This lesson explores the sense of smell and how to talk about smelling things and how things smell, since it works a bit differently than it does in English. We'll divide the lesson into three parts of speech having to do with the sense of smell.
When we use the noun "smell" to mean "odor," as in, "There's a funny smell in here," or, "What's that smell?", just remember that if it is a neutral smell, the cognate odore works just fine. Cos'è quel odore (what is that smell)? If it isn't neutral, then we use other words or we qualify odore (odor).
If it's a particularly unpleasant smell, it's una puzza (a stink or a stench). There are other words to use, too, but for now, let's keep it simple. Che puzza! (something stinks!)
We can also talk about un cattivo odore (a bad smell) or un buon odore (a good smell). We might need the verb avere (to have) to complete the sentence.
I get a new car and I like the way it smells inside:
Questa macchina ha un buon odore (this car smells good).
You sniff the milk container:
Questo latte ha un cattivo odore, sarà andato a male (this milk smells bad, it must have gone sour).
If it is a good smell, either the flower kind or the food kind, we can use the cognate profumo.
I walk into someone's kitchen and say che buon profumo! I mean "It smells great in here!"
The English cognate "perfume" is usually reserved for flower essences used in beauty products, but in Italian, it can represent "a good smell." So let's keep in mind that in Italian we use a noun and in English, we use the intransitive verb "to smell" for this (much of the time).
Another good and easy cognate to know is aroma because it means pretty much the same thing as "aroma" in English. We usually use it for food, herbs, and spices.
Le cipolle hanno un sapore e un aroma molto forte,
Onions have a strong smell and taste,
Caption 56, In cucina con Arianna la panzanella - Part 1
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The most common Italian verb corresponding to the transitive verb "to smell" in English is sentire which we can equate with "to sense," with your nose, your ears, or your tongue.
Senti che buon profumo.
Senti che bella canzone.
Senti questo sugo. C'è abbastanza sale?
But if want to talk about using my nose to sniff something, I can use annusare (to sniff).
Annusa questi fiori, senti che profumo! (smell these flowers, how good they smell).
Let's say I have some flowers, but they have no smell. Non odorano (they don't have a scent). The verb is odorare (to have a scent). Odorare can also be transitive, like annusare, but it's not one of those everyday verbs you need to know.
Finally, there is fiutare, which means the same thing, "to sniff." But again, you might come across the word, but you don't need it in everyday conversation.
Please see the lesson Taste and Smell - Sapere Part 2 for more on this, plus some examples.
Italians like to have clean, ironed clothes, and they use ammorbidente (fabric softener) that also serves to give a nice scent to the laundered items.
When the laundry comes off the clothesline, it smells lovely: il bucato è profumato.
Some people like scented candles: candele profumate.
We also have the adjective odoroso (having an odor, usually strong). It's not used a lot in normal day-to-day conversation, so don't worry about this adjective...
In cooking, Italians like certain aromatic herbs — erbe aromatiche, such as basilico (basil), rosmarino (rosemary), and salvia (sage).
In most languages, there are situations in which two different sets of rules can apply. Sometimes it's because there are simply two valid ways of saying something. For instance, in English we can say:
There is none.
There isn't any.
They both mean the same thing and they are both correct. How to choose?
In Italian, a case in point is when we have a modal verb, a verb in the infinitive, and a pronoun. I can attach the pronoun to the verb or I can separate it and change the word order. It's a matter of personal choice.
Vado a cercarlo.
Lo vado a cercare.
Non posso farlo.
No lo posso fare.
Some rules change over time because the rule gets broken so many times that it becomes acceptable to break it. One example of this in English is using "who" instead of "whom" when it's an object. In some cases we still use it, and it is absolutely correct, but in general conversation, people might look at you strangely or think you are a snob. We still use it when we have a preposition before it, as in business letters, for instance: "To whom it may concern."
In a recent episode of Provaci ancora prof!, there's another use that has become less common in everyday speech, but is nevertheless correct. This brand of agreement is what we call facoltativo (optional). The conversation between Renzo and Camilla seems like the perfect opportunity to shine a light on it.
Lo sai? -Lo so, ti ho vista.
You know? -I know. I saw you.
-Mi hai vista? -Sì, ti ho vista.
-You saw me? -Yes, I saw you.
Ero venuto lì per cercarti e ti ho vista.
I went there to look for you, and I saw you.
Captions 5-7, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E4 - La mia compagna di banco
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We're talking about the transitive verb vedere, which takes the auxiliary verb avere. The sentences are in the passato prossimo, thus we use the past participle of vedere. If we look at a conjugation chart, we will see that visto is the past participle, not vista! Vista is nowhere to be seen.
If you click on "play caption," you will hear that Renzo (the husband) is talking to his wife Camilla and then she answers. So what's the story with vista?
