Tutorial Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel! Or welcome, if this is the first video you watch on this channel. Today I would like to talk with you about some very useful collocations to talk about the Christmas season in general. I decided to focus on collocations, because they are the most difficult phrases to find on the internet, it is much easier to find a list of words related to Christmas. So I decided to avoid making you a list of words, because they can be easily found on the internet, and to focus on useful collocations for conversation. I organized the speech around three verbs: to decorate, to give, to wish. We will start from these three verbs to develop a lexical diagram. Let's start with the first verb, "adorn", which means "decorate". This verb can be used at any time of the year, but it is definitely more used in reference to the Christmas season. Let's see some collocations. Put the Christmas decorations. If we want to go into detail, we can use: Put the lights. Put the illuminations. The difference between "lights" and "luminarie" is that the former are placed at home, while the latter are placed in public spaces. Illuminations are usually much larger than the lights you put on at home. We speak of "illuminations" in reference to the luminous decorations that are seen on the street, for example. Making the tree /Put up the tree. The tree is made/put up on December 8 (traditionally), obviously together with the nativity scene. Making/Put up the nativity scene. Hang the wreath on the front door. Well, let's see the second verb, which is "to give". This is one of the most used verbs at this time of year. You give something as gift, which does not necessarily have to be material, but can be something immaterial, that warms the heart, like a smile. Let's see the collocations: "fare i regali" means going to buy something to give to someone. Once the gifts are bought, the packages are made. "Fare i pacchetti" means "wrapping gifts". Another important and useful phrase to know is "exchanging gifts". Then on Christmas morning the presents are unwrapped. Another way to say "unwrap the gifts" is "unwrap the packages", but also "open the gifts" and "open the packages". Well, let's get to the last verb, which is perhaps the most important, "to wish". "Augurare" means "to wish someone something". The most common wishes are: Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Best wishes! I wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas! Behind me is a Christmas tree! I put it up on December 7th. When I get it, I will also make/put up the crib. And here near me there is a Christmas decoration, which is a wish for happy holidays! I hope this video is useful to you and that you have learned some new phrases. Thanks for watching this video and I take this opportunity to wish you happy holidays! See you soon, bye!