Lesson 16.1: What Do You Do for Fun? – Talking About Hobbies in Italian

Lesson 16.1: What Do You Do for Fun? – Talking About Hobbies in Italian 🧩🥋🧬 #

Time to talk about your life outside of language lessons.
You know… things you actually enjoy. Or pretend to enjoy when someone asks.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to speak about your hobbies in Italian — whether you enjoy sports, music, gardening, or building suspicious family trees like Geoff.

Useful Verbs for Hobbies #

Italian English
fare to do / to make
giocare to play (sports)
suonare to play (instruments)
leggere to read
cucinare to cook
camminare to walk
disegnare to draw
praticare to practice (a discipline)
collezionare to collect

Talking About Hobbies #

Use fare for many general activities:

  • Faccio yoga. → I do yoga.
  • Faccio sport. → I do sports.
  • Faccio karate. → I do karate. (Viktor approved.)

Use giocare a for team sports:

  • Gioco a calcio. → I play soccer.
  • Giochiamo a pallavolo. → We play volleyball.

Use suonare for instruments:

  • Suono la chitarra. → I play the guitar.
  • Suono il mandolino. → I play the mandolin.
  • Rubavo il mandolino. → I stole the mandolin. (Geoff’s ancestor, probably.)

🎭 Geoff & Viktor Talk Hobbies (with English translations) #

Geoff: Cosa fai nel tempo libero?
Geoff: What do you do in your free time?

Viktor: Faccio karate! E tu?
Viktor: I do karate! And you?

Geoff: Studio il mio albero genealogico.
Geoff: I study my family tree.

Viktor: Interessante. Hai scoperto qualcosa?
Viktor: Interesting. Have you discovered anything?

Geoff: Sì. Un mio antenato suonava il mandolino. Un altro… rubava mandolini.
Geoff: Yes. One of my ancestors played the mandolin. Another… stole mandolins.

Viktor: Bella famiglia.
Viktor: Nice family.

Geoff: Grazie. Siamo molto… musicali.
Geoff: Thanks. We’re very… musical.

Expressions of Frequency #

Italian English
sempre always
spesso often
qualche volta sometimes
raramente rarely
mai never

Examples:

  • Faccio karate ogni sabato. → I do karate every Saturday.
  • Non suono mai il flauto. → I never play the flute.
  • Qualche volta disegno… e poi nascondo tutto. → Sometimes I draw… and then hide it all.

Practice Tip 🧠 #

Start with:

  • Nel tempo libero… → In my free time…
  • Mi piace… → I like…
  • Io… → I…

Example:

Nel tempo libero, leggo libri di storia e faccio domande strane al mio gatto.

Coming up next: Exercise 16.1 — Time to confess what you actually do when no one’s watching.