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So you want to speak Italian?

After a conversation with an American girl, trying to speak a little Italian while in Florence, and receiving confusing answers, here you have my two cents about it.

These are little tips, the first that come to my mind, feel free to ask and correct if you like!

Italian is a complicated language, with a complicated grammar and many differences from region to region, a lot of dialects and accents and it’s not easy to learn. But I love to hear my language spoken by foreigners, and I will never make fun of someone who tries to do it.

We don’t say “capissch”. Ever. It almost doesn’t make sense.

We pronounce every letter in every word, there are no mute letters. For instance, to say thank you you say “Grazie” and it pronounces grah-tzee-Eh, not grahtzeee

“Al fresco” in Italian doesn’t mean eating outside, but being in prison… I actually heard a conversation with a sassy waiter go like this: “Can we eat al fresco, please?” “Only if you steal something…” If you want to eat in the outside part of a restaurant you ask for the tables “all'aperto” or simply “fuori”.

Buongiorno means “good morning” and it’s used from morning to afternoon. When it’s past 4pm you can start saying “Buonasera”. It’s good both for when you enter a place that when you leave. You can use it to greet someone or to say goodbye, but the correct form to say goodbye is “arrivederci” and it means “See you”. It’s polite and both formal and informal, so it’s very useful. Buongiorno is pronounced Boo-on-jawr-noh. Don’t stress the I too much, all vowels are brief and quick here.

If you order a “Latte” in an Italian café (we call it a bar, btw) you’ll get a glass of plain milk. If you want coffee with a touch of milk you have to order a caffé macchiato. If you want more milk than coffee you ask for a latte macchiato.

Coffee tips: If you order coffee in a café you’ll get an expresso: short, strong and dark. We usually have coffee from morning to evening and it’s normal to “stop for a coffee” even if it’s late afternoon, but we don’t drink cappuccino outside breakfast. Cappuccino is a breakfast/morning drink, and having it at the end of your lunch or as a side drink to gulp down your food( brrrr…), is like ordering a side plate of cornflakes with your pasta.

If you want to show respect and put a title before someone’s name, you’ll better know his or her title exactly before you do it. People are very picky when it comes to titles and you can land on a minefield if you don’t give someone the proper one. Anyway, if you don’t know the person you’re speaking to (or about) and you are therefore excused if you can’t give him/her the proper title, you can go with the standard Signor e Signora. Signor is Mr., it pronounces See-gnòrr, and it’s used before the surname. Signora ( See-gnòrah )is Mrs. , and it’s also used before the surname or alone. We also have Signorina, but is less and less used and you don’t want to trouble yourself with that. Signora can be used for every woman above the age of 20 and you’ll be fine. Note that if you are not sure, you can use Miss while addressing an Italian girl and she’ll be perfectly ok.

Italian and Spanish are two very different languages, even if they can sound similar and, no, most Italians can’t understand or speak Spanish at all.

If you say that you love someone in Italian you mean in a romantic way. The only exception is for family. You can say “Amo i miei genitori” and it means “I love my parents” but if you say “Sai che ti amo” (“You know I love you”) to a friend, you just told him/her that you’re in love with him or her. We have the “Ti voglio bene” expression, that can be translated with something like I care for you. It is complicated, I know, a simple rule to remember is that the love word (amore) is almost never used in a non romantic context.

To sleep with someone in Italian doesn’t mean you had sex, but that you actually slept. On the other hand, “to go to bed with someone” means that you did have sex. “Ho dormito con lui quando eravamo in vacanza” literally means "I slept with him while we were on holiday, but it doesn’t imply sex at all. It means you shared a room or a bed or a tent while camping. “Sono andata a letto con lui quando eravamo in vacanza” literally means “I went to bed with him when we were on holiday” and, yes, no doubt here, it means that you had fun in that tent…

sciogli-lingua

A very brief compendium of capitalization rules in Italian, covering the basics. Many are the same as in English, but there are also fundamental differences to be noted.

