Ah… a sign of relief! Un sospiro di sollievo! Here’s an easy one!

Fammi un favore.
Do me a favor.

The wonderful thing about this phrase, it’s almost word for word exactly how we say it in English! So for those of you fluent in English, this one is a piece of cake.

Here it is as it appears in Il Commissario Manara on Yabla.

Luca and Lara have discovered a dead woman in a pond in a nearby park. But Luca’s sister is in town, so as Lara says she’s returning to the police station he says:

Fammi un favore… vedi se mia sorella ha bisogno di qualcosa.
Do me a favor… see if my sister needs anything.

So for i vostri compiti this week, ask as many people as you can for a favor! The nice things here is you can get some practice giving commands – using the imperativo. 

Fammi un favore… 

...passami il cellulare.
…hand me the cellphone.

…chiama il Commissario Manara.
…call Police Commissioner Manara.

…pensaci.
…think about it.

…lasciami in pace.
…leave me in peace.

…metti su il caffè.
…put the coffee on.

Note: all of those imperatives above are informal, as is fammi un favore. So, how would you make this phrase formal?

(Lei) Mi faccia un favore…

...mi passi il cellulare.
…hand me the cellphone.

…chiami il Commissario Manara.
…call Police Commissioner Manara.

…ci pensi.
…think about it.

…mi lasci in pace.
…leave me in peace.

…metta su il caffè.
…put the coffee on.

What favors will you ask for? Fammi un favore! Tell us on Facebook.

Wait... what language is THAT?

Yabla Italian is an excellent tool to help you develop an ear for spoken Italian. (I use Yabla personally to study three different languages.) With Yabla Italian you will have:

• verbatim subtitles in Italian
• access to English subtitles when you need them
• the ability to turn the subtitles off as you improve
• quizzes to gauge how well you're doing

And… this is especially useful… you can slow the video down! Yes! We all know how fast the Italians talk. You know a lot of the words. If you just had a little more time to process them…. Well, now you do!

If you feel your Italian is good enough to watch without Italian (or English) subtitles, this episode of Il Commissario Manara is also available for free from RAI. You will need to fast forward to exactly 48 minutes for the start of Un morto di troppo.