Nos DialetOur Dialect

Ding! Ding! Dialect school . . . Before beginning our second lesson, I remain uncertain how to teach the dialect. I know the dialect but never learned it. It was simply the sounds of the house..my parents spoke to themselves, to me, to my siblings and to our paesani. I do not know of any dialect school even in the todays Trentino unlike the Val Gardena in the Alto Adige where there is a very deliberate effort to teach and carry on their historic Ladino dialect. With this uncetainty, I would urge anyone in our community to come forth and attempt to be its teacher for the Fil. My methodology will be to present some grammar, syntax and vocabulary to reawaken some of the sounds and memories of those of us who were the first generation and for others to possibly demytholize this truly cosa nostra, el nos dialet. Remember that the dialect, while common, has individual differences from valley to valley. The illustration is a dictionary of one part of one valley and each valley probably has its own such dictionary. Ding! Ding! Sem a scolawe are in school
Gianna and Lou

Definite Articles: In Italian, the definite articles are the following: Il, Lo, La, I, Gli and Le. En dialt i de men (In dialect there are fewer) For singular: EL, LA and for plural: I and LEDifati se en talin se diss (In fact in Italian one says) Lo zino e Gli zoccoli (the back pack and shoes)en dialt trentin se sparmia e disn (in the Trentino dialect we economize and say) El prossac e i zocoi. Verbs: Here is the present tense of verb to havered in dialect, blue in Italianand the interrogative form in dialect Feminine Interogative Mi g`ho Ti te g`hai Lu el g`ha Noi g`avm Voi gav Lori i g`ha I have You have He has We have You have They have io ho tu hai egli ha Noi abbiamo Voi avete essi hanno Mi g`nte? Ti g`at? Lu g`alo? Ela g`ala? Noi g`avnte? Voi g`av? Lori g`hai? Lore g`ale?

Ela la g`ha Lore le g`ha

VocabularySome of our words. Putel Putela Fradel Fasoi Caregha Let Cunel Pioat Magnar Netar Bosia Nef Ragazzo Ragazza Fratello Fagioli Sedia Letto Coniglio Pulcino Mangiare Pulire Buggia Nieve Boy Girl Brother Beans Chair Bed Rabbit Chick To Eat To clean Lie Snow 18