Please do ask if you still have questions!

1) at the beginning of a sentence, whether it be after a full stop or after a question/exclamation mark

Ex. Giovanni non era ancora tornato. La madre lo aspettava sulla porta. – Giovanni still wasn’t back. His mother waited for him at the door.

2) to begin direct speech

Ex. “Hai conosciuto la ragazza nuova?” “No, non ancora.” – “Have you met the new girl?” “No, not yet.”

3) for people’s or animals’ names

Ex. Il cane di Marco si chiama Lilli. – Marco’s dog is called Lilli.

4) for holidays

Ex. Come festeggerai il Natale quest'anno? – How will you celebrate Christmas this year?

5) for centuries and millenniums

Ex. Il Novecento è stato un secolo di grandi innovazioni. – The Twentieth century was a time of great innovation.

6) for astronomical names

Ex. Ci sarà vita su Marte? – Might there be life on Mars?

7) for titles of books, movies etc.

Generally, when the title is made of more than one word, you only capitalize the first one.

Ex. Il visconte dimezzato – The Cloven Viscount

8) for abbreviations or acronyms

Ex. CONI = comitato olimpico nazionale italiano – Italian National Olympic Committee

9) for geographical names

Ex. Sono nata a Palermo. – I was born in Palermo.

10) reverential capitalization

It’s the practice of capitalizing words that refer to a deity or divine being, in cases where the words would not otherwise have been capitalized. The same could be applied to political/authority figures, particularly in a deferential or formal context. It might also mark a distinction between homographs that have a different meaning (e.g., il Paese as in the Italian country, but il paese sulla collina as in the town on the hill).

Ex. Egregio Presidente, Le scrivo da parte dei cittadini. – Dear Mr. President, I am writing to you on behalf of the citizens.

WARNING! NO capitalization must be applied to:

1) days of the week and months of the year

Ex. Questo sabato c'è una festa. – There’s a party on Saturday. Mio fratello è nato a marzo. – My brother was born in March.

2) languages and nationalities

This rule was once only believed to be valid for nationalities used as adjectives, while they were usually capitalized when employed as nouns

Ex. L’estate scorsa ho conosciuto due ragazzi svizzeri. – Last summer I met two Swiss boys. Si dice che gli Svizzeri siano precisi. – The Swiss are said to be precise.

Today, the tendency is to never capitalize them.

Ex. Gli italiani hanno molte tradizioni. – Italians have many traditions.

sciogli-lingua

So, @historyandlanguages and I are helping each other out with our respective target languages, and I was asked to translate this list of common words useful for beginners into Italian. I translated them following the list’s order, so if you want to know what they mean just confront them with the original post linked above! For some adjectives and pronouns I’ve also written the changes that must be made for the feminine form, but I am lazy so I didn’t do it for all of them, sorry (anyway most of the time you just have to change the final “o” with an “a”). Of course, if there’s anything that’s unclear feel free to message me, I’ll be glad to help if I can :)

EXPRESSIONS OF POLITENESS (about 50 expressions)

‘Yes’ and ‘no’: sì, no, assolutamente (sì) [but I honestly think “certamente” is more used], assolutamente no, esatto.

Question words: quando? dove? come? quanto? quanti? perché? (che) cosa? chi? quale? di chi?

Apologizing: scusa (or, if formal, “scusi”), scusa (if plural, “scusate”) se interrompo/scusa (same thing as before) per l’interruzione, insomma, temo di sì, temo di no.

Meeting and parting: buongiorno, buon pomeriggio, buonasera, ciao, ciao (“arrivederci” is more formal), cin cin/(alla) salute, a dopo, piacere (di conoscerti), è stato un piacere (conoscerti).

Interjections: per favore, grazie, figurati/di niente, scusa, sarà fatto, sono d’accordo, congratulazioni, grazie al cielo/grazie a Dio, sciocchezze.

