Italian · Beginner (A1) · Chapter 1 of 12
Hello and goodbye
Ciao e arrivederci
Say hello and goodbye in Italian, introduce yourself, and learn the words for I, you, we and they and the verb essere (to be).
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Greet people at any time of day
- Say your name and ask someone else's
- Ask how someone is and answer
- Say who people are and where they're from with essere
Listen
It's Elena's first morning at a new job in an office in Milan. She meets her colleague Davide, and then their manager arrives. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Davide
Ciao, io sono Davide. Tu come ti chiami?
Hi, I'm Davide. What's your name?
Elena
Mi chiamo Elena. Piacere.
My name is Elena. Nice to meet you.
Davide
Piacere mio, Elena.
Nice to meet you too, Elena.
Signora Galli
Buongiorno, Davide.
Good morning, Davide.
Davide
Buongiorno, signora Galli. Come sta?
Good morning, Mrs Galli. How are you?
Signora Galli
Bene, grazie. E Lei?
Fine, thank you. And you?
Davide
Bene, grazie. Signora, questa è Elena.
Fine, thank you. Mrs Galli, this is Elena.
Signora Galli
Piacere, Elena. Sono Maria Galli.
Nice to meet you, Elena. I'm Maria Galli.
Elena
Piacere mio, signora.
Nice to meet you too.
Understand
Hello and goodbye
means “good morning”, but Italians use it as a polite “hello” until about mid-afternoon. After that, say (good evening).
is informal. Use it with friends, family, children and colleagues your age. It means both “hi” and “bye”. The polite way to say goodbye is .
| Italian | English | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| hi / bye | with friends, family, children | |
| good morning, hello | until mid-afternoon | |
| good evening, hello | from mid-afternoon | |
| goodbye | polite, with anyone | |
| see you soon | friendly | |
| good night | late at night or before bed |
I, you, he, she: subject pronouns
The “subject” is the person doing the action. Words like “I”, “you” and “she” are called “subject pronouns”. Italian has two words for “you” when you talk to one person: for friends, family, children and colleagues your age, and the polite for strangers and older people (more in chapter 3). is the same word as (she), usually written with a capital L. For more than one person, “you” is .
Italians usually leave the pronoun out, because the verb already shows who you mean: is enough for “I'm Elena”. Use the pronoun only for emphasis or contrast, as Davide does:
| Italian | English |
|---|---|
| I | |
| you (one person, informal) | |
| / | he / she |
| you (one person, polite) | |
| we | |
| you (more than one person) | |
| they |
Essere: to be
To give your name, say … (literally “I call myself”) or simply … (I am). To ask a friend's name, say To ask politely, say In the same way, (How are you?) is for friends and is polite.
comes from , “to be”. Use it for who someone is and where they're from: , (I'm from Milan). is irregular, so learn all its forms by heart. The polite takes the same form as and : . Watch the accent: means “is”, means “and”.
| Person | (to be) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (I'm Davide.) | ||
| (Are you from Rome?) | ||
| / / | (This is Elena.) | |
| (We're from Milan.) | ||
| (Are you from Turin?) | ||
| (They're from Naples.) |
How to say c and g
Before e and i, c sounds like the “ch” in “church” and g like the “j” in “jam”: , , . Before a, o, u or a consonant, they are hard, as in “cat” and “go”: , .
To keep them hard before e or i, Italian adds an h: sounds like “kyah-mo”. In and , the i is not pronounced. It only makes the c or g soft: “chow”, “bwon-jor-no”.
| Spelling | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ca, co, cu | k | |
| ce, ci | ch (church) | , |
| che, chi | k | |
| ga, go, gu | g (go) | |
| ge, gi | j (jam) | |
| ghe, ghi | g (go) |
More in the grammar: Essere and avere: to be and to have · Subject pronouns: io, tu, lui, lei, Lei… · The Italian alphabet and pronunciation
New words
- ciaohi / bye · informal
- Sono…I'm… · = I, often left out
- Come ti chiami?What's your name? · to a friend; polite:
- Mi chiamo…My name is…
- Piacere.Nice to meet you.
- Piacere mio.Nice to meet you too. · literally “the pleasure is mine”
- buongiornogood morning, hello · until mid-afternoon
- la signoraMrs, madam · feminine; for a man: ()
- Come sta?How are you? · polite; to a friend:
- Bene, grazie.Fine, thank you.
- E Lei?And you? · polite; to a friend:
- Questa è…This is… · introducing a woman; for a man: …
- buonaseragood evening, hello · from mid-afternoon
- arrivedercigoodbye · polite
Practise
1.It's 8 pm and you walk into a restaurant. How do you greet the waiter?
2.Complete the sentence to say your name.
My name is Paola.
3.Your new neighbour is an older man. How do you ask his name?
4.Put the words in order.
Tap the words below in the right order.Nice to meet you, I'm Marco.
5.Complete with the right form of : “Davide and I are from Milan.”
Davide and I are from Milan.
6.Match the Italian with the English.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
Buongiorno, mi chiamo Anna.
Good morning, my name is Anna.
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.