Online Italian Club

I learnt something today – faccio una vita da cani!

by

Buondì.

It’s been snowing here in Bologna this morning, though it didn’t settle.

But what a start to the week, eh?

Thank goodness Pasqua (Easter) is nearly on us…

Also this morning, I’ve actually learnt some Italian!

‘Dare da mangiare al cane’ is a riot of improbable prepositions that means ‘Feed the dog’.

Typical of Italians to need five words to communicate what English-speakers can manage in three.

This revelation came about as I was formatting and proof-reading some new material prepared by Marika, an Italian teacher who lives in the south of England.

Back at ‘Natale’ I commissioned a new series of materials from her. She’s now come up with the first ten.

The idea behind the series is that each ‘lesson’ should focus on just the one word.

You get the grammar of the word, its typical uses, and some idiomatic expressions.

Marika has chosen really basic words that most of us should already know, but then built on each to create what I think is a valuable piece of study material, complete with audio!

Today’s lesson is ‘Il cane‘ (The dog).

You know what a dog is, right?

We figured.

But take a look!

Oh, and Marika and I would appreciate your feedback.

Given that this is a new format, it would be good to hear what you like, what you don’t like, what works well, anything that is confusing, and so on.

Leaving a comment on this article is the best way to give us feedback, given that I’m here in Italy and she’s in the UK.

I have nine more nouns to publish, one at a time, over the next few weeks.

And then, maybe, she can do some verbs, or adjectives or something…

Buono studio, allora!

A mercoledì.

Comments

  1. Thanks for brining expressions from daily life into learning Italian! They’re wonderful.

  2. I liked it! I was familiar with all of the grammar and the usage,but hadn’t come across any of those idiomatic expressions before,so that was interesting for me.

  4. This is excellent. One must know the expressions, to feed the dog or to take the dog for a walk in order to use them properly. Otherwise, one tends to translate them from English to Italian which just doesn’t work. I love this! Looking forward to more!

  7. I think this format is great!! It helps solidify many things: nouns in both forms along with articles, verbs, examples of use, and the idiomatic expressions — yes! Offered up in digestible doses is a big plus, too. I know in my studies (ahem…) and struggles, feeling overwhelmed can kick in at any given moment. Something short and outlined such as this offers a nice feeling of accomplishment, as well as great review.

  8. Brilliant way to pick up new things. Thank you! My next question would be why are there so many sad expressions and related to dogs.

    • Dunno, Vinita.

      But I can tell you that I am dog-tired and that I’m sitting at a table covered in dog-eared pieces of paper – they’re student essays, yet most of the class has made a dog’s dinner of it!

  9. This brief exercise is excellent. The woman speaks slowly and clearly, making it particularly useful for practicing pronunciation. I look forward to more of her work.

  10. A Great idea. No huge lists of unknown vocabulary to stress you out. Nice clear diction and a good way to introduce idiomatic expressions. It will be a useful series. I always like bite size learning

  12. Excellent, Marika! Easy to understand and well-conceived. The speaking is very clear and, which is vital for learners, NOT TOO FAST.
    Are there more Italian “cane” expressions, as there are in English? I’ve also come across the word for bitch used in normal speech, so should “La cagna” be included too?

  13. Daniel & Marika

    Mi piacciono molto. I am looking forward to the upcoming lessons. Hearing proper pronunciation is always a plus. I am a lazy reader and speaker and if I am familiar with a word or know it well, I will very often skim over it with minimal pronunciation. I know that many people want to hear things more slowly but I actually wish she spoke at a more normal rate with a bit less articulation. I find it more challenging to listen until I get it. I realize I am in the minority.

  14. Thank you so much for all the work that goes into these exercises. They are invariably useful and well put together

  16. I liked all the phrases with the word dog. But I don’t understand why is it said (in so many languages) to have a dog’s life and meaning that it is a terrible life. My dog has a great life (to be envied), sometimes I wish I could trade places with him. 🙂 Great lesson. Give us some more like it.

  17. Interesting, short and useful: well done! Thanks for your initiative and work on this.

  18. Brilliant idea!. When speaking with my Italian friend I sometimes feel my level of conversation is like that of a 5 year old ” This is a dog, it is a big dog. You have a dog?” This sort of resource will help me talk like an adult. Having completed today’s exercise I plan to try to apply it to other words, Cat, Children Husband ! I look forward to more. Thanks to you and Marika for this and all the wonderful resources you provide.

  19. I enjoyed this because the information is concise and the audio is given at a speed which I can understand. I need this speed while learning! My only question has already been addressed a bit by another reviewer. If I want to refer to my girl dogs, what is the correct form? I don’t want to accidentally say anything inappropriate as the English translation is. Le mie bambine pelose sono carine, non sono cattive! Hope I wrote that correctly!

