Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
4 hours100% online
How it works
Italian for Beginners 5: Time To Travel
This free online course is the fifth of six courses. It will introduce you to the language that you need to:
- talk about arrival and departure times;
- enquire about train times;
- buy a train ticket;
- ask for information;
- talk about journey times and distances.
Learn Italian to travel, ask about trains and buy tickets
During the four weeks of the course, you will learn the vocabulary and phrases you need to travel around Italy, such as getting information about train times, buying a ticket or asking how long the journey is.
You will learn to use si (yes) to say how things are done and learn the verbs dovere (to have to), potere (can) and volere (to want). You will continue to develop your language skills, and practice asking for information in Italian. And you will find out about local transport and the rail network and about the geography of Italy.
Syllabus
Week 1
Train arrivals and departures
Talking about arrival and departure times
In this activity you will learn to talk about travel times and ask about arrival and departure times, using the 12-hour and the 24-hour clock.
Trains in Italy
In this activity you will find out about trains in Italy.
Checking availability of trains
In this activity you learn the vocabulary necessary to talk about arrival and departure information, how to ask about the availability of trains to certain destinations and to use c’è (‘there is’) and ci sono (‘there are’).
Using prepositions to talk about arrival and departure times
In this activity you do more practice on arrival and departure times and learn about some prepositions needed for talking about travel.
Over to you
Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.
Week 2
Buying a ticket
Buying a train ticket
This activity presents some key vocabulary related to train tickets and some useful phrases and information that will help you when using public transport in Italy.
Talking about prices
In this activity, you will learn how to ask the price and practise using and understanding numbers.
Local transport
In this activity you look at information on how local transport systems, such as bus, tram and metro, work in Italy. You will also learn how to pronounce pairs of vowels in words such as autobus and euro.
Days of the week
In this activity you revise the days of the week and learn how to ask for information about travelling on certain days.
Over to you
Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.
Week 3
Asking for information
Asking for something
In this activity you will learn how to ask for something using vorrei and voglio.
Asking for information
In this section you learn how to find out details about a journey using the verbs dovere and potere.
Saying how things are done
In this activity you will learn how to use si + verb, to say how things are done.
Getting around in a city
In this activity you learn about Milan and how to obtain information about getting around in a city.
Over to you
Learning a language requires effort. Here is some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.
Week 4
Distances and journey times
Saying how long a journey takes
In this activity you will first take a look at Italian geography and then learn to ask how long a journey takes by different means of transport.
High numbers
In this activity you are going to learn numbers from 100 to 1000 and practise pronouncing long words.
Expressing distances between places
In this activity you will learn how to express distance between places.
Over to you
Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Develop skills in basic Italian for interacting in common communicative situations
- Engage in simple communication in Italian
- Apply the language introduced to talk about travel, journey times and distances
- Apply the language introduced to say how things are done and to ask for information
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at people with little prior knowledge of Italian, who want to learn the basic language and find out about Italy and its regions and culture. The course assumes that you have already studied the previous four courses in the Italian for Beginners program. This course is taught through English.
Who will you learn with?
OU associate lecturer and materials writer. I have written materials on business communication, Academic English and Italian.
Lecturer in Italian at the Open University, author of Italian course books. I'm Scottish but learnt Italian in Italy when young. I love singing, dancing and travelling around Italy.
Who developed the course?
Established
1969Location
Milton Keynes, UKWorld ranking
Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
---|---|---|---|
Choose the best way to learn for you! | $79/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 12 Mar 2025 |
Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
Tests to check your learning | tick | tick | cross |
Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$79/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 12 Mar 2025
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. |
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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