NOUNS (about 120 words)

Time: mattina, pomeriggio, sera, notte; domenica, lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, giovedì, venerdì, sabato; primavera, estate, autunno, inverno; tempo, occasione, minuto, mezz’ora, ora, giorno, settimana, mese, anno.

People: famiglia, parente, madre, padre, figlio, figlia, sorella, fratello, marito, moglie; collega, amico/a, fidanzato, fidanzata; persone/gente, persona, essere umano, uomo, donna, signora, signore, ragazzo, ragazza, bambino/a.

Objects: indirizzo, borsa/zaino, libro, macchina, vestiti, chiave, lettera, luce, denaro/soldi, nome, giornale, penna, matita, immagine (image)/foto (photo), valigia, cosa, biglietto.

Places: posto, mondo, paese, città, via, strada, scuola, negozio, casa, appartamento, stanza, terreno.

Abstract: incidente, inizio, cambiamento, colore, danno, divertimento, metà, aiuto, battuta, viaggio, lingua, inglese, italiano (this is the language in our case), lettera, vita, amore, errore, novità/notizia, pagina, dolore, parte, domanda, ragione, tipo, sorpresa, modo, tempo, lavoro.

Other: mano, piede, testa, occhio, bocca, voce; la sinistra, la destra; la cima, il fondo, il lato; aria, acqua, sole, pane, cibo, carta, rumore.

PREPOSITIONS (about 40 words)

General: di, a, a (sometimes “in”), per, da, in, su. [Generally speaking, the basic Italian prepositions taught in primary school are di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra]

Logical: su/di/riguardo a, secondo, tranne/eccetto, come, contro, con, senza, da, nonostante, invece di.

Space: dentro, fuori da, fuori, verso, lontano da, dietro, davanti a, accanto, vicino a, tra, sopra, sopra di/in cima a, sotto/al di sotto di, sotto, sotto/al di sotto di, vicino a, molto lontano da, attraverso.

Time: dopo, fa, prima, durante, da/da quando, fino a/finché/fin quando.

DETERMINERS (about 80 words)

Articles and numbers: un/a, lo/la; nos. 0–20 (zero, uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci, undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, venti); nos. 30–100 (just decimals here: trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, settanta, ottanta, novanta, cento); nos. 200–1000 (just the multiples of 100: duecento, trecento, quattrocento, cinquecento, seicento, settecento, ottocento, novecento, mille); ultimo/a, prossimo/a, primo/a, secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto, sesto, settimo, ottavo, nono, decimo, undicesimo, dodicesimo.

Demonstrative: questo/a, quello/a.

Possessive: mio/a, tuo/a (vostro/a if plural), suo/a, suo/a (in Italian the distinction is based on the gender of the possessed thing rather than that of the possessor), nostro/a, loro.

Quantifiers: tutto, un po’ (di), niente/ nessuno/a, qualsiasi, tanti/e, molto, (di) più, (di) meno, qualcuno/alcuni, vari, intero, un po’ di, tanto/a.

Comparators: entrambi, nessuno dei due, ognuno/ciascuno, ciascuno/tutti, altro, un altro, stesso, diverso, così.

ADJECTIVES (about 80 words)

Color: nero, blu, verde, rosso, bianco, giallo.

Evaluative: cattivo, buono, terribile; importante, urgente, necessario; possibile, impossibile; giusto, sbagliato, vero.

General: grande, piccolo, piccolo, pesante; alto, basso; caldo, freddo, tiepido/caldo; facile, difficile; economico, caro/costoso; pulito, sporco; bello, divertente, curioso, solito, comune, carino/bello, carino/bello/grazioso, meraviglioso; noioso, interessante, pericoloso, sicuro; basso, alto, lungo; nuovo, vecchio; calmo, chiaro, asciutto; veloce, lento; finito, libero, pieno, luminoso, aperto, silenzioso, pronto, forte.

