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Lesson Introduction
With a nod to those masters of Italian Cinema Fellini and Antonioni, we have a podcast for you steeped in atmosphere. We're not lacking for emotion on this misty Roman bridge. But we are lacking something else. Join us to learn how to discuss needs in Italian and you'll never want for anything ever again (well, maybe not)!
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Out of consideration for our Newbie and Elementary users, English translations should be provided with any Chinese (characters or pinyin) written in Newbie and Elementary lesson discussion posts. New lesson idea? Please let us know on our contact page.
catherinem says
June 9, 2008
I've got a question for you guys: what do you need? Di cosa avete bisogno? I can tell you what I need:
Ho bisogno di sonno! Sono stanca...
(I need sleep! I'm tired...)
tommasoshanghai says
June 9, 2008
I need a coffee! Ho bisogno di un caffe'!
johnb says
June 9, 2008
Can you add an infinitive verb after "ho bisogno di," like you can with similar verbs in Spanish? Like, "ho bisogno di + go buy something"?
roscovanbasten says
June 9, 2008
ho bisogno di una ragazza...
catherinem says
June 10, 2008
Johnb,
Great question! The phrase "ho bisogno di" can be followed by both infinitive verbs and nouns. For example:
With nouns you can say:
Ho bisogno di un lavoro. (I need a job)
Ho bisogno di sonno. (I need sleep)
With infinitive verbs you can say:
Ho bisogno di lavorare. (I need to work)
Ho bisogno di dormire. (I need to sleep)
Hope this helps!
sandro76 says
June 10, 2008
wow this dialogue is REALLY good :)
Complimenti!
ps
Ho bisogno di una vacanza!
melitu says
June 10, 2008
Love the dialogue!!
This is going to be difficult for me... I have absolutely no time to add Italian to my list right now... but the pull now is quite strong... eek!
Ho bisogno di più tempo!
leoguerrero says
June 11, 2008
I guess Italy is not doing very good in the Euro Cup. Check this out:
lunetta says
June 11, 2008
Ho bisogno di rivedere il mio fidanzato. :-(
milanromeo says
June 11, 2008
That was hilarious.
djesse says
June 11, 2008
Mamamia il primo podcast e una verra publicità !!
christian says
June 11, 2008
Is that Adriana Lima in a Telecom Italia commercial on your lesson picture?
marcod says
June 11, 2008
christian, I don't think it's her, but we should work on a collaboration ;)
Abbiamo bisogno di Adriana Lima!!!
billkaulitzlover says
June 11, 2008
Mi è piaciuta tantissimo questo primo podcast!
Grazie mille marco e catherine!
billkaulitzlover says
June 11, 2008
Ho bisogno di denaro! :) Molto denaro! :)
christian says
June 11, 2008
Marco, e vero! That would be a very motivating collaboration ;)
christela says
June 12, 2008
Congratulations on your launching ItalianPod!!
Awesome lesson, great great dialogue!!
No ho bisogno di una ragazza, ho bisogno di te! I love how cheesy it is, I couldn't stop laughing!
Well done ; )
jorgitoguerrero says
June 13, 2008
Oh bisogno di una pizza Margherita!
lilianamata says
June 13, 2008
Oh bisogno di la cucina messicana!
michele says
June 13, 2008
ciao Liliana, really much better if you say della cucina messicana.
di + la always become della
and
di + il is del
di + lo is dello
sienareyes says
June 15, 2008
Hilarious dialogue. I really love the PraxisLanguage Pods. Your approach is very professional and innovative. I'm slightly worried about you though - it seems to me that the ratings/numbers of listeners for example on iTunes and other sources aren't as good . Too much competition? Have you looked into this? Something I'd be really interested in are your company's stats - how many paying subscribers you have etc.. Seeing these web-based businesses develop is extremely exciting, especially for those of us who didn't grow up surrounded by all this technology...I was born in 1991, so I have been exposed to this kind of stuff ever since I drew my first breath, yet I'm still awestruck by the progress we're witnessing and the dynamics of the web and other omnipresent technologies.
By the way, this dialogue would have been much cooler (though perhaps a little kinkily cheesy) if both speakers had been male!
sienareyes says
June 15, 2008
Is it just me or is Italian less difficult than French?
