Let's look at 4 more ways to use the noun il conto in everyday conversation. The first two involve prepositions:
When we do something on someone's behalf, we use per conto di.
La leggenda racconta di miniere dove a scavare erano dei nani
The legend tells of mines where dwarfs were excavating
per conto del re Laurino.
on behalf of the king Laurin.
Captions 23-24, Meraviglie - EP. 5 - Part 10
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Oltre a questo lavoro giornalistico più specifico,
Besides this more specific journalistic job,
lavoro anche come, come responsabile di uffici stampa
I also work as head of press offices
per conto di varie realtà.
on behalf of various organizations.
Captions 1-3, Francesca Vitalini - Fare la giornalista pubblicista
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An expression we might see in a contract about power of attorney is:
agire in nome e per conto di (to act in the name of and on behalf of)
This expression can also mean "of one's own" and is used quite frequently as in the following example.
Perché la mi' figliola [mia figlia] c'ha già tanti problemi per conto suo.
Because my daughter has enough problems of her own.
Caption 37, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP9 - Morte in paradiso
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It can also mean on one's own:
Non faccio in tempo a venire a casa per pranzo. Mangio per conto mio.
I don't have time to come home for lunch. I'll eat on my own.
If we use the preposition su (on) then it can mean "about." We usually use it in reference to people.
No, io devo smentire delle cattiverie che girano sul mio conto.
No, I have to prove wrong the maliciousness that's circulating about me.
Caption 11, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto
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Anche se ultimamente si dicono un sacco di cose sul suo conto...
Even though lately they've said a lot of things about her...
Caption 30, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP1 - Matrimonio con delitto
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These next examples involve a verb plus conto:
Mah, la libertà è una grossa parola,
Well, freedom is a strong word,
perché bisogna sempre tener conto
because we always have to take into account
delle persone che abbiamo intorno.
the people we're surrounded by.
Captions 22-23, Che tempo che fa - Monica Bellucci
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Here's an example using the particle ne (about it, of it) as well. It takes the place of di qualcosa (about/of something):
Tu vedrai che i giudici ne terranno conto, ascoltami.
You will see that the judges will take it into account, listen to me.
Caption 23, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP3 - Delitto tra le lenzuola
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When someone is telling you to listen to how things add up, or how things fit together, they might say:
Fai conto... (take this into consideration, do the math..., let's see... figure this in...)
Like many expressions, there are some people who use this expression regularly, and others who never use it. It can be added into a sentence as is, on its own. Instead of doing the math oneself, the speaker is having you participate. It's a modo di dire.
Ci vogliono, fai conto, tre ore per andare da Pisa a Bologna in macchina.
It will take — you should count — three hours to go from Pisa to Bologna by car.
Cammina, cammina. Sai quanti chilometri faccio io al giorno?
Yeah, walk. You know how many kilometers I do per day?
-Quanti? -Fai conto tre pedinamenti, per dire, eh.
-How many? -Figure three tails, to give you an idea, huh.
Captions 14-15, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP6 - Sotto tiro
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Fare conto can also be used with che (that) to make a more complex sentence.
Fai conto che io faccio tanti kilometri al giorno.
Take into account that I do three kilometers per day.
Fare conto doesn't necessarily have to do with numbers or counting. It can also mean "to assume that" or even "to pretend that" in certain contexts and in this case it takes the subjunctive.
Fai conto che io sia tua madre (anche se sono la zia), e devi fare quello che dico io.
Think of me as your mother (even though I am your aunt) and you have to do as I say.
We hope these ways for using il conto will be useful to you. Maybe you will hear them used in a movie, or when an Italian is explaining something to you. Now you know!
Can you think of other ways this noun is used? Let us know at newsletter@yabla.com.
It's easy to get a bit confused when talking about la fotografia (photography) in Italian. English and Italian differ in an unexpected way. In English we use a preposition: a picture of you, him, her, etc. In Italian, however, we use a personal pronoun that agrees with foto (photo, picture). Although we can safely say that foto means "photo," and fotografia (aside from meaning "photography") means "photograph," we just need to remember that la foto, being an informal abbreviated form of fotografia, is the same in the singular and plural (la foto, le foto). In the example below, we see there are three photos, so in this case foto is clearly plural, and therefore tue (your) agrees with the plural status of foto. A little tricky! Fotografia on the other hand has a normal plural: fotografie.
Guarda, abbiamo scelto tre foto tue...
Look, we've chosen three photos of you...
Caption 33, Che tempo che fa - Monica Bellucci
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Remember also that in English, we take a picture, but in Italian we "make" a photo!
Io ho fatto una fotografia di un grande
I took a picture of a great,
broccolo romano, bellissimo.
beautiful Romanesque cauliflower (or Romanesco broccoli).
Caption 36, L'arte della cucina - I Luoghi del Mondo
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We can also scattare una foto (take a picture). Learn more about the verb scattare here. The verb scattare has to do with the spring action of pressing the button on the camera to fare uno scatto (take a snapshot).
Attenzione! While a video camera is called una videocamera, a camera for taking still photos is called una macchina fotografica ("photographic machine").
We have talked about the impersonal form of verbs in previous lessons. There's a great example in Marika's video about the entrance to her apartment. Note that she uses the plural form of the verb because the objects, giacche, giubbotti, cappotti (jackets, windbreakers, coats) are plural.
E quindi si usano giacche, giubbotti, cappotti.
And so we use jackets, windbreakers, coats.
Ma dove si mettono, una volta che si tolgono?
But where do we put them once we take them off?
Captions 49-50, Marika spiega - L'ingresso di casa
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Review the impersonale here.
Another instance of the impersonale can be found in a video interview with Monica Bellucci. She's talking about the huge blow-ups of some of her photos.
Ah, questa era, l'ho fatta in America, ero giovanissima, si vede.
Ah, this one was, I did it in America, I was very young, you can tell.
Caption 35, Che tempo che fa - Monica Bellucci
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