Personal: spaventato, solo, arrabbiato, certo/sicuro, allegro, morto, famoso, lieto/felice, felice/contento, malato, buono, sposato, soddisfatto/compiaciuto, dispiaciuto, stupido, sorpreso, stanco, bene/in salute (not really adjectives but that’s the translation), preoccupato, giovane.

VERBS (about 100 words)

arrivare, chiedere, essere, essere capace di, diventare, iniziare/cominciare, credere, prendere in prestito, portare, comprare, potere, cambiare, controllare, raccogliere, arrivare, continuare, piangere, fare, far cadere, mangiare, cadere, sentire, trovare, finire, dimenticare, dare, stare per/avere intenzione di, avere, dovere, sentire, aiutare, stringere/tenere, sperare, farsi male, fare male/ferire (qualcuno), tenere/conservare, sapere, ridere, imparare, lasciare/partire, prestare, permettere, stendersi, piacere, ascoltare, vivere, vivere/abitare, guardare, cercare, perdere, amare, fare, essere autorizzati a, potere, intendere, incontrare, dovere, avere bisogno di, ottenere, aprire, dovere, pagare, giocare (suonare if playing an instrument), mettere, leggere, ricordare, dire, vedere, vendere, mandare/inviare, dovere (used in the conditional form), mostrare, chiudere, cantare, dormire, parlare, stare in piedi, restare, fermare, suggerire, prendere, parlare, insegnare, pensare, viaggiare, provare, capire, usare, essere abituati a (to be used to something), aspettare, camminare, volere, guardare, there’s not really a verb to express future in Italian you have to conjugate them, funzionare, lavorare, preoccuparsi, again I don’t think would is translatable, scrivere.

PRONOUNS (about 40 words)

Personal: Io, tu (voi if plural), lui (the correct form would be egli but no one uses it anymore), lei (same thing as egli, but this time it would be ella; hasn’t been used in a pretty long time), we don’t have neuter forms, noi, loro, uno/a; io stesso (I’m just gonna put the subject form of these, object is different), tu stesso, lui stesso, lei stessa, no neuter, noi stessi, voi stessi, loro stessi.

Possessive: il mio/la mia, il tuo/la tua (il vostro/la vostra if plural), il suo/la sua (depends on the object), il suo/la sua (same), no gender neutral, il nostro/la nostra, il loro/la loro.

Demonstrative: questo/a, quello/a.

Universal: tutti/ciascuno, tutti, ogni cosa/tutto, ognuno, entrambi, tutto (tutti if plural), uno, un altro.

Indefinite: qualcuno, qualcuno, qualcosa, un po’ (di), pochi, un po’ (di), più, meno; chiunque, chiunque, qualsiasi cosa/qualunque cosa, qualsiasi, qualunque, molto, molti.

Negative: nessuno, nessuno, niente, nessuno/niente/nulla, nessuno dei due.

ADVERBS (about 60 words)

Place: qui/qua, lì/là, al di sopra, oltre/al di sopra, al di sotto, davanti, dietro, vicino, molto lontano, dentro/all’interno, fuori/all’esterno, a destra, a sinistra, da qualche parte, da qualsiasi parte/ovunque, da tutte le parti/ovunque, da nessuna parte, a casa, (al piano) di sopra, (al piano) di sotto.

Time: adesso/ora, presto, immediatamente, rapidamente/in fretta, finalmente, di nuovo, una volta, per molto (tempo), oggi, in generale, a volte, sempre, spesso, prima, dopo, presto (or in anticipo if you get somewhere early), tardi (or in ritardo if you get somewhere late), mai, non ancora, ancora, già, allora, poi, ieri, domani, stasera/stanotte.

Quantifiers: un po’, più o meno/all’incirca/circa, quasi, almeno, completamente, molto, abbastanza, esattamente, soltanto, non, troppo, di più, di meno.

