In this week's episode of La Ladra, Eva uses a word that is hard to guess the meaning of, at least at first glance, or first hearing.
Allora. -No, ragazze,
So. -No girls.
non ricominciamo con la solfa
Let's not get started again with the same old tune
succo d'acero sì, succo d'acero no.
about maple syrup yes, maple syrup no.
Per favore.
Please.
Captions 52-54, La Ladra - Ep. 10 - Un ignobile ricatto
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A look at the dictionary reveals some interesting information. Solfa is the ancient word for sofleggio (solfége). Solfa comes from the names of two notes: sol (G) and fa (F). Solfeggio was and is a way to facilitate reading music using syllables representing the notes. Some languages, such French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, adopted the syllables as note names, do/ut re mi fa sol la si, while Germanic languages and English adopted the letters of the alphabet to name the notes, a system that actually came before the use of syllables. We can imagine how much confusion this might cause today when musicians from different countries are trying to rehearse together.
Here are the equivalents:
Many of us might have seen the 1965 movie, The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. In it, the seven von Trapp children learn to sing using these syllables. Before becoming a movie, The Sound of Music was a hugely successful Broadway musical, which opened in 1959. The song about singing became so famous that, in America in the early '60s, kids would play the tune on their "Symphonettes" or "Flutophones" (cheap, plastic, recorder-like wind instruments for kids) in elementary-school music lessons.
The song uses homophones (commonly called "homonyms") to make it easier to remember the names of the syllables. Listen and watch a clip from the movie here.
Doe (do) a deer a female dear
Ray (re) a drop of golden sun
and so on.
For musicians learning Italian, the names of the notes are important, in fact, essential. Watch Alessio as he tells the story about these syllables.
In Italia, anche in Francia, in paesi latini...
In Italy, also in France, in Latin countries...
si sono basati, per i nomi delle note,
they based them on, for the names of the notes,
su il famoso "do", "re", "mi", "fa", "sol", "la", "si", le sette note.
on the famous "do," "re," "mi," " fa," "sol," "la," "si," the seven notes.
Captions 20-22, A scuola di musica - con Alessio
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Getting back to La Ladra, Eva, in the same sentence, also makes a connection with a song that became famous at San Remo in the '90s, called "La Terra dei Cachi" (the land of persimmons) written and performed by Elio e le Storie Tese. The refrain is "Italian sì, Italia no." The song was subsequently adopted as the theme song for an Italian talk show "Italia sì Italia no."
If you can't watch the video, you can find the lyrics here in Italian and English:
Italiano sì? Italiano no? Italiano sì!
If we listen to an Italian speaking, either formally or informally, one word we will hear constantly is proprio. With its various meanings, it can be confusing to start using. Proprio sounds a lot like "proper," of course, and that is one meaning, although not the most common.
Let's start with one of the few cases in which proprio can connote "proper": the expression vero e proprio. Literally, "true and proper," it always comes as two words connected by the conjunction e (and). The expression can mean "proper" or "veritable" (as in the case of the example below). "Genuine," "real," or "actual" can work, too. Italians really like to say vero e proprio "true and proper." Think of it as one word.
Il Duomo di Siena è un vero e proprio scrigno.
The Duomo of Siena is a veritable treasure chest.
Caption 1, Meraviglie - EP. 3 - Part 5
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Very often, proprio means "just," or "exactly," as in the following example.
A volte molto freddo, specie a gennaio e a febbraio.
Sometimes, very cold, especially in January and February.
Ecco perché bisogna vestirsi pesanti, proprio come me.
That's why we need to dress in heavy clothing, just like me.
Captions 12-13, Adriano - Le stagioni dell'anno
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Proprio can mean "actually" or "indeed."
Vedrete come la prima sillaba di ogni verso è proprio il nome che poi è rimasto alle sette note.
You'll see how the first syllable of each line is indeed the name which has since remained, for the seven notes.
Captions 29-30, A scuola di musica - con Alessio
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We use proprio to give more emphasis to an adjective.
Proprio buono!
Really good!
Caption 46, Adriano - Il caffè
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We also use proprio when in English, we would say "right" as an adverb, for example, proprio lì (right there).
Ciao, ragazzi e ragazze [ragazze e ragazzi]. Mi trovo proprio al ristorante Pinocchio.
Hi guys and gals, I'm right in the Pinocchio restaurant.
Caption 3, Adriano - Pizzeria Pinocchio
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We also use propio to indicate ownership. We add this example so that you know about this use. Not all Italians uses this properly, so don't worry about it too much, but if you don't know this meaning, there may be cause for confusion. We'll talk about this more in a future lesson.
Una città dove non c'è più egoismo e ognuno fa il proprio dovere di creare e agire.
A city where there's no more egotism and everyone does one's own duty — to create and act.
Captions 11-12, Adriano Olivetti - La forza di un sogno Ep. 1
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One way to take advantage of Yabla is to do a search of proprio on the videos page. You'll see example after example of this word in various contexts. If there are examples you don't quite understand, let us know! We're here to help.
Let’s talk about some other common Italian words containing written accents. In case you missed the lesson in which we started talking about accents, read it here.
The accent on the u at the end of più (more) tells us that the accent of the word doesn’t fall on the i, which is where it would naturally fall.
Più gli ingredienti sono freschi e più è buono.
The fresher the ingredients are, the better it is.
Caption 16, Andromeda - in - Storia del gelato
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A similar-looking word is pio (pious) where the accent does fall on the i, and indeed there is no accent on any letter.
È pio, eh di, di nome e di fatto.
He's Pio [pious], uh in, in name and in fact.
Caption 48, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto
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In the same manner, ciò (that, what) has an accent on the o to tell us the accent is not on the i where it would normally fall.
È uno che di fronte a una bella donna
He's someone who, faced with a beautiful woman,
si dimentica di ciò che è giusto e ciò che è sbagliato.
forgets what's right and what's wrong.
Caption 28, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP3 - Rapsodia in Blu
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All the days of the week except il sabato (Saturday) and la domenica (Sunday) have an accent on the i at the end: lunedì (Monday), martedì (Tuesday), mercoledì (Wednesday), giovedì (Thursday), venerdì (Friday). In fact, dì is another word for "day" (normally giorno).
Un bel dì vedremo.
One beautiful day we'll see.
Caption 13, Anna presenta - Madama butterfly di Giacomo Puccini
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Without the accent on the i, it's di (of).
Eppure io non ho mai smesso né di aspettarlo né di amarlo.
Nonetheless I never ceased to wait for him or to love him.
Caption 11, Anna presenta - Madama butterfly di Giacomo Puccini
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Similarly, da (of, from, to, at) has no accent, but when we conjugate the third person singular of the verb dare (to give), we use an accent to distinguish it from da: dà.
Invito Sigrid, una mia studentessa a farvelo sentire,
I invite Sigrid, a student of mine, to let you hear
in modo da mettere in evidenza appunto ogni sillaba
it in order to highlight, precisely each syllable
che dà il nome alle note.
that gives its name to the notes.
Captions 37-39, A scuola di musica - con Alessio
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Remember that except for e, where the accent may be either grave (è) or acute (é) to distinguish between an open (è) or closed (é) e, all the accents will be “grave,” that is, going down from left to right (à, ì, ò, ù).
Try learning these words one by one, making the accent part of the word as you learn it. Needless to say, taking advantage of the Yabla games, from multiple choice to Scribe, will help you nail it.
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