In a previous lesson, we looked at the vowel, A. In this lesson, we'll focus on the vowel, E. 

We'll talk a little bit about this vowel from an English speaker's point of view, but the truth is that the best way to start pronouncing this vowel like a native is to listen carefully to the videos and then do each exercise except multiple choice. Each has its way of aiding you. Make it your mission to focus on E. 

Fill-in-the-blank. You hear a word and have to write it. Connecting the sound of E with the written E will set you on your way to getting it. 

The vocabulary review always provides you with the pronunciation of each word on your list. Listen for the E. So many words will contain one! One part of the vocabulary review entails writing the Italian word. 

Then we have Speak. This is an exercise you can do at any stage, and sometimes it's best to do it first. After all, you don't have to write anything. All you have to do is repeat what you hear. Then you will see it and be able to make the connections. And the best part is that you can play back what you've said and see how close it comes to the version you hear. This is good for any level!

Finally, there is Scribe. You listen and then write down what you hear, a dictation exercise, in short. 

As you might have heard, there are two different pronunciations of E's in Italian. One with no diacritical accent and one with an accent: è. The one with the accent is considered open and the plain e is considered closed. This is not always easy for English speakers to discern, so be patient with yourself, but try to listen and repeat. 

One of the shortest words in the Italian language is the word for "and." It's e, all by itself, no accent. Pick just about any video and you'll hear it (sometimes it goes by quickly). 

Sì, e noi facciamo su e giù da Roma a Pomezia con la moto,

Yes, and we go back and forth from Rome to Pomezia on the motorcycle,

Caption 26, Amiche Anna e Marika raccontano...

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When we see or hear two items, they are often connected by either e (and) or o (or). So this is a good way to practice this e. Find two things that go together, like fruits and vegetables. 

Qui, di solito, tutti i giorni si vendono frutta e verdura e anche altre cose.

Here, usually, every day, fruits and vegetables are sold, and other things, too.

Captions 27-28, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 2

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What other things go together? Prosciutto e melone or prosciutto e mozzarella.

Prosciutto e mozzarella! -Prosciutto e mozzarella, giusto, un altro antipasto classico. Come prosciutto e melone poi del resto, però la mozzarella...

Cured ham and mozzarella! -Cured ham and mozzarella, right, another classic appetizer. Like cured ham and melon, for that matter, but mozzarella...

Captions 22-23, Anna e Marika La mozzarella di bufala - La produzione e i tagli - Part 1

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Marito e moglie...

E poi tra moglie e marito è quasi impossibile sapere come vanno le cose.

And besides, between wife and husband, it's almost impossible to know how things go.

Caption 18, Il Commissario Manara S2EP11 - Uno strano incidente di caccia - Part 10

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 Destra e sinistra

Ci sono le botteghe a destra e a sinistra... C'è una macchina dietro!

There are shops on the right and on the left... There's a car back there!

Caption 39, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 5

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When we see è, that is, e with a grave accent (descending from left to right), then the meaning changes to "is," "it is," "he is," or "she is." In other words, it's the third person singular of the verb essere (to be).

You'll need this verb when asking and answering questions, such as "Who is that?" "What's that?"

"Chi è quella ragazza?"

"Who is that girl?"

Caption 41, Marika risponde Risposta 1 Pronomi e aggettivi interrogativi

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Sì, è vero, è una ricetta segreta,

Yes, it's true. It's a secret recipe,

Caption 6, Adriano L'arancello di Marina

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If you listen carefully, you might be able to hear that pronouncing è is a little different from e, but it's more important to understand the context and meaning than to get the pronunciation exactly right. It will come with time.  

Sometimes we need an acute accent on an e (rising from left to right) to show which part of the word is stressed. The most common example of this is perhaps the word for "why" and "because": perché. Keep in mind that the pronunciation is not the same as è. It's more like e, but above all, it's stressed. To hear multiple examples of how it's pronounced, see the Yabla dictionary and type in the word you want to hear. Anywhere you see the audio icon, you'll hear the word spoken, either by itself, or in context by clicking on it. 

Perché ti lamenti?

Why are you complaining?

Caption 7, Acqua in bocca Mp3 Marino - Ep 2

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Ah, a proposito c'è un pane che proprio non mi piace che è quello Toscano perché è senza sale.

Ah, by the way there's a bread that I really don't like which is the Tuscan kind because it's without salt.

Captions 23-24, Anna e Marika Il pane

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In the previous example, you will also hear different e's. Note the very slight difference between the è in c'è and the e in che. But don't worry if you don't hear the difference. 

More about the double-duty word perché here.

Keep in mind that not all Italians pronounce their vowels exactly the same way. This happens in English too. Once you start hearing the differences, you'll see that it's kind of fun to guess where someone is from. 

See you in the next lesson!

A learner has written in about a curious expression, found in the example below, wondering if it was an error.

It wasn't an error, but it certainly bears looking at. Sometimes learning the origins of an expression can help us make connections to other words we might wonder about. In this lesson we'll talk about a case in point.

