Italian All-in-One For Dummies (20 page)

Here are a few other situations where knowing the metric system will come in handy:

If you need to buy gasoline for your car (
benzina
[behn-
dzee
-nah], not
gasolio
[gah-
soh
-lyoh] which refers to
diesel fuel
), you need to know how to convert liters to gallons. One liter multiplied by 0.26420 equals about a quarter of a gallon. So four liters are a little more than a gallon. Close enough?

To convert miles into kilometers, multiply the number of miles by 1.60934. For example, if you want to drive 60 miles per hour, that will come out to 96.6 kilometers per hour on your speedometer. In other words, if something is 100 kilometers away, it's only a little more than 60 miles.

To know whether your weight is holding steady, 1 pound is 0.4536 kilos. If you're used to weighing 180 pounds, it can be a bit of a shock to see your weight “drop” precipitously, to its kilo equivalent of 82.

Chapter 3

Buongiorno! Salutations!

In This Chapter

Saying hello and goodbye

Introducing yourself and others

Describing where you come from

Extending and accepting invitations

B
uongiorno!
(bwohn-
johr
-noh!) (
Hello!
)

Have you ever counted the number of times you say hello in a single day? You probably say it more often than you realize. When you interact with people, you usually begin with a greeting — and that greeting can have an impact on the first impression you give. This chapter explains how to say hello and goodbye as well as how to supplement a greeting with some basic small talk.

Looking at Common Greetings and Goodbyes

Italians like to have social contact and meet new people. Generally, they're easygoing and receptive to people trying to speak their language. At the same time, they tend to be very respectful and polite.

To give you a good start in greeting people in Italian, the following sections provide the most common greetings and goodbyes, along with some examples.

Issuing a greeting

You can use
ciao
(chou) and
salve
(
sahl
-veh) to mean
hello,
and
ciao
can also mean
goodbye.
Ciao
is informal;
salve
is neutral but more formal than
ciao.
For example:

Ciao Claudio!
(chou
klou
-dyoh!) (
Hi/Bye, Claudio!
)

Salve ragazzi!
(
sahl
-veh rah-
gaht
-tsee!) (
Hi, folks!
) (
Hey, guys!
)

Salve
is a relic from Latin. In Caesar's time, the Romans used it a lot.

Buongiorno
(bwohn
johr
-noh) (
good morning;
literally: g
ood day
) and
buonasera
(
bwoh
-nah-
seh
-rah) (
good afternoon/evening
) are both formal greetings — your best bet whenever you're in doubt. Which one you use depends on the time of day: Before 12 p.m., use
buongiorno;
after 12 p.m.,
buonasera
is the appropriate choice. Just mind the time of day!

Buongiorno, Signora Bruni!
(bwohn
johr
-noh, see-
nyoh
-rah
brooh
-nee!) (
Good morning,
Mrs. Bruni!
)

Buonasera, signor Rossi!
(
bwoh
-nah-
seh
-rah, see-
nyohr
rohs
-see!) (
Good afternoon/evening, Mr. Rossi!
)

You frequently hear
Buongiorno!
when you enter an Italian shop.

Arrivederci
(ahr-ree-veh-
dehr
-chee) (
goodbye
) and
buonanotte
(
bwoh
-nah-
noht
-teh) (
good night
) are parting terms. (Use
buonanotte
only when you're parting for the night and going to bed.)

Arrivederci, signora Eva!
(ahr-ree-veh-
dehr
-chee, see-
nyoh
-rah
eh
-vah!) (
Goodbye, Mrs. Eva!
)

Buonanotte, ragazzi!
(
bwoh
-nah-
noht
-teh, rah-
gaht
-tsee!) (
Good night, guys!
)

You can use the phrases
Buona giornata
(
bwoh
-nah johr-
nah
-tah) (
Have a good day
) and
Buona serata
(
bwoh
-nah seh-
rah
-tah) (
Have a good evening
) when you're leaving a friend or saying goodbye on the phone. The difference is that, according to Italian custom,
buona serata
is more appropriate after 6 p.m.

Deciding between formal and friendly

In
Chapter 1
of Book III, you see some of the differences between using the
tu, voi, lei,
and
Loro
pronouns and verbs when you want to say
you.

An important feature of Italian culture is that you can address people in one of two ways:

With people you don't know:
You generally use the formal form of address —
lei
(ley) (
you
[singular]) — with adults you don't know, such as businesspeople (waiters, shopkeepers), officials, and persons of higher rank (for example, supervisors, teachers, professors, older people, and so on). With children or among young people, you use the informal
tu
(tooh) (
you
[singular]).

With people you do know:
When you get to know someone better, depending on your relationship, you may switch to the informal form of address —
tu.
You also use the informal form with members of your family, friends, and children.