In a sentence, the main clause can stand on its own, but there can also be a subordinate or dependent clause. Today's lesson addresses the causal subordinate clause, which gives the reason for the action in the main clause. Conjunctions such as perché (because) dato che (given that) are used to join the two clauses.

De Sica is generous with Domenico. Later on, seated on the curb with his friend, Domenico borrows a guitar from a "blind" person nearby and sings a song he wrote.

Music plays an essential role in the films of the Taviani brothers. It's like having another actor. Composer Nicola Piovani knows something about this having worked with them on some of their movies. He also composed the soundtrack for the movie La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) with Roberto Benigni.

Daniela talks about explicit and implicit causal subordinate clauses.

Domenico gets a small role in a movie where he has to sing a child to sleep. He then tries his luck in a singing contest. He also seems to be getting some attention from some women...

Music and sound have major roles in the movies of the Taviani brothers. Notably, the tarantella from Allonsanfàn, written by Ennio Morricone, was also used by Tarantino in one of his movies, and that's when it became famous.

There is a certain kind of subordinate clause, called a "clause of purpose," that basically answers the question, "to what end?" Italian has a number of conjunctions that can be translated as "so that," and they take the subjunctive in most cases. So this kind of subordinate clause can be tricky.

Marika gets us on track with the words and expressions we need for talking about math. You might hate math, as many do, but it is handy to have the vocabulary at your fingertips!

Mimmo is discouraged about getting rejected at the radio station, and Riccardo gives him some criticism. Franca has a different opinion. The students get together to celebrate the end of their two-year program at the Experimental Center.

We learn about the ideas behind the movies, Father and Master and The Night of the Shooting Stars, and how music played a major role in both movies.

We all know how to add and subtract, but talking about it in Italian is another thing. Marika helps us make sense of it and talks about the fractions and percentages we often find in the news and surveys.

Don't be scared off by fancy names of clauses and parts of speech. Daniela is just showing us different ways of saying the same thing, but sometimes one way is clearer than the other, especially when the subject changes from main to subordinate clause.

Domenico keeps telling his story, fast-forwarding a bit, and focuses on when he got a new place to live with his friends helping him, and meeting up with Franca again.

The Taviani brothers were adolescents during World War II, and talk about how tense it was growing up with the Germans and fascists so close by. A woman at a bar gives them directions to find one of the locations for filming The Night of the Shooting Stars.

Italian has an amazingly long list of conjunctions or locutions that mean "although," "despite," and similar words. Daniela explains what a concession subordinate clause is and gives us several examples.