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Learning Italian: I need help!

 
 
kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 01:08 am
Thanks colorbook, but as you can see, those online translators suck. I've tried dozens of 'em.
0 Replies
 
luukas
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 01:49 am
Wait, wait, I have the answer Smile

Quote:
It takes about twenty minutes to get there

in Italian: ci vogliono circa venti minuti per arrivare lì

Examples:
Per arrivare in centro con l'autobus ci vogliono 20 minuti
It takes 20 minutes to get downtown by bus

This morning it took me over an hour to get downtown
Stamattina ci ho messo più di un'ora per arrivare in centro
Stamattina ho impiegato più di un'ora per arrivare in centro
Stamattina mi ci è voluta più di un'ora per arrivare in centro

I copy and paste from 'Essential grammar in use - Italian edition - Cambridge university press' (of course it's a book for Italians learning English, so 'essential grammar' refers to the English grammar):

How long does it take?

How long does it take by plane from London to Madrid?
It takes two hours.
Ci vogliono due ore.

I started reading the book two weeks ago. I finished it today.
It took me two weeks to read it.
Ci ho messo due settimane a leggerlo (I, luukas, would rather say ...per leggerlo, but both forms are correct)

How long does it take by plane / by train / by car from ... to ...?
Quanto tempo ci vuole in aereo / in treno / in macchina da ... a ...?

It takes an hour / ten minutes / a long time by plane / by train/by car from ... to ...
Ci vuole un'ora in aereo / Ci vogliono dieci minuti in treno / Ci vuole molto tempo in macchina da ... a... (I, luukas, add that you could also hear: ci vuole un'ora d'aereo, ci vogliono cinque minuti di bicicletta, etc.)

How long did / does / will it take (you / Ann / them) to (do something)?
Quanto tempo ci hai messo / ci mette Ann / ci metteranno a (fare qualcosa)?

It took / takes / will take (me / Ann / them) a week / a long time / three hours to (do something).
Ci ho messo una settimana / Ann ci mette molto tempo / Ci metteranno tre ore a (fare qualcosa).

Il verbo take corrisponde alle forme italiane 'volerci' oppure 'metterci' nel sendo di 'impiegare (del tempo).

How long will it take me to learn to drive?
Quanto tempo mi ci vorrà per imparare a guidare?

I came by train - How long did it take?
Sono venuto in treno - Quanto tempo c'è voluto (also: Quanto ci hai messo?)

Did it take you a long time to find a job?
Ci hai messo molto a trovare lavoro?

It takes a long time to learn a language
Ci vuole molto tempo per imparare una lingua

It will take me an hour to cook the dinner
Mi ci vorrà un'ora per preparare la cena

It doesn't take long to cook an omelette
Non ci vuole molto per preparare un'omelette
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colorbook
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 10:39 am
kickycan wrote:
Thanks colorbook, but as you can see, those online translators suck. I've tried dozens of 'em.


That was just for fun kicky...trying to find something to do to get my mind off the election results.
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:02 am
It seems to be a dictionary problem for us, though little k's worked.

I thought it might have something to do with "need" or "are necessary", but in my Larousse dictionary, I only found phrases with the word bisogno.

But when I look up "volere", quite far down in the list of usages, I do see "volerci" - "is needed".

Thanks, luukas!
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:24 am
Thank you all for your help! That was driving me insane! Busy day here at work so I don't really have time to look through all those examples right now, Luukas, but I will later. MOLTO appreciation!

Big, wet, sloppy, messy, tongue kisses for all of you! Smile
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:45 am
The "ci vuole" explanation by Luukas, reminds me of an Italian children's song:

Per fare un tavolo ci vuole il legno;
per fare il legno ci vuole l'albero;
per fare l'albero ci vuole un seme;
per fare un seme ci vuole un frutto;
per fare un frutto ci vuole un fiore.
Per fare un tavolo ci vuole un fiore.


It takes wood to make a table;
it takes a tree to make wood;
it takes a seed to make the tree;
it takes a fruit to make the seed;
it takes a flower to make the fruit.
It takes a flower to make a table.
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:57 am
Ah, now none of us will forget that!
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 05:53 pm
Glad I have that settled now. I just printed this page out and will be studying all the examples provided by all.

And fbaezer, that is a great little song that should help to jam it into my thick head.

Stasera, sono molto contento. Grazie.
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colorbook
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 06:03 pm
Here are a couple of websites I came across...I hope these can help Smile

http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blvocabulary.htm

Although this is a children's website...there is a lot of info that can be used.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/languages/italian/Aisfor.shtml
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 06:45 pm
colorbook, you are so helpful. I will check those out. Thanks.
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 08:11 pm
Stasera, non sono contenta.
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 08:11 pm
Perche, bella?
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 08:30 pm
Perche delle elezioni, il mio piccolo fagiolino...
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 08:36 pm
Aah, Capisco, mio dolce pisellino.
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 08:59 pm
kickycan wrote:
Aah, Capisco, mio dolce pisellino.


Oh dear, what have you just said kickycan?!!!!!! Embarrassed

Pisellino means, literally, little pea.
But, dear kicky, the pea string has certain form Italians compare with a part of the male body.
"Mio dolce pisellino" is something a horny teen-age Italian boy may say, talking to a part of himself, while heading to the bathroom with the latest edition of Hustler/Italia in his soon to be occupied hands.
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:31 pm
and, he didn't use any feminine endings, hmmmf.
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:36 pm
Laughing You live and you learn.
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Nov, 2004 11:48 pm
Actually, I never learned. I got better and better at it, for those weeks/yrs. but I think that is about the time you need to spend some real time in Italy. Fbaezer knows about that, though he had a nice head start with espanol, however you say that in italian. Still, being there was probably a good idea, I'm guessing.

I appreciate your questions, kicky, they sort of propel me back into it.

Better I should gather my piazza research into book form, via reading some more italian source material.

But first I have thirty two other things to do....
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luukas
 
  1  
Reply Thu 4 Nov, 2004 10:26 am
fbaezer wrote:
"Mio dolce pisellino" is something a horny teen-age Italian boy may say, talking to a part of himself, while heading to the bathroom with the latest edition of Hustler/Italia in his soon to be occupied hands.

Laughing ROTFL Laughing
But being 'pisellino' a childish expression, I'm not so sure that a teenager would still use it... not even in that situation

Anyway don't ask me anything about the exchange between kickycan and ossobuco. I was wondering what the heck they were saying. The whole thing sounded really really weird Smile

ossobuco, 'because of' is a causa di, per via di or simply per. So:
because of the elections = a causa delle elezioni or per via delle elezioni or per le elezioni

because Bush won = perché Bush ha vinto
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Thu 4 Nov, 2004 10:38 am
luukas wrote:
But being 'pisellino' a childish expression, I'm not so sure that a teenager would still use it... not even in that situation


Perhaps the teenager was only 13.
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