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Grammar reference:

In order to fully understand the following dialogues, you should take a look at these grammar pages:

• Pronunciation
• Definite articles
• Undefinite articles
• Singular nouns' desinences
• Interrogative and negative forms in Italian
• Conjugations of italian verbs
• The Indicative mode
• The Present Tense Indicative
• Personal Pronouns

Dialogue

Pàolo incòntra Màrco all'università
Listen to the dialogue

Paolo:"Ciào,scùsami, che òre sòno?"
Marco:"Sòno le ùndici e trènta(11:30)"
Paolo:"Io mi chiàmo Paolo. Tu còme ti chiàmi?"
Marco:"Mi chiamo Marco. Sèi ùno studènte?"
Paolo:"Sòno ùno studènte di informàtica. E tu?"
Marco:"Stùdio italiàno"

Paolo meets Marco at the university
Paolo:"Hello,excuse me, what time is it?"
Marco:"it's half past eleven"
Paolo:"My name is Paolo. What's your name?"
Marco:"I'm Marco. Are you a student?"
Paolo:"I'm a student of computer science. What about you?"
Marco:"I study Italian."

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Expressions:

The most important expressions of the dialogues above are:

• "Ciào": used for greeting people in an informal way. You can use it both when you meet somebody or when you take leave of somebody. In formal occassion you should use "buongiòrno" in the morning and "buonasèra" in the afternoon and evening.
• "Scùsami": used for getting somebody's attention in an informal way or to say "I'm sorry". When you want to be more formal you can say "mi scùsi";
• "Che òre sono?": used for asking what time it is.
• "Còme ti chiàmi?": it means what's your name, but literrally it means "How do you call yourself". The exact translation of "what is your name" in Italian is "Qual è il tuo nome" but though correct and possible, it sounds too literary.

Verbs:

• "Studiare": It means "to study" and it is transitive
• "Chiamare": It means "to call" and "to name"
• "Essere":It is an auxiliary verb, used to form the counpound tenses of the intransitive verbs and the passive form. As a normal verb it means "to be", "to exist", "to stay"

Question words:

The most important expressions of the dialogues above are:

• "Come": as an adverb, it is used for asking the way somebody/something is or does something. Look at the following examples:
  Còme stài? how are you;
  Còme funziona? how does it work?
  As a conjunction, it can be used for the same reason after verbs of knowing/understanding:
  Nòn so còme funziòna. I don't know how it works.
• "Che": It means "what" and it is both a pronoun and an adjective. It is invariable.
  Che succède?What's going on?
  Che film hai visto ieri?What movie did you watch yesterday?