{"id":17977,"date":"2019-03-29T21:04:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T20:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=17977"},"modified":"2019-03-29T21:04:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T20:04:41","slug":"a-bucket-of-paint-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/a-bucket-of-paint-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bucket Of Paint – Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s take a closer look at some of the grammar from our previous post,<\/span> A Bucket Of Paint<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

La mamma ed io stiamo guardando delle vecchie foto che ci riportano indietro a <\/span><\/b>dei<\/b><\/span> bei ricordi<\/span>.
\n<\/b>Mum and I are looking at some old photos that bring back some nice memories<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span>
\nci riportano indietro a <\/b>dei<\/b> bei ricordi<\/b> = they (the photos) take us back to some nice memories (ci<\/strong>, in this case is the personal pronoun ‘us’)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Fra le tante<\/span>, ci sono un paio di foto<\/span> di pap\u00e0 nel suo negozio di macchine da scrivere Olivetti a Bengasi.<\/b>
\nAmongst the many photos, there are a couple of dad in his Olivetti typewriter shop in Benghazi, Libya.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nFra le tante<\/b> = amongst the many (the word foto<\/strong> is not necessary here as the context has already been established)<\/em><\/span>
\nun paio di foto<\/b> = foto<\/strong> is an abbreviation of fotografia<\/strong>. This explains why although it ends with the usually masculine ‘o<\/strong>‘ it is a feminine word: la foto<\/strong>. Abbreviations are not pluralized, hence la foto<\/strong> = the photo, le foto<\/strong> = the photos. In its full form it would be la fotografia<\/strong>, le fotografie<\/strong>. Another example is la moto<\/strong> = the motorbike, le moto<\/strong> = the motorbikes (abbreviation of motocicletta\/e<\/strong>).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Serena: “Guarda com’era giovane e magro pap\u00e0!<\/span>“<\/b>
\nSerena: “Look how young and slim dad was!”<\/span><\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nItalian syntax dictates the word order here, it would be incorrect to put era<\/strong> (was) at the end as we do in English. Com’era<\/strong> is a combination of come<\/strong> = how, and era<\/strong> = was, this avoids the awkward repetition of the letter ‘e’.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Mamma: “S\u00ec, questa foto \u00e8 stata fatta<\/span> ai tempi in cui lo conobbi<\/span>. E’ nel suo negozio in Piazza Lenghi. Qualche anno dopo<\/span> si trasfer\u00ec nel nuovo negozio davanti ai giardinetti.”<\/b>
\nMum: “Yes, this photo was taken <\/span>around the time I met him. He’s in his shop in Piazza Lenghi. A few years later he moved into the new shop in front of the gardens.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nquesta foto \u00e8 stata fatta<\/b>, literally: this photo has been made. In Italian we don’t ‘take’ a photo, we ‘make’ it.<\/em><\/span>
\nin cui lo conobbi =<\/b> in which I knew him. Here the historical past conobbi<\/strong> is used as we’re talking about an event from many years ago. Conoscere<\/strong> (to know) is also used to mean meet, hence the translation ‘<\/span>around the time I met him.’<\/span>
\nQualche anno dopo<\/b>: qualche<\/strong> (some, a few) is always used in the singular. Alternatively we can say alcuni anni dopo<\/strong>. For more information see this post:<\/span> Qualche<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Guarda com’era giovane e magro pap\u00e0!<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Serena: “Quello nuovo me lo ricordo bene<\/span>. Una mattina ci portasti a trovare pap\u00e0<\/span> per vederlo.”<\/b>
\nSerena: “I remember the new one well. One morning you took us to meet dad so that we could see it.”<\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nQuello nuovo me lo ricord<\/b>o bene<\/strong>: the use of quello nuovo me lo ricordo bene<\/strong> instead of me lo ricordo bene quello nuovo<\/strong> gives more emphasis to ‘the new one (shop)’.<\/em><\/span>
\na trovare pap\u00e0<\/b>: trovare<\/strong> (to find) is also used to mean ‘to visit, to see, to meet someone’, e.g. vieni a trovarci<\/strong> = come and visit us.<\/span>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Mamma: “Pu\u00f2 essere, non mi ricordo bene<\/b>.<\/b>“<\/b>
\nMum: “Maybe, I don’t really remember.”<\/p>\n

