Italian · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 44
Ho fatto un corsoI took a course
The next-to-last chapter is built on the sentences CILS REALLY puts in its cloze: «ho fatto un corso di cucina», «il corso è iniziato», «mi ha aiutata». Learning is told in the past — corso, lezione, imparare, insegnare, iniziare and finire — and the chapter is content and dress rehearsal at once: the same ten ho/sono-blank sentences you will find at the exam, lived first as a true story. Because the best way to prepare for a cloze… is to have already lived it.
Dialogue
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Il corso di cucina— The cooking course
- MarcoMike, novità: ho fatto un corso di cucina! Tre mesi, ogni giovedì sera.Mike, news: I took a cooking course! Three months, every Thursday evening. (The verbatim CILS cloze line «ho fatto un corso di cucina» spoken as real life; ogni «every», invariable.)
- MikeBravo! E quando il corso ha iniziato?Well done! And when has the course started? (THE SLIP — the exact wrong answer of the CILS cloze: iniziare with avere. But when the course starts, it changes by itself — nobody «does» a starting to it.)
- MarcoÈ iniziato! Il corso cambia da solo, nessuno gli fa niente: squadra essere. È iniziato a marzo — ed è finito la settimana scorsa.È iniziato! The course changes on its own, nobody does anything to it: team essere. It began in March — and ended last week. (The fix, plus finire following the same logic: è finito. The pair iniziare/finire both ride essere when things start and end by themselves.)
- MikeE che cosa hai imparato? — Tutto! La professoressa mi ha aiutato molto… anzi, ha aiutato tutti. Stasera cucino io: risotto!And what did you learn? — Everything! The teacher helped me a lot… in fact, she helped everyone. Tonight I cook: risotto! (imparato «learned»; mi ha aiutato — the third attested cloze line joins its siblings; cucino io — the proud-cook word order.)
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Che cosa hai imparato quest'anno?— What did you learn this year?
- SofiaMike, l'esame è tra una settimana. Guardiamo indietro: che cosa hai imparato quest'anno?Mike, the exam is a week away. Let's look back: what did you learn this year? (tra una settimana — tra pointing forward; guardare indietro «to look back», glossed; the teacher's stock-taking question.)
- MikeTutto! Sono arrivato senza una parola. Ho imparato a parlare, ho letto menu e annunci, ho scritto messaggi…Everything! I arrived without a word. I learned to speak, I read menus and ads, I wrote messages… (imparare A + infinitive — learning takes a; letto and scritto — the last two rebel participles join the collection.)
- SofiaE hai fatto tutto questo in un anno. Il corso è quasi finito — ma l'italiano no: l'italiano continua al bar, al mercato, al telefono.And you did all this in one year. The course is almost over — but Italian isn't: Italian continues at the bar, at the market, on the phone. (è finito on essere; continua — the language outliving its course, said with the places of its own chapters.)
- MikeAllora l'anno prossimo faccio il livello due! Ma prima… c'è un piccolo esame, no?Then next year I do level two! But first… there's a little exam, isn't there? (The bridge to Band 2 laid in the planning present; the understatement piccolo teeing up chapter 45.)
Vocabulary
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- il corso
n.m.the course (ho fatto un corso di cucina — the attested CILS line; un corso d'italiano)
- la lezione
n.f.the lesson (la lezione di giovedì; -zione words are all feminine — la stazione, la colazione, la lezione)
- imparare
verbto learn (ho imparato l'italiano; imparare A parlare — learning a skill takes a)
- insegnare
verbto teach (l'insegnante's verb parent; Sofia insegna l'italiano — with P3's gn)
- letto / scritto
verbread / written (leggere and scrivere's rebel participles — ho letto il menu, ho scritto un messaggio; the collection's last two)
- l'esame
n.m.the exam (dare un esame = to take an exam — Italian «gives» exams; superare = to pass; the P9 s buzzing inside)
- ricordare
verbto remember (ricordo tutto! — the learner's proudest verb; non ricordo, the honest one)
- cucinare
verbto cook (cucino io! — la cucina's verb child comes home from the course)
- il risotto
n.m.the risotto (the cooking course's diploma dish — rice, patience, and a held tt)
Grammar
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The lived cloze — the exam's ten sentences
Explanation
The CILS test «Analisi P2» is ten sentences with a blank: ho or sono (or ha/è, hanno/sono). This chapter turns it from threat to formality, because every sentence-type you have already LIVED in past chapters. The definitive review, by families. FAMILY AVERE (the verb does something to an object): HO fatto un corso, HO mangiato la pizza, HO visitato Roma, HO comprato il biglietto, mi HA aiutata — mind the last one: the helper does something TO ME, so avere, even if the mi in front whispers «essere» to a distracted ear. FAMILY ESSERE-MOVEMENT (the verb moves its doer): SONO andato, SONO partita, SIAMO tornati, È arrivata. FAMILY ESSERE-CHANGE (the thing changes by itself): il corso È iniziato, il film È finito, SONO nato/a. FAMILY PIACERE: mi È piaciuto il corso, mi SONO piaciute le lezioni. The exam-room method: read the verb, not the pronoun — the mi decides nothing, the verb decides; then ask the question: «does it do something to something else?» avere; «does it move or change by itself?» essere; «is it piacere?» essere plus agreement. Ten blanks, three questions, zero panic.
Examples
- Ho fatto un corso di cucina; il corso è iniziato a marzo.I took a cooking course; the course began in March. (Both attested lines welded: avere for the doing, essere for the self-starting.)
- La professoressa mi ha aiutata molto.The teacher helped me a lot. (Said by a woman — the attested cloze line in full dress: avere despite the mi, with the receptive -a polish.)
- Sono partita a giugno, sono tornata a settembre — e mi sono piaciute tutte le lezioni.I left in June, came back in September — and I liked all the lessons. (Movement, movement, piacere — three essere for three different reasons, all agreeing.)
- Test finale: «Ieri ___ mangiato»; «Il film ___ finito»; «Mi ___ piaciuta la festa». — HO, È, È!Final test: «Yesterday ___ eaten»; «The film ___ ended»; «The party ___ pleased me». — HO, È, È! (The three families in three blanks — if these landed instantly, the exam's P2 is already yours.)
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