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Alex and Giulia shop for dinner.
l'etto is a hundred grams and is the unit Italians actually use at a deli counter — ask for un etto or due etti of anything sliced rather than converting to grams. un po' is short for un poco and keeps the apostrophe that marks the missing syllable. It is not un pò: that accent is a common Italian misspelling, not a variant. la frutta is singular and uncountable, like the English fruit: molta frutta, not molte frutte. A single piece is un frutto. Desidera? is what a shop assistant says — literally do you desire, meaning what can I get you. Dica, literally speak, does the same job. Both are Lei forms, so answering with per favore is all the politeness required. buonissime is buona with -issimo on the end, the way Italian does very: buonissimo, bellissimo, prestissimo. Lesson 28 returns to it.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. Some — the partitive
To say some, Italian uses di plus the definite article, which fuses into exactly the forms from Lesson 5: del pane, dello zucchero, dell'acqua, della frutta, dei pomodori, degli spaghetti, delle mele. Choose it the same way you would choose the article itself. With plurals it means a few; with uncountable things, a quantity of. You can also just leave it out — Prendiamo pane e frutta is perfectly natural — and for a countable few, qualche plus a singular noun or alcuni plus a plural both work.
2. How much does it cost?
costare agrees with the thing being priced, not with you: Quanto costa il pane? for one thing, Quanto costano le mele? for several. The same split runs through Quant'è? for a total, and Quanto fa? at a till. For a price per unit, use a plus the article: due euro al chilo, tre euro alla bottiglia. If you only remember one, Quanto costa? will carry you through most shops.
3. Saying how much you want
A quantity is followed by di and then a bare noun with no article: un chilo di pomodori, un etto di prosciutto, una bottiglia di vino, un pacco di pasta, un po' di formaggio. That missing article is the thing to watch — un chilo dei pomodori is wrong. di elides before a vowel: una bottiglia d'acqua. And the ordinary way to ask is simply Vorrei, which you have had since Lesson 2: Vorrei un etto di prosciutto.
4. molto and poco, twice over
Both words do two jobs. After a verb they are adverbs and never change: Il pesce costa molto. Dormo poco. Before a noun they are adjectives and must agree: molta frutta, molti pomodori, poche mele, pochi soldi. The test is what the word is attached to — the verb, or the noun. troppo behaves identically (troppo caro, troppe mele), and so does tanto.
A. Fill in the Blank · Completa
Fill in the blank with the correct word.
- 1.Prendiamo pane.some (with a masculine singular noun)
- 2.Compriamo pomodori.some (with a masculine plural noun)
- 3.Quanto le mele?cost (plural — costare)
- 4.Un di prosciutto.a hundred grams
B. Multiple Choice · Scegli
Choose the correct Italian.
- 1.Which partitive goes with frutta?
- 2.Which asks the price of the apples?
- 3.How do you say "a kilo of tomatoes"?
- 4.Which form of molto follows a verb?
C. Word Order · Metti in ordine
Put the words in the right order.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · Vero o falso
Decide whether each statement about the dialogue is true.
- 1.The bread is expensive.
- 2.They buy a kilo of tomatoes.
- 3.Alex also asks for some cheese.
- 4.The apples cost two euros a kilo.
E. Matching · Abbina
Match each question to the answer that fits it.
F. Translation · Traduci
Translate between Italian and English.
- 1.How much is the bread?
- 2.Let's get some bread and some fruit.
- 3.Un etto di prosciutto, per favore.
- 4.Quanto costano le mele?
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 16 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
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Don't touch the fruit
In an Italian supermarket the loose fruit and vegetables come with rules. Take a plastic glove from the dispenser before touching anything, bag what you want, and weigh it yourself on the scale, pressing the numbered button that matches the label on the bin — the machine prints a barcode you stick on the bag. Arriving at the till with unweighed produce will send you back, and handling fruit with bare hands earns a look. Supermarkets are only half the story. Most neighborhoods still have specialists, and they are where the language in this lesson gets used: il fornaio for bread, la macelleria for meat, la pescheria for fish, il fruttivendolo for fruit and veg, and the mixed alimentari. The weekly outdoor market — il mercato — undercuts all of them and is where Romans actually buy produce. Two small things. Bags cost a few cents and are compulsory to pay for by law, so Italians bring their own. And the till is fast: the cashier will scan at speed and expect you to pack at the same rate, sitting down while you stand — there is no lingering.