Conversation unit 05- Origins

Texts

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

• 05.1
  
  I am Italian

  
  I am from Rome

  
  I came from Venice

• 05.2
  []   United States of America  
  May I ask, are you an American?

    United States of America     New York  
  Yes, I am an American. I came from New York

  []   United States of America  
  Your husband is also an American, I presume?

  []
  No, he's Italian. He's from Rome.

• 05.3
  ==
  Where is Mr. Green from?

  
  He is from Paris

  []
  Are his parents and siblings all in France?

  [] {} {} [] []
  His parents are both in France. He doesn't have brothers, and he doesn't have younger sisters either. He has only one elder sister. She is a dancer, working in London

  []
  What's his parents' job?

  [] {} [] [] []
  He retired, she is a teacher; they live in Paris

  ==
  Is Mr. Green married?

  
  Yes, he is married. He has a daughter and a son

• NOTES
  
  Italian, from Rome. Literally "Italy person", "Rome person". The first part indicates a person nationality, the second where a person was born.

  
  Literally "I am from Venice came", "I came from Venice". It tells us that the person came to this place from Venice.

  
  The possessive/adjectival marker is usually dropped with names of nationalities or languages. The form on the right is the (more correct) full form.

  
  This is a suggestive or exhortative marker. In this case, used in a question, carries the meaning that the speaker is guessing/assuming something. In the next units it will be found as exhortative, in sentences like "Let's go"

  
  Literally "is where person?". It usually refers to which part of a country a person is from. It could also mean asking which nationality the person is.

  []
  Both his/her parents, literally: "his/her parents all". This adverb is only used to refer to the items to the left of it. It would be wrong to write "all his/her parents"
   
   
  

  First appearance: Thu Aug 15 19:05:51 CEST 2002 - | - Last modified: Fri Dec 11 17:15:05 CET 2009