Serena: “Io ero piccolina, avr\u00f2 avuto<\/span> massimo quattro anni, ma me lo ricordo bene, eccome!<\/span> Stavano finendo di decorarlo … avevano usato una vernice strana, non era liscia ma tipo granigliato, aveva come dei sassolini neri, bianchi e grigi. Non me la dimenticher\u00f2 mai, quella maledetta vernice!<\/span>“<\/b>
\nSerena: “I was little, I must have been maximum four years old, but I remember it well, (how could I not!<\/i>) They were finishing decorating it … they’d used a strange paint, it wasn’t smooth but kind of grainy, it had some sort of little black, white and grey stones in it. I’ll never forget that damned paint!”<\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\navr\u00f2 avuto<\/b>: this is the futuro anteriore<\/strong> (perfect future) of the verb avere<\/strong> = to have. In Italian, the future tense is often used when we would use the conditional in English, e.g. chi sar\u00e0 alla porta?<\/strong> = who could be at the door? In the story I used il futuro anteriore<\/strong> (perfect future) because I’m guessing about something that took place in the past. See this post:<\/span> Presente o Futuro?
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span>eccome!<\/b> is an exclamation used to reinforce a previous statement. You could also use <\/span><\/em>altroch\u00e9!<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong>Non me la dimenticher\u00f2 mai, quella maledetta vernice!<\/b> literally: I won’t ever forget it, that damned paint! Here, I used a comma to create a pause and therefore put more emphasis on quella maledetta vernice!<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Mamma: “Perch\u00e9<\/b>, cos’\u00e8 successo<\/b>?”<\/b>
\nMum: “Why, what happened?”<\/p>\n

Serena: “Non ti ricordi? Ero tutta felice di vedere pap\u00e0 al lavoro e gli corsi incontro a braccia aperte<\/span> per abbracciarlo, ma fra me e lui c’era il secchio di vernice che gli imbianchini avevano lasciato l\u00ec. Era senza coperchio e io ci finii dentro<\/span> con tutte e due le braccia!”<\/b>
\nSerena: “Don’t you remember? I was really happy to see dad at work and I ran to him with my arms open wide to hug him, but between me and him was a bucket of paint that the decorators had left there. The lid was off and I ended up with both my arms in it!”<\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\ngli corsi incontro a braccia aperte<\/span><\/b>, literally: gli<\/strong> = to him, corsi<\/strong> = I ran, incontro<\/strong> = towards, a braccia aperte<\/b> = with arms open. Regarding a braccia aperte<\/b>: we use the preposition ‘a<\/strong>‘ to express how<\/span> we do something, e.g. sognare a occhi aperti<\/strong> = to daydream (literally: to dream with one’s eyes open). N.B. braccia<\/strong> is an irregular word: il braccio<\/strong> = the arm, masculine singular; le braccia<\/strong> = the arms, feminine plural.<\/span>
\nio ci finii dentro<\/b>, in this case ‘ci<\/strong>‘ is not the personal pronoun ‘us’, but the adverb ‘there’, hence: ‘I ended up inside there’. See this article:<\/span> ‘Ci’<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Mamma: “Questo s\u00ec che me lo ricordo!<\/span> Avevi il cappottino nuovo che zia Maria e zia Pupina ti avevano mandato di regalo<\/span> dall’Italia!”<\/b>
\nMum: “Yes, of course I remember! You were wearing the new coat that aunt Maria and aunt Pupina had sent to you from Italy as a present!”<\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nQuesto s\u00ec che me lo ricordo!<\/b> literally: this one, yes that I remember it! ‘Questo\/a\/i\/e s\u00ec che …!<\/strong>‘ is a common emphatic exclamation, e.g. questi s\u00ec che sono belli!<\/strong> = these ones really are beautiful!<\/em><\/span>
\ndi regalo<\/b>: the preposition ‘di<\/strong>‘ explains the purpose of something. I this case I could have also written ‘in regalo<\/strong>‘ or ‘per regalo<\/strong>‘.<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Serena: “Il cappottino era di un colore rosa antico, se non mi sbaglio<\/span>, coi bottoni dorati. Come ci rimasi male!<\/span>“<\/b>
\nSerena: “If I’m not mistaken, the coat was and old rose colour with golden buttons. I was so upset!”<\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span>
\nse non mi sbaglio<\/b>: first person singular of the reflexive verb sbagliarsi<\/strong> = to be mistaken, to be wrong.<\/span>
\nCome ci rimasi male!<\/b> Literally: ‘how I remained upset’. This is an idiomatic expression constructed with the verb rimanerci <\/strong>= to remain and male<\/strong> (bad) = to feel bad, to be upset.<\/span> N.B. here the ci<\/strong> is not a reflexive pronoun, but is actually part of the verb<\/span>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Mamma: “S\u00ec, era rosa antico. Lo mettesti una volta sola e dovemmo buttarlo via, non riuscimmo a pulirlo.”<\/b>
\nMum: “Yes, it was old rose. You only wore it once and we had to throw it away, we didn’t manage to clean it.”<\/p>\n

Serena: “Quanti pianti che feci!<\/span>“<\/b>
\nSerena: “I cried so much!” ? ? ?<\/p>\n

Grammar:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nQuanti pianti che feci!<\/b> Idiomatic expression. Literally: How many cries that I made!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Cari lettori, speriamo di esservi stati d’aiuto <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Let’s take a closer look at some of the grammar from our previous post, A Bucket Of Paint La mamma ed io stiamo guardando delle vecchie foto che ci riportano indietro a dei bei ricordi. Mum and I are looking at some old photos that bring back some nice memories. ci riportano indietro a dei…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":17983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[344256],"class_list":["post-17977","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-grammar-analysis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17977"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18015,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions\/18015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}