Cleaning a hotel room
Checkouts and stayovers, sheets and towels, and what to do with lost property.
Key words
Read these before you listen: you will hear most of them.
la governantethe head housekeeper
La governante ci dà le camere ogni mattina.
A false friend: not a governor. In hotels she runs housekeeping and checks the rooms; in a private home it is an old-fashioned word for a housekeeper or governess.
la camerathe room / bedroom
La mia camera è piccola ma luminosa.
Feminine, and a false friend: a camera for photos is la macchina fotografica. Camera da letto is a bedroom; una camera doppia in a hotel is a double room.
le lenzuolathe sheets
Il lunedì cambio le lenzuola e metto la lavatrice.
Irregular: one sheet is il lenzuolo (masculine), but the pair on a bed is le lenzuola (feminine). Cambiare le lenzuola is to change the bed.
l'asciugamanothe towel
Gli asciugamani appesi non si cambiano.
Masculine, even though la mano is feminine: l'asciugamano, gli asciugamani. Literally dry-hand: asciugare + mano.
rifare il lettoto make the bed
Nelle fermate rifai il letto e svuoti i cestini.
Rifare is irregular like fare: rifaccio, rifai, ho rifatto. Italian remakes the bed rather than making it.
spolverareto dust
Ho dimenticato di spolverare il comodino.
Regular -are verb, from la polvere, dust — which is feminine despite the -e. In a kitchen spolverare can also mean to sprinkle: spolverare di zucchero.
ripassareto come back (later) / to revise
Preferisce che ripassi più tardi?
Regular -are verb. Ripasso dopo is I'll come back later. At school ripassare is to revise or go over a lesson.
gli oggetti smarritilost property
L'orecchino lo portiamo agli oggetti smarriti.
Masculine plural. Smarrire is a formal word for to lose; l'ufficio oggetti smarriti is a lost-property office.
Listen: Le camere del terzo piano
In a hotel, the head housekeeper hands out the day's rooms and gives feedback on one cleaned the day before. 5 questions; finishing them completes this step.
Start listening