Sotutto!
[P.] Buongiorno ragazzi.
[C.] Buongiorno professore, come sta?
[P.] Non c’è male, grazie.
Situational Expressions
How to ask how people are
| Informal | Formal | Formal and Informal |
| Come stai? | Come sta? | Come va? |
How to answer
| Negative | Neutral | Positive |
|
Male (-) |
Così così |
Abbastanza bene (+) |
Focus on Grammar
Stare (to stay/to be) is the verb used to ask how people are, but its first meaning is “to stay”, “to remain”. Let’s see the singular conjugation.
| Stare (to stay / to be) |
| io sto tu stai lui / lei / Lei sta |
Listen to this dialogue:
[C.] Ciao Valentino, come stai?
[V.] Ciao Carlo, bene, grazie e tu?
[C.] Non c’è male, grazie… ah ti presento Alessandra! Alessandra, questo è Valentino.
[A.] Piacere.
[V.] Molto lieto.
[A.] Valentino, tu sei un collega di Carlo?
[V.] No, sono ingegnere, lavoro in un’azienda americana, e tu cosa fai?
[A.] Studio lingue straniere all’università e faccio la segretaria part-time in un ufficio.
Situational Expressions
How to introduce a friend of yours
| Informal | Formal | Formal and Informal |
| Ti presento [name] | Le presento [name] | Questo è [name] Questa è [name] |
How to ask for people’s profession
| Informal | Formal |
| Cosa fai? Che lavoro fai? Di cosa ti occupi? |
Cosa fa? Che lavoro fa? Di cosa si occupa? |
How to answer
| sono + profession | faccio + il, lo, la, l’ + profession | lavoro come + profession |
Focus on Grammar
Fare (to do/to make) is one of the verbs used to ask what people do, but we can also use Lavorare (to work) or Occuparsi (to do as a job). Let’s see the singular conjugations.
| Fare (to do/ to make) | Lavorare (to work) | Occuparsi (to do as a job) |
| io faccio tu fai lui/ lei / Lei fa |
io lavoro tu lavori lui/ lei / Lei lavora |
io mi occupo tu ti occupi lui/ lei / Lei si occupa |
Nouns
Let’s see the nouns which are used to talk about professions. In Italian there are two genders, masculine and feminine, both for people and for things. A good help for a beginner speaker is to look at the ending of the word. Usually, but not always, nouns ending in -o are masculine, ending in -a are feminine. We also have a special group ending in -e, which can be either masculine or feminine. To know the gender of the -e group can be complicated at the beginning, but for the moment try to remember these suffixes: masculine nouns usually end in -ale, -ile, -ore, feminine nouns usually end in -zione, -sione, -gione, -trice.
| Masculine Nouns | Feminine Nouns |
| avvocato (lawyer) libro (book) professore (professor) |
segretaria (secretary) penna (pen) attrice (actress) |
Determinative articles
Determinative articles (articoli determinativi) have different forms according to the gender, number, and even to the first letter of the noun or adjective it precedes. They indicate a precise object or person. Do not be scared by the different forms they have, it’s just a matter of practice.
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | il, lo, l’ | i, gli |
| Feminine | la, l’ | le |
How to use the richt determinative article
Il (plural form i) is used before masculine nouns beginning with a consonant, for example: il libro, il corso, il ragazzo, il bar.
Lo (plural form gli) is used before masculine nouns beginning with -s + consonant or –z, for example: lo zaino, gli zaini, lo zucchero, lo spazzolino, gli spazzolini, lo stadio, gli stadi.
Lo loses its “-o” in front of masculine nouns beginning with a vowel, such as l’amico, gli amici, l’orologio, gli orologi, l’aeroporto, gli aeroporti.
We also use lo/gli with masculine nouns beginning with -ps i.e. lo piscologo; -gn, i.e. lo gnomo.; -y, i.e. lo yogurt and -x, i.e. lo xilofono. If you are a beginner learner, forget about these examples, they are not so common.
La (pl. le) is used before feminine nouns beginning with any consonant, like la borsa, le borse, la scarpa, le scarpe, la studentessa, le studentesse. Alike lo, la loses its “-a” in front of feminine nouns beginning with a vowel, for example: l’ape, l’amica, l’azione.
Vocabulary
Nouns for some professions
| l’agente immobiliare (m/f) = the real estate agent l’avvocato (m/f) / l’avvocatessa = the lawyer il / la barista = the barman / barmaid il cameriere / la cameriera = the waiter / waitress il / la cantante = the singer il commesso / la commessa = the shop assistant il cuoco / la cuoca = the cook il / la dentista = the dentist il dottore / la dottoressa = the doctor il / la farmacista = the pharmacist il fruttivendolo / la fruttivendola = the greengrocer il fioraio / la fioraia = the florist il funzionario / la funzionaria = the official il / la giornalista = the journalist il / la guardia parco = the park warden l’impiegato / l’impiegata = the employee, office worker l’infermiere / l’infermiera = the nurse l’ingegnere (m/f) = the engineer l’insegnante (m/f) = the teacher il macellaio / la macellaia = the butcher il meccanico / la meccanica = the mechanic il / la musicista = the musician il / la negoziante = the shopkeeper l’operaio / l’operaia = the worker il panettiere / la panettiera = the baker il parrucchiere / la parrucchiera = the hairdresser il / la pilota = the pilot il poliziotto / la poliziotta = the policeman / policewoman il pompiere / la pompiera = the fireman / firewoman il postino / la postina = the postman / postwoman il veterinario / la veterinaria = the vet il / la vigile del fuoco = the fire fighter l’uomo d’affari / la donna d’affari = the businessman / businesswoman |
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