  20. I enjoyed the exercise but instead of completing all the sentences/phrases before repeating them, I would have preferred to have each one repeated immediately after I had tried to say it, so that I could make sure I had constructed the sentence correctly.

  21. I think this is great! Enough to study in one sitting and I like the english is right underneath so what I didn’t understand is already there. No looking things up.

    Great job!

  22. I like it very much – not too intimidating in size and useful phrases (if only I remember them) even for a non dog owner. I wouldn’t want to challenge the Italian but I think I would say ‘my dog eats grass’ rather than ‘the grass’, although maybe it refers to a territorial dog. Is there a distinction in Italian (i.e. ‘eats grass’ v ‘eats the grass’)?

  23. Thanks Daniel, enjoyed this! Seems to have sunk in after just one read / listen to.
    Look forward to more formatted this way, well done to you both.
    Ina ????

  24. It’s an excellent idea to structure a lesson around a noun (or verb for that matter), it gives good context to aid memory and the idiomatic expressions are so important.
    The speed of the voice to hear the precise pronunciation is also good, however, I would suggest that the rhythm is just as important (an Italian friend of mine used to tell me that I should sing) so I would like to hear the rhythm and the emotion in the expressions.
    Thank you for providing all this wonderful material and encouraging us to keep going!

  25. I liked the simplicity and the pace. Found the tone of voice a bit monotonous after a while- perhaps some variation/ intonation. However very clearly spoken. Like it !

  26. I loved this. Bite sized vocabulary and speaking practice is just what I need at the moment. I also liked the audio format. Just realised that italians must use different muscles for speech to get the authentic italian sounds. Any suggestions as to how I can copy?

  27. Listening over breakfast, substituting “gatto”where appropriate as cat sitting nearby! Obviously not for idiomatic phrases. Or do Italians have a phrase for raining cats,and dogs???Agree with comments,fun and enjoyable and gentle start to the day, thank you.

  28. I found this really useful so thanks a lot. Somebody has been working ‘like a dog!’

  29. An excellent idea! It may only be one simple word but ─ as the idiomatic expressions demonstrate ─ there is a whole world around it. (The film ‘Mondo cane’ immediately came to mind.) The only word I didn’t know was ‘abbaiare’ but going over old ground is a always a useful exercise.

    Il cane is a great; there is nothing confusing, the audio is clear and the pauses long enough to enable the student to repeat the phrases without having to hit ‘pause’.

    Perhaps when Marika has worked through the verbs and adjectives she could do an intensive workshop on the preposition ‘da’? Its chameleon-like attributes me nightmares: Dare da mangiare al cane… Leonardo da Vinci… it’s all a bit Dada.

    The lesson emboldened me to translate one of Graucho Marx’s dog-related aphorisms. I hope it isn’t a dog’s breakfast.

    Fuori da un cane, un libro è il migliore amico di un uomo.
    Dentro da un cane è troppo buio per leggere.

    Jadwiga

  30. Thank you for this. I thought it was excellent; very clear and easy to understand. This exercise made me speak out loud which is a very good thing as although I would have been able to listen to the content spoken quite a bit faster I am still unable to speak faster myself, which is very annoying!

    Two questions: Is there any history behind or reason why ‘fa un freddo cane’ is used for ‘it’s freezing cold?
    Is there an equivalent phrase for ‘being in the dog house’?

    Looking forward to the next one!

  31. I thought this lesson, “IL cane” was great! It was simple but the idiomatic expressions were new to me and fun. The opportunity to listen, pause, and repeat was very helpful. I practiced pronunciation and speed. Thank you.

  32. I wonder if anybody else has seen the film ” mondo cane”., it must be 40/45 years ago.

    I like the idea of using different nouns/words . There is always something to be learned,

    Gunter,

  33. I liked this format too. Useful idiomatic expressions and good but simple listening practice. I have half-italian grandchildren and I don’t like looking at their embarrassed expressions when I open my mouth!

  34. Really good. A simple, fun way to extend a piece of vocab and great to have the idiomatic uses. Mi piace molto!

  35. Another satisfied customer Daniel. Although quite basic in its approach, it was, nontheless, a really useful listening exercise and the idiomatic phrases were something that I feel I might be able to work into a conversation (just to show off, of course!). You have satisfied both my animal inclinations by following this with il gatto, so a doubly satisfied customer. I look forward to the others.

  36. This was really fun and informative! Every day when I walk my dog, I practice my Italian. He is always positive and never makes me feel less than an expert linguist. I, on the other hand admit to being an advanced beginner.

  37. Really good for all levels as for beginners it is a learning tool but for more advanced speakers it is always helpful to go back and do a little bit of revision because if you don’t use it, you lose it!

  38. Just listened to ‘Il Cane’. As a dog owner I found it very useful. Excellent lesson, really enjoyed it. Thanks! Glenn.

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