Italian All-in-One For Dummies (21 page)

If you travel to Italy and make new friends, you may be asked these informal questions:

Sei appena arrivato? Di dove sei?
(sehy ahp-
peh
-nah ahr-ree-
vah
-toh? dee
doh
-veh
seh
-ee?) (
Have you just arrived? Where are you from?
)

Ti piace l'Italia?
(tee
pyah
-cheh lee-
tah
-lee-ah?) (
Do you like Italy?
)

Sei qui per la prima volta?
(sehy kwee pehr lah
pree
-mah
vohl
-tah?) (
Is this your first time here?
)

Sei qui in vacanza?
(sehy kwee een vah-
kahn
-tsah?) (
Are you on vacation?
)

Quanto rimani?
(
kwahn
-toh ree-
mah
-nee?) (
How long are you staying?
)

Replying to a greeting

When you reply to a greeting in English, you often say “How are you?” as a way of saying “Hello” — you don't expect an answer. In Italian, however, this is not the case; the greeting calls for an answer. Following are common ways to reply to particular greetings.

Formal greeting and reply:

Greeting:
Buongiorno signora, come sta?
(bwohn-
johr
-noh see-
nyoh
-rah,
koh
-meh stah?) (
Hello, ma'am, how are you?
)

Reply:
Benissimo, grazie, e Lei?
(beh-
nees
-see-moh,
grah
-tsyeh, eh ley?) (
Very well, thank you, and you?
)

Informal greeting and reply:

Greeting:
Ciao, Roberto, come stai?
(chou, roh-
behr
-toh,
koh
-meh stahy?) (
Hi, Roberto, how are you?
)

Reply:
Bene, grazie, e tu?
(
beh
-neh,
grah
-tsee-eh, eh tooh?) (
Fine,
thanks, and you?
)

Another typical, rather informal, greeting and reply:

Greeting:
Come va?
(
koh
-meh
vah?
) (
How are things?
)

Reply:
Non c'è male.
(nohn cheh
mah
-leh.) (
Not bad.
)

Specifying your reunion

Sometimes, you want to say more than just goodbye; you want to specify when you'll meet again. The following expressions are common and also can be used as goodbyes on their own:

A presto!
(ah
prehs
-toh!) (
See you soon!
)

A dopo!
(ah
doh
-poh!) (
See you later!
)

A domani!
(ah doh-
mah
-nee!) (
See you tomorrow!
)

Ci vediamo!
(chee veh-
dyah
-moh!) (
See you!)