And my Spanish professor either must have been lying or is simply a language genius - she claims to be able to converse with native speakers of Portuguese, Italian and French relatively effortlessly without ever having studied one of these languages...of course, they all belong to the same linguistic family, but I cannot imagine that it would be easy to understand each other if your interlocutor spoke his/her native tongue and you insited on using yours as well! As a native speaker of Spanish, I notice countless similarities, of course, but still, there are so many different grammatical constructions, distinct idiomatic concepts and vocabulary items. Hmm... After all, a person from the Nederlands would probably not understand a German and vice versa without a LOT of adjustment going on.
sienareyes says
June 15, 2008
Reading some of the other comments, I felt the urge to chime (chine? chimp? climb?) in again: Just how polyglot are some of the users here?
sienareyes says
June 15, 2008
Whose the sexy voice is that in the ad at the beginning?
michele says
June 15, 2008
hi sienareyes,
in my personal opinion, and as an Italian, I'd say that Italian and Spanish are really the two closest ones among the Neo-Romance languages.
I don't know about the exact distance between French and Spanish, but I'm not surprised, because I have the same feeling of some more difficulties in understanding French.
I did'nt studied at all Spanish nor French, but I have experienced that, if I'm speaking Italian with a Spanish, and he's addressing to me in Spanish, if he speaks slowly and he's willing to be understandable too, and so do I, well, there are good chances of a reciprocal understanding.
Furthermore, I've tried the listening test on Spanish Pod, and I was able to get an elementary level without any particular difficulty. Well, Up to now it seems to me there's no listening test here on ItalianPod, but when there will be, some Spanish native speaker could try the same test and let us now his results, it would be intersting.
ciao Michele.
haraatsaishuvuu says
June 16, 2008
hi.I am from mongolia.I really liked that lesson.thx a loooot.Ho bisogno di iatliano.
maggetta says
June 19, 2008
Hi everyone,
I'm a polish native - can understand some russian. Speak a good german & can understand some dutch, if necessary. lived two years in Spain, so my spanish is not too bad & seems like I'm able to understand italian & portuguese well.
After you've learned any two languages, it's more of a common sense to expand your knowledge/skills & get a grip on a few more. numerous words are not dissimilar in different languages, so the clue is to understand the very basic rules & then try to apply them everywhere u can!
Ho bisogno piu tempo per imparare il mio italiano!!!
Ciao!
michele says
June 19, 2008
very good maggetta!
you only have to add a di and an accento above the "U"..
Ho bisogno di più tempo
soumaya says
June 22, 2008
thx a lot for this website! awsome! really professional! you're making things so easy! very nice dialogue too! thx michele for the corrections :)!
I love Italian!
so happy to learn it!
catherinem says
June 22, 2008
Soumaya-
We're so happy to teach it! I hope you continue to listen and let us know if you have any questions. We're curious to know if there's anything we've left unclear in the lesson, or if there's anything you want us to talk about here on the discussion part of the site.
Thanks again!
sorcartoa says
July 1, 2008
Could you guys tell me the name of that movie?
grazie, grazie and grazie for the lessons:)
marcod says
July 1, 2008
@sorcartoa, the movie we were inspired by is called "La Notte", by M. Antonioni. We loved the atmosphere and the dialogue in the scene between Marcello Mastroianni and Monica Vitti.
We tried to simplify the dialogue in the clip at 4'54"
to make it more linguistically relevant.
frank1960 says
July 2, 2008
Sono stanco. Ho bisogno di dormire.
sorcartoa says
July 7, 2008
thanks a lot Marco
tangorick says
July 16, 2008
This was my first lesson and it was a wonderful way to get back to brushing up on a language that I once spoke fluently but seems to have gotten away from me. Thank you
jillstewart7 says
July 23, 2008
Ciao tutti,
ho bisogno di la mare. E Giusto? (ho bisogno di il mare(?)/ ho bisogno d'il mare?)
marcod says
July 23, 2008
Ciao jillstewart7,
ho bisogno del mare or ho bisogno di mare. both right.
jillstewart7 says
July 24, 2008
Grazie Marcod.
ps - the audio reviews for 'need a girlfriend' and 'where is she?' both have mistakes in them.
Hai bisogno controllare....
palomita says
August 28, 2008
What a cute dialogue! Thank you so much!:) I loved it!
dominikrung says
September 13, 2008
Sono stanco. Ho bisogno della vacanza con mio ragazzo en bella italia!
oops ... della???
or should it be ... bisogno di una vacanza
just started these lessons yesterday ... pls excuse the beginners mistakes ;o)
indu says
September 26, 2008
molto interessante................
nileshjnu says
September 30, 2008
grazie mille per questo sito.mi piace molto.io penso che questo sito sia molto importante per studiare.grazie di nuovo...
swiolka says
October 4, 2008
Si, davvero un bel dialogo :)
Ho bisogno di riposare!
gongqiling says
October 11, 2008
I like those.