Manner: anche, specialmente, gradualmente/a poco a poco, certo/certamente, soltanto/solo, altrimenti, forse, probabilmente, piuttosto/alquanto, così/quindi/allora, quindi, anche, sfortunatamente, molto, bene.

CONJUNCTIONS (about 30 words)

Coordinating: e, ma, o; tanto/come (if something is as good as something else)/mentre (if something happens as something else’s going on), di/che, come.

Time & Place: quando, mentre, prima, dopo, da/da quando, finché; dove.

Manner & Logic: come, perché, perché (word’s the same for answers and questions in Italian), anche se/nonostante, se; (che) cosa, chi, chi (it’s the same for subject and object), di chi, quale, che/di (I think that I’ll read a book – credo che leggerò un libro).

nnapulitanerd

300 Essential Italian Words

I took the liberty of filling out the 300 Essential Words chart devised by @funwithlanguages for Italian. Enjoy!

First Verbs

be - Essere

there is - C’è

have - Avere

do - Fare

go - Andare

want - Volere

can - Potere // Riuscire

need - Avere bisogno di

think - Pensare

know - Sapere // Conoscere

say - Dire

like - Piacere

speak - Parlare

learn - Imparare

understand - Capire

Conjunctions

that (as in “I think that…” or “the woman that…”) - Che (”Penso che…” o “la donna che…”

and - e

or - o

but - ma

because - perché

though - però

so (meaning “therefore”; e.g. “I wanted it, so I bought it”) - Quindi (”Lo volevo, quindi l’ho comprato)

if - se

Prepositions

of - di

to - a

from - da

in - in

at (a place) - a

at (a time) - a

with - con

about - circa // su

like (meaning “similar to”) - come

for (warning, this one has several meanings that you need to take care of) - per

before (also as a conjunction) - prima

after (also as a conjunction) - dopo

during - durante

Question Words

who - chi

what - (che) cosa

where - dove

when - quando

why - perché

how - come

how much - quanto

which - quale

Adverbs

a lot - molto

a little - un po’

well - beh // insomma

badly - male

only - solo

also - anche

very - molto

too (as in “too tall”) - troppo (”troppo alto”)

too much - troppo

so (as in “so tall”) - tanto // così

so much - tanto

more (know how to say “more … than …”) - più (”più…. che…”)

less (know how to say “less … than …”) - meno (”meno…. che”

as … as … (e.g. “as tall as”) - come (”alto come”)

most - più // la maggior parte (di)

least - minimo

better - meglio // migliore

best - migliore // meglio

worse - peggio // peggiore

worst - peggiore // peggio

now - ora // adesso

then - poi // allora

here - qui // qua

there - lì // là

maybe - forse // magari

always - sempre

usually - di solito

often - spesso

sometimes - a volte

never - (non) mai

today - oggi

yesterday - ieri

tomorrow - domani

soon - presto

almost - quasi

already - già

still - ancora

even - anche

enough - basta // abbastanza

Adjectives

the, a (technically articles) - il, lo, la

this - questo, questa

that - quel, quello, quella

good - buon, buono/a, bene, bello/a, bravo/a

bad - male

all - tutto

some - di // del, dello, della // alcune

no - no

any - qualsiasi

many - molti/molte

few - poche/pochi

most - la maggior parte di

other - altro/altra

same - stesso/a

different - diverso/a

enough - abbastanza/basta

one - uno

two - due

a few - poche/i

first - prima

next - prossimo

last (meaning “past”, e.g. “last Friday”) - scorso/scorsa

last (meaning “final”) - ultimo/a

easy - facile

hard - difficile

early - prima / presto

late - tardi

important - importante

interesting - interessante

fun - divertente

boring - noioso/a

beautiful - bello/a

big - grosso/a ,grande

small - piccolo/a

happy - felice

sad - triste

busy - occupato/a

excited - eccitato/a

tired - stanco/a

ready - pronto/a

favorite - preferito/a

new - nuovo/a

right (meaning “correct”) - giusto/a, vero, proprio

wrong - sbaglioto/a

true - vero

Pronouns

Know them in the subject (“I”), direct object (“me”), indirect object (“to me”), and possessive (“my”) forms.