In the video clip, young Lorenzo is using the verb organizzare in a slightly different sense from the primary one, which is merely "to organize," or if it's reflexive as in our example, "to get organized." He means that he has figured some things out. He has "organized" his thoughts into something logical and is acting on them. He has gotten his act together.

A ma', te volevo informa' [romanesco: ti volevo informare] che mi sono,

Hey Mom, I wanted to inform you that I've,

come si suol dire, organizzato.

as they say, gotten my act together.

Caption 6, La Ladra - EP. 9 - L'amico sconosciuto

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The expression

If we do a Yabla search, we actually find more examples of come si suol dire. In these examples the expression is clearer than in the one above, because we can see from the context that come si suol dire is being used to introduce a saying or modo di dire (idiomatic expression).

Io penso che Lei dovrebbe, come si suol dire, prendere

I think that you should, as they say, take

il toro per le corna.

the bull by the horns.

Captions 47-48, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP11 - Uno strano incidente di caccia

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Queste galline la mattina,

These chickens in the morning,

che [sic: quando] vengono messe fuori dal pollaio,

get put out of the henhouse,

vanno a razzolare un po' a

they go and scratch about a bit to

destra e a sinistra,

the right and to the left [here and there].

quindi una volta che hanno scoperto queste fragoline,

So once they have discovered these young strawberries,

eh, faranno, come si suol dire, una vera man bassa.

uh, they'll will, as they say, ransack the area.

Captions 25-28, La campagna toscana - Il contadino

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A volte si chiude una finestra, ma si apre un portone

Sometimes a window closes but a door opens

o, come si suol dire, bicicletta nuova, vita nuova.

or, as they say, "New bike, new life."

-Questo, però, non l'ho mai sentito, te lo sei inventato.

-This one, however, I have never heard. You made it up.

Captions 46-48, La Ladra - EP. 4 - Una magica bionda

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Tip: You can memorize come si suol dire and use it in the middle of a sentence without worrying about conjugating it. 

What does suol mean?

Let's discover it together.

You can see the Engiish translation in the video clip, but it's hard to make complete sense of it. What is this suol? We might be wondering, "Is it a verb?" "If so, what kind of verb is it and what does it actually mean?" "Is it reflexive?"

We know from the phrasal verb vuol dire (it means) that a verb will often have its final vowel omitted. Vuole dire > vuol dire. And so it's logical to posit that suol dire is actually suole dire. From this ending we can surmise that the verb is an -ere verb. So let's try out solere. 

Hey! It exists: solere — to be in the habit of, to have the habit of. It's a verb you will rarely hear in any other context but the one we are discussing here.

Solere isn't reflexive, but in the expression si suol dire, the si is an impersonal third person singuar we might translate with an impersonal "they" or "one."

So suol means "is in the habit of."

If we keep in mind that sometimes the combination uo gets transformed into a plain o, we might be reminded of the adjective solito (usual) or the adverbial phrase di solito (usually) and rightly so. Di solito or solito has to do with "being in the habit of." In fact if you go to the WordReference entry on solito, you will find solere towards the bottom of the page.

E di solito, tradizionalmente, il Trullo,

And usually, traditionally, the trullo

è sempre stato utilizzato come ricovero.

has always been used as a shelter:

Ricovero per bestiame, ma anche per attrezzi agricoli.

shelter for livestock, but also for agricultural equipment.

Captions 23-24, Meraviglie - EP. 2

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The verb solere has mostly gone out of fashion except for the expression si suol dire (one is in the habit of saying). But since we are talking about the verb solere, we should mention that some (well-read) people might also say something like:

Solevano rientrare tardi (they used to come home late/they were in the habit of coming home late).

Chiese come in quel paese solevano/solessero fare (He/she asked how they usually did things in that town).

And for those who are interested...

Solere is the kind of verb we might find in Renaissance poetry, where spelling and pronunciation were not yet standardized, and where, in the following cases, it is spelled without the v, becoming solea instead of soleva, just as the verb volere was often written volea instead of voleva in the third person singular imperfetto. 

The first example is from Petrarca, whose poetry was frequently set to music in the form of madrigals.

Mia benigna fortuna e ’l viver lieto,
i chiari giorni et le tranquille notti
e i soavi sospiri e ’l dolce stile
che solea resonare in versi e ’n rime,
vòlti subitamente in doglia e ’n pianto,
odiar vita mi fanno, et bramar morte.

 

My kindly fortune and my life, so happy,
the clear-lit days and all the tranquil nights,
the gentle-flowing sighs and the sweet style
that would resound in all my verses and rhymes—
all of a sudden turned to grief and tears,
make me hate life and make me yearn for death.

This example is from Claudio Monteverdi's opera Orfeo. The libretto was written by Alessandro Striggio.

Pregoti, per quel foco
Con cui già la grand'alma Amor t'accese,
Fa ch'Euridice torni
A goder di quei giorni
Che trar solea vivend'in feste e in canto,
E del misero Orfeo consola 'I pianto.

 

I implore you, by that fire
with which Love set your great soul aflame,
Let Eurydice return
to enjoy those days
that she used to spend in festivity and song,
and console the grief of the wretched Orpheus.

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