Semana Santa: Expressing awe at weight of religious floats
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Key Phrases
Quanto pesa quella statua?
How much does that statue weigh?
La portano a spalla per ore.
They carry it on their shoulders for hours.
È una tradizione molto antica qui.
It's a very old tradition here.
Skills You'll Learn
Asking about the weight of an object
Chiedere il peso di un oggetto
Describing how an action is carried out over time
Descrivere come un'azione viene svolta nel tempo
Expressing appreciation and thanking formally
Esprimere apprezzamento e ringraziare formalmente
Lesson Roleplay
Imagine you're watching a religious procession in a small Italian town. You want to ask a local about the huge statue being carried through the streets.
Scusi, buonasera. Quanto pesa quella statua?
Excuse me, good evening. How much does that statue weigh?
Buonasera! Pesa circa una tonnellata, credo.
Good evening! It weighs about a ton, I think.
Una tonnellata? Incredibile!
A ton? Incredible!
Sì, e la portano a spalla per ore.
Yes, and they carry it on their shoulders for hours.
Quante persone la portano?
How many people carry it?
Lesson Vocabulary & Phrases
Scusi, buonasera.
SKOO-zee bwoh-nah-SEH-rah
Excuse me, good evening.
💬 Scusi is the polite form for a stranger. With a friend you'd say scusa.
🇮🇹 Opening with scusi plus a greeting is the natural way to approach someone in a crowd before asking a question.
See breakdown →Quanto pesa?
KWAHN-toh PEH-zah
How much does it weigh?
💬 Quanto plus a verb asks "how much" for anything measurable. Swap in another verb: Quanto costa? "How much does it cost?"
See breakdown →Quella statua
KWEL-lah STAH-twah
That statue
💬 Quella changes ending to match the noun. It is quel for most masculine words, as in quel carro "that float", and quelle for feminine plurals.
See breakdown →Quanto pesa quella statua?
KWAHN-toh PEH-zah KWEL-lah STAH-twah
How much does that statue weigh?
La statua
lah STAH-twah
The statue
Una tonnellata
OO-nah ton-nel-LAH-tah
A ton
🇮🇹 Italians use metric, so una tonnellata means 1,000 kg. That's a little more than a US ton.
See breakdown →Pesa circa una tonnellata
PEH-zah CHEER-kah OO-nah ton-nel-LAH-tah
It weighs about a ton
💬 Circa before a number softens it to "about". For example, circa due ore "about two hours".
See breakdown →Credo
KREH-doh
I think
💬 Credo tacked onto the end of a sentence hedges what you just said, like English "I think". The verb ending already means "I", so no io is needed.
See breakdown →Pesa circa una tonnellata, credo.
PEH-zah CHEER-kah OO-nah ton-nel-LAH-tah KREH-doh
It weighs about a ton, I think.
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