Cute,short,lively DIA.
and Marcod(?),u speak Very..very lovely~
C:
Avere bisogno di qlco./qlcu./fare qlco.
:)
sensojnk says
October 12, 2008
Ciao,
Sono Cenk di İstanbul;
Sono studente in İtalian Culture
belalamaratpetra says
October 13, 2008
ho bisogno sposare
mimi91 says
October 13, 2008
Love this website its amazing how realy helpful this is! Ever since my visit to italy 2 years ago i fell in love with the lanuage so much that i tried everything to learn italian but couldnt becuase i couldnt get a hold of any one to teach it. This web site realy helped me out so much so thanx alot for who ever came up with the idea :)...
Ciao!
catherinem says
October 14, 2008
Mimi91,
Thanks for your comment! I'm glad you're finding the site helpful... please post if you have any questions, or if there's anything in particular you're interested in hearing in our lessons!
@sensojnk,
Nice to know we have friends in Istanbul! I'd like to mention that if you're interested in Italian culture we also have a culture show called Ci scusiamo per il ritardo! Sorry for the Delay! That is all about culture, travel, and different parts of Italy. You should check it out!
Catherine
marcod says
October 16, 2008
@belalamaratpetra: close but no cigar ;)
ho bisogno di sposarmi.
sposarsi [to get married] is a reflexive verb.
pairyaravenna says
October 19, 2008
ciao! tutti miei amici e grazie marco
pairyaravenna says
October 19, 2008
grazie mille,buona notte tutti!
marcod says
October 19, 2008
prego ;)
e buona notte!
vahnina says
October 25, 2008
Hi,
I am Russian, know English very well,
I really love this site,
cause it is very helpful to get first knowledge of this beautiful Italian!
thanks a lot Catherinem and Marcod.
ciao)
el_rafa says
October 26, 2008
Ho bisogno di imparare bene l'italiano perchè andrò in Italia in 1 mese... Anche ho bisogno di più tempo... The lesson was great! Thank you so much! Sono di Lima-Peru ... Please, correct my mistakes ;) Bye!
el_rafa says
October 26, 2008
di imparare? d'imparare? com'è meglio?
ire_ne says
October 26, 2008
Ciao el_rafa!
Non c'è differenza vanno bene entrambi.
La regola è che di+vocale diventa d`. Questo perchè nella ligua parlata risulterebbe faticoso da pronunciare. Però puoi benissimo fare una piccola pausa e pronunciare di+pausa+imparare.
Hope that I cleared it up.
shirinmehrabi says
hi i'd realy liked to talk to uNovember 1, 2008
shirinmehrabi says
November 1, 2008
ho bisogno un amico italiano . veramente
giuseppe says
November 2, 2008
ciao!
andyxu says
November 3, 2008
I need an Italia-Chinese or chinese -Italia PC dictionary , which can install in PC ,Somebody can help?
Grazie mile!
andyxu110@hotmail.com
safahatem says
November 4, 2008
why do u need it ?
or can i say where r u raely from china or italy?
safahatem says
November 4, 2008
hi
i just wanted to ask u , how can i say i love u in italian ?
ire_ne says
November 4, 2008
safahatem,
I love u is "ti amo" if u wanna say it in a romantic way.
If u wanna say it to one of your friends or to your parents u should use "ti voglio bene" that is translated as "I love u" or "I really care about u".
bababardwan says
November 5, 2008
safahatem,
I always remember "ti amo" from the 1984 Laura Branigan cover [mostly in English except for "ti amo"] of Umberto Tozzi's 1977 song titled "Ti Amo" [in Italian].Both good songs in my book.Here is Laura Branigan's cover:
bababardwan says
November 5, 2008
...and here is Umberto Tozzi's original version in Italian:
bababardwan says
November 5, 2008
..the karaoke version:
hasanova says
November 5, 2008
i learned new words thanks to you....
hasanova says
November 5, 2008
how can I say "I need Ozan" (male) & "I need you"
Ho bisogno di Ozan? & Ho bisogno ti?
brunetta says
November 5, 2008
hasanova
Ho bisogno di Ozan - that´s right
Ho bisogno di te (look at pdf version)
marcod says
November 5, 2008
Thanks bababardwan for the clips, I'll try to convince Irene to sing the karaoke version with me (I know it won't be difficult) ;)
hasanova!
