The Italian Vocabulary Game

Confession, I have dragged out my 201 italian verbs, all of which I have forgotten, my dizionario, and my da Capo grammar book.

Ok... let's try it.

Confessione, ho recuperato I Verbi Italiani 201, tutti di cui ho dimenticato, il mio dizionario, e il libro grammatico da Capo.

Very close, littlek! Actually, it was: My life is like the life of a wet dog near an electric fence.

So was I right about yours?

Eva, glad you're enjoying this. You can join too, if you like. Those italian language translators stink, but I don't mind.

By the way, I have almost no knowledge of past tense, so we all have our handicaps here!

Osso, hmmm...I think that last part is a little bit off, but my guess is:

Once, Derby the (some kind of dog) touched an electric fence, and then, he ran...something, something...he hid.

Il piccolo cane ha passato il grande gato e il gato lo ha attacato.

One time, Derby the Dobie touched an electric fence, and then he ran a mile and hid (himself).

The small dog passed the large cat and the cat attacked him!




And now you know the past tense..

I'm learning, but I never know if it's supposed to be past historic, pluperfect, perfect, etc...oh well, I'll get it eventually.

Okay, I think I have to take a break for a little while. I think it's your turn to come up with one anyway.

Yeah, I blew my evening bookkeeping promise to myself. It's addictive, this italian.

Eva, please join us, we're all beginners, except LittleK's roommate and luukas, who are italian, and fbaezer, who has lived there.

Go ahead and try with the translator... if not to compose, to figure out what is said. And then you'll begin to compose.

Well, I'm not a complete beginner, but I have a piccolo brain and a slow ear.



***
Il grande gato lo ha attacato. Il cane ha leccato una zampata ripetutamente.



Checking -

Passato prossimo, or past tense, is used when the event is quite over and done with.

Imperfetto is used when someone was doing it... whatever it was, continuing to do whatever.)

Trapassato prossimo corresponds to past perfect (more past), as in
"Laura put on (passato prossimo) the dress she had bought (trapassato prossimo).

It's annoying by the times being, but I'm French.

So dont be cruel if I make mistakes in English or some other language.

As you can see by my posts, jet lag is important between California and Paris.

let's resume :

laura deve essere bellissima con il suo nuovo vestito doppo il terramotto che ha fatto crollare la chiesa!
"Laura must be beautifull with her new dress etc...)

Francis, we have a lot - well, a number of valued - a2kers in your time zone, and further away from California. For example, Walter Hinteler lives in Germany, and Gautam and Steve 4100 and GrandDuke and Clary and McTag and several others live in England, and Hebba is English but lives in Denmark, and Dagmaraka goes between Bratislava and the US, and will be working in Vienna soon.

Plus, we all have to deal with the Australians, quite a rambunctuous contingent of smart people on this website.

And then there is JB in China..
But they are not all presently interested in this particular thread, thank goodness. Imagine the cacaphony.


So, back to Laura -

La povera, Laura, ha paura del terremoto, ma lei anche era piaciuta perche di la sua vestita da Prada. Un bello colore era, un colore fino come blu' del zaffiro.


(I made that up, feel free to tear it apart.)





On italian, I suspect you are further along on it than I was when I left it. I had seven classes, but was something of a plodder, although I was enthusiastic.

On french, I am frightened by, and interested in, French.
There is no chance at all that I could ever pronounce anything in French correctly. I can't pronounce italian correctly either, but I am less afraid of making mistakes in it.

This reminds me, at an opening in our art gallery this last month, my business partner was wearing an item she found in a thrift shop, the top of some sort of a costume for a drummer boy - it was red, had epaulets and frog loops for buttons and some fringe... (she wore it because her husband loved it) and it was very appreciated by the people who came in and saw her wearing it.

I mentioned to a friend that I too had a nifty item from a thrift shop, a St. Laurent coat. (It's true, I got it in Los Angeles, in a part of town where people have bought things from coutouriers. Of course the coat is quite old.) The trouble was, I couldn't say St. Laurent correctly. The friend spent the next five minutes trying to get me to say anything like what she said. Impossibile!!!!

Ossobuco,

Dolce color d'oriental, il zaffiro, come diceva Dante.
La sua pelle havevva un colore marmoreo ed dolce.

(Soft color of eastern zaphyr, as Dante said)
(Her skin had a soft color of marble)

Dont worry about what you can say or not say in french.
It's a matter of frequency of sound. English speakers usually speak with frequencies of 12 000 Hz. French speakers with 3000 Hz frequencies.
So it's a matter of hard training to join one another.

It's amazing you told me about your art gallery. My sister who is a painter exposes now in Paris, in an art gallery.

"La sua pelle aveva un colore marmoreo e dolce."

"Tante cose belle che ho nella testa, ma non ancora nella pelle", sang Giorgio Gaber, in "Un'idea":

"Un'idea, un concetto, un'idea
finche resta un'idea è soltanto un'astrazione,
se potessi mangiare un'idea
avrei fatto la mia rivoluzione.

Aveva tante idee,
era un uomo d'avanguardia,
si vestiva di nuova cultura
cambiava a ogni momento,
ma quando era nudo
era un uomo dell'ottocento."

le cose che ha nella testa devono essere tradotte per che tutti gli altri possano godare.

(the things that you have in mind must be translated for others can enjoy)

Francis, as we were playing last night, it was the next player's turn to translate...

poichè stavamo giocando la notte scorsa, era la girata de il giocatore seguente da tradurre.

he he.

May were you waiting something else.

Here I am
And now on with the game

...tradurre...

Non fu possibile tradurre in carcere il condannato subito dopo la pronuncia della sentenza perché fu colto da un malore improvviso.

Not all the sentences you wrote were correct but I'm not here to mark all your previous posts.
Anyway let me show off a little bit proving my excellent competence in Italian


The English sentence should have been translated like this:
Le cose che hai in mente devono essere tradotte affinché gli altri ne possano godere

Yay, Luukas is here! I'm so busy I don't have time to play right now, but glad to see you, amico!

It was impossible to bring the convict back to jail after the sentence was delivered, because he felt suddenly ill.

L''improvviso malore del condannato era un plateale atto di teatralità.

[It was not possible to imprison the remitted one immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence because he was suddenly struck by an illness.]

(I know fbaezer already did this but I had to work it out myself.)

L'improvviso malore del condannato era un plateale atto di teatralità.

The sudden sickness of the prisoner was a placation (stalling act) of theatricality.

Let me post this and then think about a new sentence.

La teatricalita' e' spesso allineate con un atto di histrionica'.

Ciao, tutti!

invece anche la histrionica e allineate con la teatralità

(also, histrionic is aligned with the theatricality)

Francis, you're going to have to start following the rules...or you get whipped with a wet noodle!

1. Translate the sentence in the post above you.
2. Write a new sentence in italian WITHOUT the english translation.

Okay, so starting with Osso's.

Theatricality is often aligned with a histrionic act.

un cortese atto da un estraneo e' un passo per le speranze della umanita'.

(a kind action from a stranger is a step in the hopes of mankind)

OK capo, ha risposto Francis con la voce cortese e morbida (haveva paura dalla tagliatella bagnata).