There's a rule that if the verb is in the passato prossimo, the past participle can agree in gender and number with the direct object pronoun. Read more about this (in Italian).
So Renzo says Ti ho vista. Camilla is the direct object of vedere. If the roles were reversed, Camilla would say: T'ho visto because the pronoun would correspond to a male, her husband. This doesn't apply only to people. The pronoun might refer to a thing, but all nouns have gender in Italian.
A few more examples:
Ho visto le ragazze – Le ho viste = I have seen the girls – I have seen them
Ho sentito gli spari – Li ho sentiti = I have heard the shots – I have heard them
We should mention that Camilla is a professoressa of Italian and often plays sophisticated word games with her husband, so it makes sense for them to use correct Italian, and in fact, they sometimes get competitive about it. But normal people in everyday life often do not always make this choice and it's optional, so don't worry about it too much, but you might hear it. Still, it's nice to recognize it, right? And when you use it, you will feel proud and in the know.
In the same conversation, Renzo talks about seeing Camilla with Gaetano, the chief of police.
Non negare, vi ho visti.
Don't deny it, I saw you.
Caption 11, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E4 - La mia compagna di banco
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He could have said Vi ho visto, just as he could have said T'ho visto in the previous example.
As you watch Yabla videos, you will undoubtedly come across more examples of this construction. Feel free to point them out in the comments section.
Devo dire la verità, che io adoro la panzanella
I have to tell you the truth. I love panzanella
e sono una toscana DOC [di origine controllata],
and I'm a DOC [true] Tuscan,
ma non l'ho mai fatta!
but I have never made it.
Captions 12-14, In cucina con Arianna - la panzanella
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And another example, with another verb, from the same cooking video with Arianna:
L'ho sempre mangiata molto volentieri,
I have always really enjoyed eating it [I have always eaten it willingly]...
Caption 15, In cucina con Arianna - la panzanella
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One thing that's always tricky when learning a new language is how to use prepositions. We are especially aware of this when we hear Italians speaking English, since they often get prepositions mixed up.
In your own language you rarely get it wrong. You just know.
What's confusing for English speakers learning Italian, is that in can translate as different prepositions depending on the situation.
Lots of times in means "in."
Buongiorno. Oggi siamo in Toscana.
Hello. Today we're in Tuscany.
Caption 1, In cucina con Arianna - la panzanella
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OK. "We're in Tuscany - Siamo in Toscana. That's easy, but look at the title of the video. In cucina. In Italian, there is no article in this case, but in English there is.
Dov'è Arianna (Where is Arianna)?
È in cucina (She's in the kitchen).
The kitchen is a place in the house. The same goes for lots of other places.
The following example uses in zona, a great way to say "in the area." You might ask someone on the phone it they are in zona. Then you can meet up! Zone - zona is a nice true cognate, even though we will translate it as "area" in many cases.
Siamo nati qui in zona, in un paese qui vicino di Praia a Mare.
We were born in this area, in the nearby village of Praia a Mare.
Captions 3-4, Gente - al Porto di Maratea
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We also use in to mean "in" when talking about the seasons:
Probabilmente preferirei una bella vacanza in montagna, allora.
I'd probably rather have a nice vacation in the mountains, then.
Un po' d'aria fresca, i boschi, i ruscelli.
A bit of fresh air, the woods, streams.
-Eh be', qualcosa della montagna piace anche a me.
-Oh well, I like some things about the mountains too
Ad esempio, in autunno, andare a prendere i funghi.
For example, in autumn, going to get mushrooms.
Captions 21-24, Escursione - Un picnic in campagna
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We can also note from the previous example that to talk about going on vacation in the mountains, Italians not only leave out the article, they use the singular: "mountain" — montagna. Also, not in the example, Italians use in vacanza to mean "on vacation." They could also say in ferie to mean the same thing.
Andiamo in vacanza la settimana prossima.
Were going on vacation next week.
Lavora in banca (He works at the bank).
Sono in spiaggia (I'm on the sand by the waterfront)
In can mean "by" when we are talking about a means of transportation:
A Parigi ci vai in treno o in aereo (Are you going to Paris by train or by plane)?
Vado al lavoro in bici (I go to work by bike) ma quando piove vado in macchina (but when it rains I go by car).
This is where it gets tricky because Italians use in when they are going someplace but they use the same preposition when they are already there!
Devo andare in banca (I have to go to the bank).
Non posso parlare al telefono perché sono in banca (I can't talk on the phone because I'm at the bank).
Le donne anziane del villaggio vanno in chiesa tutte le sere (The elderly women of the village go to church every evening).
Quando sono in chiesa, mi copro le spalle (When I am in a church, I cover my shoulders).
All the cases above have in common the absence of an article between the preposition in and the noun following it. They mostly have to do with places, seasons, or means of transportation.