I - io

you - tu

she - lei

he - lui

it - il, lo

we - noi

you (plural) - voi

they - loro

Nouns

If your language has grammatical gender, then learn each noun as “the [noun]” with “the” in the correct gender. (e.g. in Spanish, instead of learning language = “idioma”, learn language = “el idioma”.) This will help you remember the gender.

everything - tutto

something - qualcosa

nothing - niente // nulla

everyone - tutto

someone - qualcuno

no one - nessuno

(L’)Italiano

English - (L’)Inglese

thing - (una) cosa

person - (una) persona

place - (un) posto

time (as in “a long time”) - (un) tempo (”molto tempo fa)

time (as in “I did it 3 times”) - (una) volta (”l’ho fatto 3 volte)

friend - (un/a) amico/a

woman - (una) donna

man - (un) uomo

money - (i) soldi

country - (un) paese

(L’)Italia

city - (una) città

language - (una) lingua

word - (una) parola

food - (il) cibo

house - (una) casa

store - (un) negozio

office - (un) ufficio

company - (una) società

manager - (un) gestore

coworker - (una) collega

job - (un) lavoro

work (as in “I have a lot of work to do”) - lavoro (”ho un sacco di lavoro da fare”)

problem - (un) problema

question - (una) domanda

idea - (un’)idea

life - (la) vita

world - (il) mondo

day - (un) giorno

year - (un) anno

week - (una) settimana

month - (un) mese

hour - (un’)ora

mother, father, parent - mamma, papà, genitore

daughter, son, child - figlia, figlio, bambino/a

wife, husband - moglie, marito

girlfriend, boyfriend - ragazza/o, fidanzato/a

More Verbs

work (as in a person working) - lavorare (la donna lavora)

work (meaning “to function”, e.g. “the TV works”) - funzionare (”la tv funziona”)

see- vedere

use - usare

should - dovere (dovere also means “to have to”, i.e. “Devo andare, ciao!” – “I have to go, bye!)

believe - credere

practice - praticare

seem - sembrare

come - venire

leave - lasciare

return - tornare

give - dare

take - prendere

bring - portare

look for - cercare

find - trovare

get (meaning “obtain”) - ottenere

receive - ricevere

buy - comprare

try - provare

start - cominciare // iniziare

stop (doing something) - fermare // smettare

finish - finire

continue - continuare

wake up - svegliarsi

get up - alzarsi

eat - mangiare

eat breakfast (in several languages, this is a verb) - mangare la colazione

eat lunch - pranzare

eat dinner - cenare

happen - succedere

feel - sentire

create (aka “make”) - creare

cause (aka “make”) - causare

meet (meeting someone for the first time) - incontrare//conoscere

meet (meaning “to bump into”) - riunare // incontrare

meet (an arranged meeting) - riunare

ask (a question) - chiedere

ask for (aka “request”) - domandare

wonder - chiedersi

reply - rispondere

mean - significare

read - leggere

write - scrivere

listen - ascoltare

hear - sentire

remember - ricordare (ricordare also means “remind”)

forget - dimenticare

choose - scegliere

decide - decidere

be born - nascere

die - morire

kill - uccidere

live - vivere

stay - stare // rimanere

change - cambiare

help - aiutare

send - mandare // spedire

study - studiare

improve - migliorare

hope - sperare

care - interessare

Phrases

hello - Ciao, salve

goodbye - Ciao, ci vediamo, a dopo, a presto

thank you - grazie // ti prego

you’re welcome - prego, di niente, di nulla

excuse me (to get someone’s attention) - scusami

sorry - scusa // mi dispiace

it’s fine (response to an apology) - tranquillo/a

please - per favore

yes - sì

no - no

okay - okay, va bene

My name is - Mi chiamo …

What’s your name? - Come ti chiami?

