Usually, we understand the adjective capace to mean "capable."
Guarda che se non sei capace a dirgli di no, ti fai male!
Look, if you're not capable of telling him no, you'll hurt yourself!
Caption 20, Il Commissario Manara S1EP9 - Morte in paradiso - Part 1
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E... ma sai fare un po' di pasta fresca tu? Sei capace?
And... but do you know how to make a little fresh pasta? Are you capable?
Caption 11, Anna e Marika La pasta fresca
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But there is another, more colloquial way to use capace for predicting something, where it means something more akin to "possible." It's colloquial and used in central and southern Italy. Not everyone uses it with the subjunctive, but theoretically, the subjunctive should be used, since it has to do with uncertainty and is followed by che.
From the horse's mouth: Tuscans, when asked, say you don't need the subjunctive, and you don't even need the verb (è). They say, Capace che piove, (it might very well rain) or even Capace piove, without the che!
È capace che Iside l'ammazza [sic: l'ammazzi].
It could be that Iside kills her.
Caption 2, Sposami EP 6 - Part 20
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Certainly, if you hang out in Tuscany, you will hear this usage of the word capace.
How do we talk about frequency — how many times in a period of time something happens or should happen? Let's find out.
Just as English has "every" and "each," so does Italian. Italian has tutti (all) and ogni (each). For more about tutti see this lesson.
In Italia, come ben sapete, la pasta è un alimento consumato tutti i giorni.
In Italy, as you well know, pasta's a food that's eaten every day.
Caption 1, Anna e Marika La pasta fresca
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Note that with tutti, we use the plural. Both the noun giorni and the adjective tutti are in the plural. Not only that. If we replace giorni (days) with settimane (weeks), we have to change tutti to tutte, as settimana is a feminine noun. Note also that we have tutto il giorno, which means "all day." Here tutto is singular, so try not to get mixed up (we'll talk about this in a different lesson).
Usciamo quasi tutte le settimane, il sabato sera,
We go out almost every week, on Saturday night,
Caption 40, Erica e Martina La nostra amicizia
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When we use ogni (each), on the other hand, it's always singular.
Qui in Sicilia, in estate si va ogni giorno al mare e la sera si esce.
Here in Sicily, in the summer we go to the beach every day and in the evenings we go out.
Caption 49, Adriano Le stagioni dell'anno
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What if we want to talk about "every other day?" We can say ogni due giorni (every two days) or we can say un giorno sì e un giorno no (one day yes and one day no).
Ah no, eh? E tu come lo chiami un bambino che vomita un giorno sì e un giorno no?
No? And what do you call a little boy who vomits every other day?
Captions 95-96, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP3 - Il tarlo del sospetto - Part 3
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When it comes to doing something once a day, once a week, once a month, or once a year, we use the noun volta, which we can also use in the plural when appropriate. It is followed by the preposition a (at, to, in)
Allora, amici di Yabla, all'interno del mio negozio, una volta al mese ospito degli artisti...
So, Yabla friends, inside my shop, I host artists once a month...
Captions 56-57, Adriano Negozio di Antichità Sgroi
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Note that the noun volta has other meanings and connotations, so consider checking out the dictionary entry linked to above. Learn more about the noun volta meaning "time" in this lesson.
una volta al giorno (once a day)
due volte al giorno (twice a day)
una volta alla settimana (once a week)
due volte alla settimana (twice a week)
una volta al mese (once a month)
due volte al mese (twice a month)
una volta all'anno (once a year)
due volte all'anno (twice a year)
There is a lot to talk about regarding time. We've covered one aspect of frequency in this lesson, but in future lessons, we'll talk about ways to say "usually," "sometimes," "always," "never," and so on.
Here’s a general definition of the English word “machine”: “an apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used in the performance of some kind of work.”
As we look at the different things that are called macchine (the cognate of “machine” but with a double “c”) in Italian, it may be helpful to remember the above definition.
Apart from being a cognate of “machine” in most instances, one of the most important meanings of macchina, in Italian, is “car.” It isn’t very intuitive to translate, but it fits the description above. Other words meaning “car” are automobile, just like in English, autovettura, or just auto. These words are used more formally, and when buying and selling cars. But in everyday conversation, macchina is the noun of choice.
Con il cric si alza la macchina
With the jack you raise the car
e si cerca di togliere la gomma bucata.
and you try to remove the punctured tire.
