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Saturday, December 8, 2007

Diabolik - Ricordo d’Altea

Ricordo d'Altea - Diabolik

In the story Ricordo d’Altea (written in 1971), Ispettore Gingko thinks that his love, Altea (a Duchess nonetheless), has died. And in the process of grieving tells a friend how he met her. And of course he met her during one of Diabolik’s crimes. Turns out Altea does not die. The story makes use of a lot of verb tenses: presento, passato prossimo, imperfetto, trapassato prossimo, passato remoto, futuro, imperativo, condizionale and a little congiuntivo. In this riveting passage you can see a couple of tenses: 

Narrator: Intanto Altea si era alzata ed era scesa per la colazione…. 
Altea: Lodovico, L’Ispettore riposa ancora? 
Lodovico: No, signora Duchessa! Ha chiesto i respiratori, sono già due ore che sta esplorando il mare! Altea: Due ore! E non è ancora tornato! Sono preoccupata! 
Altea: Prepara il motoscafo! Andiamo a cercarlo! 

Translation: 

Narrator: Meanwhile, Altea had gotten up and had gone down for breakfast… 
Altea: Lodovico, is the Inspector resting still? [literally he rests still?] 
Lodovico: No, Madame. He asked for diving equipment, he has been exploring the ocean for two hours already! 
Altea: Two hours! And he has not returned yet! I’m worried! 
Altea: Prepare the speedboat! We will go look for him! 

In the comments there is an explanation of the tenses as I understand them.

Diabolik is an Italian comic series created by sisters Angelo and Luciana Giussani.


2 comments:

  1. TravelMarxDecember 9, 2007 at 11:42 AM

    Narrator:
    si era alzata = had gotten up, reflexive, completed before another past action, trapassato prossimo
    era scesa = had gone down

    Altea:
    riposa = he/she rests, present tense

    Lodovico:
    ho chiesto = he asked, passato prossimo
    sta explorando = he is exploring, presente gerundio

    Altea:
    non è ancora tornato = has not already returned, passato prossimo
    sono preoccupata = I’m worried (feminie), presente
    perpara = prepare, imperativo (you, singular form)
    andiamo = let’s go, presente

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 10, 2007 at 1:36 AM

    i'm glad you explained these tenses. i was waiting with baited breath! ;)

    seriously tho: some of this stuff i not only can say and pronounce, i actually understand! must be in the genes...

    ReplyDelete

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