But sometimes we do need need an article, for example:
in un attimo (in an instant)
When we have an indefinite article following in, both the preposition in (in, at, by, to) and the indefinite article un or una (a) stay separate and intact.
However when in is followed by a definite article in the singular or plural, the in gets combined with the article as follows:
(in + il) nel
(in + lo) nello
(in + l') nell'
(in + la) nella
(in + i) nei
(in + le) nelle
Ciao ragazzi e benvenuti nella mia cucina.
Hi guys and welcome to my kitchen.
Caption 1, Adriano - Pasta alla carbonara
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These prepositions are called preposizioni articolate and merit a lesson of their own, so stay tuned!
In a recent series of videos, Arianna makes panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad. Rather than giving you a list of ingredients and their precise quantities, she improvised, especially because it's a very simple recipe, and quantities aren't of utmost importance. Still, some viewers might want more detailed quantities and a more codified list of ingredients, so here, we are providing a recipe in Italian, with quantities. It will be good practice for trying out other recipes that are in Italian. It can be a lot of fun, and is truly a great way to get acquainted, in a different way, with the Italian language, not to mention with the food you will be preparing.
Su questo tavolo potete vedere tanti e coloratissimi ingredienti
On this table, you can see lots of very colorful ingredients
e voi vi chiederete "per fare cosa?"
and you must be asking yourself, "to do what?"
Per, ehm, preparare una buonissima ricetta della tradizione toscana.
To, uh, make a really good recipe from the Tuscan tradition.
Captions 2-4, In cucina con Arianna - la panzanella
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Ingredienti per 4 persone:
• 500 g di pane toscano raffermo (1 lb dried Tuscan bread)
• 2 pomodori grandi maturi (2 ripe tomatoes)
• 1 cetriolo (1 cucumber, peeled)
• 1 cipolla rossa (1 red onion)
• qualche foglia di basilico per profumare (some fresh basil leaves for flavor)
• sale qb (salt to taste)
• olio extravergine di oliva qb (good olive oil to taste)
• aceto di vino bianco qb (wine vinegar to taste- not too much, not too little)
Procedimento (procedure)
Mettere il pane in ammollo per circa mezz’ora; deve risultare bagnato anche all’interno ma non troppo molle (soak the bread in water — and the juice from the tomatoes if they are juicy — The bread should be soft, but not pasty).
Strizzare e sbriciolare grossolanamente il pane in una ciotola capiente (wring it out with your hands and crumble it in a large bowl).
Aggiungere tutte le verdure precedentemente tagliate (Add all the vegetables, which have been previously chopped into small chunks or cubes).
Condire con sale, olio e aceto (season with salt, olive oil and vinegar).
Mescolare bene e aggiungere, in ultimo, il basilico per profumare (mix well and add the basil at the end).
Note:
Many people prepare the panzanella in advance so that the flavors can blend, and they find it tastes even better cooled off in the fridge for about a half an hour.
It's best to wait until you have good, seasonal vegetables and fresh basil to make this dish. Perfect for hot summer evenings or noontime meals. It can also be served as an appetizer.
Wondering what qb means? It stands for quanto basta (as much as you need).
Buon appetito!
This lesson is simply a crossword puzzle in Italian, especially for you, inspired by the Yabla video: In cucina con Arianna - la panzanella - Part 1. The puzzle will be easier if you have watched the video, but it's not essential.
Divertitevi! Have fun!
Buongiorno. Oggi siamo in Toscana.
Hello. Today we're in Tuscany.
Su questo tavolo potete vedere tanti e coloratissimi ingredienti
On this table, you can see lots of very colorful ingredients
e voi vi chiederete "per fare cosa?"
and you must be asking yourself, "to do what?"
Per, ehm, preparare una buonissima ricetta della tradizione toscana.
To, uh, make a really good recipe from the Tuscan tradition.
Captions 1-4, In cucina con Arianna - la panzanella
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Here is a link to the solutions.
Here you will find the answers to La Panzanella crossword puzzle:
Here are the answers:
Across:
4) per togliere il sapore forte della cipolla, la si mette nell'acqua
9) il contrario di "facile": difficile
10) in nessun momento: mai
11) in un paese straniero: all'estero
12) con piacere: volentieri
14) ovunque: dappertutto
15) il sapore di questa verdura è forte: cipolla
Down:
1) fare una domanda: chiedere
2) una parola toscana per "radici": barbe
3) la regione da dove viene la panzanella: toscana
5) un altro modo di dire "veramente": addirittura
6) non fresco quando si parla di pane raffermo
7) un verbo che vuol dire "avere il gusto", e anche "avere conoscenza di": sapere
8) un modo per tagliare il pane: a fette
13) la panzanella si fa con il pane
We look forward to your feedback! Troppo facile? Troppo difficile? Funziona bene?
A presto!
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