- Hai bisogno di Ozan? You need Ozan?
- Chi è Ozan? Who is Ozan?
we want gossip!!
:)
bababardwan says
November 6, 2008
marcod,
No worries mate.I'm definitely looking forward to hearing Irene sing the Karaoke version with you.Good on you.
hasanova says
November 6, 2008
grazie..
"Chi è Ozan?" Ozan is my love :))
but it is not gossip, if you talked it with others it would be..:))
tinavrank says
November 12, 2008
Ho bisogno di baciare di mio ragazzo Mario-Is this said correctly?
mozme says
November 12, 2008
Ho bisogno baciare di mio ragazzo
ire_ne says
November 12, 2008
@ tinavrank and mozme
the right sentence is Ho bisogno di baciare il mio ragazzo. And I agree with you two. Anche io ho bisogno di baciare il mio ragazzo ;-)
cwparla says
November 17, 2008
Oh, goodie, homework! 8^)
Charles says: Ho bisogno di più neve per sci xc.
Kirsten says: Ho bisogno di una spazzola da neve per macchina!
Buon inverno!
ire_ne says
November 17, 2008
ahahah
grazie Charles and Kiristen.
In your sentences there are no mistakes but I would add a verb in both of them so:
Ho bisogno di più neve per poter andare sugli sci.
Ho bisogno di una spazzola da neve per pulire la macchina.
Buon inverno anche a voi!
cwparla says
November 17, 2008
Irene, mi puoi dare un aiuto?
We figured out pulire, to clean.
I can't figure out poter andare sugli; could you break it down for me? (able to go (ski) on?)
Grazie!
Charles
ire_ne says
November 17, 2008
yes it is able to ski.
In italian, if u wanna use the verb "sciare" it's the same as english so :
per poter sciare, per riuscire a sciare = be able to sky
but, if u wanna use the name, (singular masculine = lo sci, plural masculine = gli sci) u need to say
andare sugli sci = go on ski (literally)
coz u need to step on the ski, so we use "su=sopra".
Hope that I cleared it up.
cwparla says
November 17, 2008
allora,
per poter andere sugli sci = so I can go on skis;
per poter sciare = so I can go skiing.
Is that correct?
Mille grazie Irene per tutto l'aiuto!
Charles
ire_ne says
November 17, 2008
Sì, perfetto!
Sono qui per aiutare ;-)
Ben fatto Charles
cwparla says
November 18, 2008
Oh, e ho bisogno di un altro mestolo di neve.
Charles
ire_ne says
November 18, 2008
In italiano si usa "pala da neve" = snow shovel, non mestolo. We use mestolo for cooking stuff, usually.
Anyway, the snow seems to be a big problem!!! ;-)
cwparla says
November 18, 2008
Sì, un "snow scoop."
Con 500 - 800cm ogni anno, una pala da neve sono troppo a lavoro.
Charles
macallus88 says
December 9, 2008
This is my first lesson. I don't understand how not-i_need-nothing is not "I don't need nothing" and is...
Non ho bisogno di niente.
(I don't need anything.)
catherinem says
December 10, 2008
macallus88,
That's a good question. In Italian, there's no rule about double negatives becoming positive, as there is in English.
Saying non ho bisogno di niente literally means I don't need nothing (which in English is grammatically incorrect) and thus the translation on the site is: I don't need anything.
Just note that in Italian double (or even triple) negatives act to reinforce the statement. For example:
Non lo faccio mai.
literally: I don`t never do it.
Normally, I'd instead say I never do it.
Hope this helps!
macallus88 says
December 10, 2008
Thank you very much. Makes perfect sense.
So how would you actually say "I don't need nothing"? Although it's not commonly used, you may want to beat around the bush.
tarotshmily says
January 29, 2009
L'italiano è interessante.
^_^
daboone says
February 18, 2009
ciao
Ho bisogno di giocare . :)
spanishlearners says
February 24, 2009
OK, the concept of - + - = + is not in italian, that alone would prove that electrical translation is impossible, unless you put that negative is to be thrown away after the first one, which is very confusing to figure out, what am I saying?
Learn Italian words and the concept of the words as well (- and - does not mean + as in English).
Man those cultural things make your brain work out very hard I need to drink some cold water and relax.
liljazjaz says
April 19, 2009
Sei stanco? Yea, I speak Italian. HaHa
blueschaeffer says
November 2, 2009
Ho bisogno di vino rouge.
trungle2009 says
December 28, 2009
Ho bisogno di andare alla universita'.