B1 Translation Sentences 1
Translate these sentences into English (The instructions are there to help you) Then compare your
answers with the answers below:
1) Mi piace uscire con gli amici. (Look at the verb form and the use of the article with
“friends”)
2) Mi sono alzato/a presto stamattina e poi ho fatto una buona colazione. (Think about the
verb tenses and the collocation of “verb + meal”
3) Voglio informarmi bene prima di cominciare il corso di nuoto. (Think about the vocabulary
here and the verb patterns)
4) Penso di restare a casa stasera perché devo studiare. (Think about the verb pattern if you use
“think” or choose a different future form. Think about how you can translate “devo”)
5) Il professore mi ha dato tanti compiti da fare ieri: non so come troverò il tempo per farli.
(Think about the tenses (past and future)
6) La mia famiglia è composta di 4 persone, io, mia mamma ed i miei fratelli: Luca e
Giovanna. (Be careful with the vocabulary here. Don’t write Italian in English words!)
7) Penso che l’Arena abbia bisogno di fondi. (Be careful with the verb forms)
Answers
1. I like going out with my friends. / I like to go out with my friends (Both are OK.
So... what’s the difference?
I like shopping/I like swimming/ I like reading/ I like going out with friends (You are
just saying that you like the activity.)
I like to swim in the lake under a starlit sky! I like to meet some friends on a Friday
evening at the Fuori Porta, a pub in the street where I live (here you are describing
something you like in a specific situation or context.)
2. I got up early this morning and then I had a good breakfast.
(wake/woke up or get/got up? Wake is when you first open your eyes)
Got up or Have got up? In this case it is a finished past action with a specific time
reference (You know when it happened ) so you need the ......SIMPLE PAST.
I’ve bought a new computer! (Present Perfect ) Finished past action but you don’t know
when I did this and you are interested in the facts NOT when I did it,)
3. I want to get some information /find out more /ask about this before I start/starting the
swimming course/lessons.
(Be careful with collocations: get + information and be careful with verb patterns “before” +
“ing” or “before” + Subject + verb)
4. I think I’ll /I’m going to stay at home this evening because I have to/ must study.
Which would you use? “have to” or “must”: “ In Italy we ....................... drive on the right.”
The answer is “have to” because this is an obligation which is imposed from OUTSIDE. In this case
it is the law.
“Must” is personal obligation: “ I really must wash my hair this evening!!!”
The best way to remember all these things is to USE THEM when you speak English so now:
Choose four points from the exercise we just did and use them in four examples about you. Write
two sentences that are true and two that are false:
Here are my examples:
I woke up at 4.11 this morning.
I got up straight away and prepared my lessons before leaving the house.
I had a good, healthy breakfast this morning.
This evening I must phone my mother!
5) Il professore mi ha dato tanti compiti da fare ieri: non so come troverò il tempo per farli.
(Think about the tenses (past and future)
Yesterday the teacher gave me a lot of homework, I don’t know when I’ll do it / how I’ll
find the time to do it.
Be careful!
Homework in English is UNCOUNTABLE so it has no plural form.
6) La mia famiglia è composta di 4 persone, io, mia mamma ed i miei fratelli: Luca e
Giovanna. (Be careful with the vocabulary here. Don’t write Italian in English words!)
In my family there are/ My family has four members: me, my mother, and my brother and
sister: Luca and Giovanna.
7) Penso che l’Arena abbia bisogno di fondi. (Be careful with the verb forms)
I think ( that) the Arena needs funds/money
Be careful!
In English we don’t say someone needs of something. We say someone needs something.