Caption 24, Francesca - alla guida
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Here are some of the most common macchine (machines) you’ll see around. Macchina da pane or macchina per il pane (bread machine)
Macchina per la pasta (pasta machine)
La macchina che vedete in funzione,
The machine you see working,
in realtà è difficile vederlo da qui, ma sta realizzando dei tortellini.
it's actually difficult to see it from here, but it's producing tortellini.
Caption 33, Anna e Marika - La pasta fresca
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In the pastificio (pasta-making shop) Marika and Anna visit, the machine is undoubtedly electric, but there are mechanical machines as well, powered by a human! You turn the crank. Mechanical pasta machines to use at home are sold all over Italy.
Macchina da scrivere (typewriter). A machine for writing. It can be electric or manual. We don’t see many of these around anymore, but a computer keyboard performs a similar function.
Macchina fotografica (camera). This is a machine that takes still photos. These days unamacchina fotografica often takes videos, too.
Macchina da ripresa (movie camera). This is also called una cinepresa in Italian. The English term video camera has become part of Italian vocabulary. This item is also called a “camcorder” in English and a telecamera (short for the English “television camera”) in Italian.
Macchina da cucire (sewing machine). Here, too, we have electric sewing machines and pedal sewing machines, which are still used today by some sarti (tailors/dressmakers) or sarte (seamstresses/dressmakers) in Italy.
There are undoubtedly many other macchine that carry out specific tasks, and more are being invented faster than we can learn their names.
If you watch the video of the quiz show L’Eredità, new this week, the present lesson may help you understand the play on words used in some joking around between the host and the contestants. It starts like this:
Abbiamo noleggiato la macchina ieri sera.
We rented a car yesterday evening.
-Esatto, una bella macchina.
-Right, a nice car.
Caption 46, L'Eredità -Quiz TV - La sfida dei sei. Puntata 1
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Direct object nouns and pronouns are used with transitive verbs, meaning that the verb and the object have a direct relationship—no prepositions are involved. Here’s an example:
I carry the ball. The object “ball” is acted on directly by the verb “to carry.”
Once we know what object we are referring to, we can replace the noun with a pronoun:
I carry it.
If I have more than one ball, I use the plural:
I carry the balls.
I carry them.
That’s what direct object pronouns are all about. In Italian we have to form the pronouns not only according to their number, but also according to their gender.
In this lesson we cover the feminine direct object pronouns in both the singular and the plural. For the masculine pronouns, see this Yabla lesson as well as the video Corso di italiano con Daniela - Pronomi oggetto diretto - Part 1.
As Daniela mentions in part 2 of her lesson on direct object pronouns, the feminine direct object pronouns are easier than the masculine ones, because the pronoun is the same as the article in both the singular (la) and the plural (le), respectively.
To distinguish between la the article and la the pronoun, just remember that a direct object pronoun will come before a conjugated verb, and an article will come before a noun or adjective. The following example contains both the article and the pronoun la.
La pasta fresca mi piace talmente tanto, che la mangio anche cruda.
I like fresh pasta so much, that I eat it raw, too.
Caption 9, Anna e Marika - La pasta fresca
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In the example below, we have both a feminine noun in the plural (le lettere) and its relative direct object pronoun (le). Note that in the second half of the sentence, potere (to be able to) is the conjugated modal verb*, which is followed by the verb scambiare (to exchange) in the infinitive.
Non aveva le lettere e non le poteva scambiare con nessuno.
He didn't have the letters and he couldn't exchange them with anyone.
Caption 8, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi
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Pronouns are often attached to verbs, especially when we have a conjugated modal verb*. In the example below, bisogna, an impersonal verb functioning like devi (you must), or è necessario (it’s necessary) bumps the verb portare (to take) into its infinitive form. The final e of the infinitive is then dropped, making room for the pronoun le (them) to be attached to it.
Una volta raccolte le olive,
Once the olives have been picked,
bisogna portarle al più presto al frantoio.
you have to take them to the mill as soon as possible.
Caption 18, L'olio extravergine di oliva - Il frantoio
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Once you have seen Daniela’s videos about direct object pronouns, see Marika’s video Marika spiega - I pronomi diretti where she gives plenty of examples.
*Daniela explains about modal verbs in Corso di italiano con Daniela - Verbi modali.
Here are two lessons about using modal verbs in Italian.
In a future lesson, we’ll cover indirect object pronouns, where le takes on still another role.
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