Che cosa dovrei mettermi?

What should I wear?

Listen to the audio file and find the corresponding characters in the pictures below.

Then click here for the answers. 

  • You can indossare/portare (to wear), you can mettere (to put on, to wear), togliere/levare (take off), provare (try on) la giacca (jacket), il cappello (hat), le scarpe (shoes) and so on
  • You can legare/allacciare (to tie) or slegare/slacciare (to untie) i lacci delle scarpe (shoestrings)
  • Le scarpe (shoes), like a part of your body (see Unità 9.2), can fare male  (hurt): Queste scarpe mi fanno troppo male! (These shoes hurt me so bad!)
  • All these verbs, with the exception of indossare/portare (to wear) are used in their reflexive form (see the previous chapter) when action carried out by the subject is performed on the same subject: mettersi (to put on, to wear), togliersi/levarsi (to take off), provarsi (to try on), legarsi/allacciarsi (to tie), slegarsi/slacciarsi (to untie): Io mi metto una maglietta (I put on a t-shirt), Lei si prova una camicetta (She tries on a blouse). Note the difference: Io metto la giacca a mio figlio (I put my son his jacket on) / Io mi metto la giacca (I put on my jacket)
  • Vestirsi means to get dressed: Prima mi faccio la doccia, poi mi vesto (First I take a shower, then I get dressed)
  • Vestirsi bene/male (to dress well/badly): Sua moglie si veste bene, ma lui si veste male (His wife dresses well, but he dresses badly)
  • As for body parts in general, Italian possessives are not used with clothes and accessories: Mi metto le scarpe (I put on my shoes), Lui si toglie il cappello (He takes off his hat)
Clothing
Below you’ll find a list of common clothing vocabulary that you can use when shopping in Italy or just talking about clothes. To practice vocabulary and pronunciation, use Quizlet.
Note: (l’) abito suit/dress can also be called (il) vestito. If you want to specify, you can add da uomo/da donna: (l’) abito da uomo /(il) vestito da uomo (man’s suit), (l’) abito da donna /(il) vestito da donna (woman’s dress, gown). 2. A small hat (or a cap) is called cappellino, word formed with the suffix –ino (see Unità 8).Clothing materials
To describe clothes or accessories, it is also necessary to know the material they are made of. In Italian you do it indicating cloth or accessory + di + material name: una giacca di pelle (a leather jacket), pantaloni di velluto (corduroy pants).
Note: Italian has two words for leather. The word cuoio is used only to indicate the hard and thick leather that goes under the sole of shoes: only shoes can be di cuoio. Shoes, like all other clothing, can also be di pelle if they are made of soft leather.Useful clothing verbs
GRAMMAR

The verb togliere
The Italian verb togliere means to take off, take away, remove. It is an irregular verb. To form its present tense, remove –gliere from the infinitive and replace it by the appropriate present tense endings.

io tolgo noi togliamo
tu togli voi togliete
lui/lei, and Lei (form.) toglie loro tolgono

All verbs formed with –gliere are conjugated like togliere: cogliere (to pick, to grab), raccogliere (to pick up),  scegliere (to choose), sciogliere (to melt), and so on.

If you prefer you could consider togliere and similar verbs as regular verbs in –ere (see Unità 6.1), but you would have to remember a few tricks:

  • After dropping the ending -ere (togliere > togli-) you must also drop the -i for iotunoiloro but keep it for lui/lei (and Lei formal) and voiio togl-tu togl-lui/lei (and Lei formal) togli-noi togl-, loro togl- 
  • Then transform lg in gl for io and loroio tolg-loro tolg-
  • Finally add the regular -ere endings: io tolgo, tu togli, lui/lei (and Lei formal) toglie , noi togliamo, voi togliete, loro tolgono
Tasks
  • Listen to the clothing vocabulary and repeat each noun several times. Write all the words in a notebook.  At this point read and pronounce the words using Speech to text to check your pronunciation.
  • Look at the pictures above and imagine yourself in those situations. Say first and then write what you do. Use Speech to text to check your pronunciation and Spell and Grammar Checker to check if there are mistakes in your text.
  • Che cosa ti piace indossare? Perché? Write five sentences about it (use the Dictionary if you need it) and use Spell and Grammar Checker to check if there are mistakes in your text. Then ask the same questions to your friends.
Practice

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