Nice to meet you. - piacere di conoscerti

How are you? - come stai? (formal: come sta?)

I’m doing well, how about you? - va bene, anche te?

Sorry? / What? (if you didn’t hear something) - scusa? cosa?

How do you say ______? - come si dice ____?

What does ______ mean? - cosa significa _____?

I don’t understand. - non capisco, non ho capito

Could you repeat that? - puoi ripetere?

Could you speak more slowly, please? - Puoi parlare più lentamente, per favore?

Well (as in “well, I think…”) - insomma

Really? - davvero? vero? sul serio? seriamente? veramente?

I guess that - credo che // suppongo che

It’s hot. (talking about the weather) - fa caldo

It’s cold. (talking about the weather) - fa freddo

Sorry in advance for any errors! I’m not a native, so natives out there feel free to correct me on anything I may have messed up!

langsandlit

Swearing in Italian

Swearing in Italian is simple, but not quite. Italy has 20 different regions and 101 provinces. That means that swearing may significantly vary from region to region according to each vernacular spoken in each city. For this reason, I’ve paid particular attention in avoiding those swearwords that aren’t commonly used in Standard Italian. Thus words like cazzimma, guallera, latrina, chiavica, madò etc, used, in this case, in my vernacular (Neapolitan) are not listed.

cazzo: fuck (literally: dick, cock) - cazzo can be used in combination with chi (who), che (what), dove (where), quando (when), perché (why), e.g. chi cazzo sei tu? (who the fuck are you?); che cazzo fai? (what the fuck are you doing?); dove cazzo vai? (where the fuck are you going?); quando cazzo torni? (when the fuck are you coming back?); perché cazzo non mi rispondi? (why the fuck are you not replying?).

cavolo: frick (literally: cauliflower, used instead of cazzo)

coglione: arsehole, (lierally: testicle)

merda: shit

stronzo/a: arsehole (literally: turd)

cazzate: bullshit, lies, nonsense

cavolate: bullshit, lies, nonsense (from: cavolo)

stronzate: bullshit, lies, nonsense (from: stronzo)

puttana: slut

zoccola: slut (literally: latrine rat)

troia: whore (literally: sow)

bastardo: bastard

culo: arse

porco: pig cazzone: wanker, arsehole (literally: big dick)

leccaculo: lapdog (literally: arse licker, vulgar variant of leccapiedi, literally: feet licker)

oddio: oh God (not really a cuss word, but still a profanity; from: oh dio) Madonna: Virgin Mary (same as above)

testa di cazzo: dickhead

e che cazzo: what the fuck (literally: what the dick)

che cazzo ne so: what the fuck do I know

figlio di puttana: motherfucker (literally: son of a whore)

brutto stronzo: ugly fucker

stronzo/puttana/coglione.. etc di merda: shitty arsehole/slut/arsehole

vaffanculo: fuck you (literally: go fuck someone in the arse)

fottiti: fuck you (from: fottere, to shag, fuck)

va’ a farti fottere: go fuck yourself (literally: go let someone fuck you)

va’ a cacare: fuck you (literally: go take a shit; from: cacare, to shit)

mi stai facendo incazzare: you’re pissing me off (from: incazzarsi, to get pissed off)

(mi) hai rotto i coglioni/le palle: you’re being really fucking annoying (literally: you’ve cracked my balls)

porco Giuda: shit (literally: Judas the pig)

porca miseria: holy cow, but ruder (literally: pig misery)

langsandlit

Introduction

prima di tutto: first of all

in primo/secondo/terzo luogo: firstly, secondly, thirdly

infine: finally

tanto per cominciare: to begin with

allo scopo di: in order to

Adding or Supporting Ideas

inoltre / oltre a ciò: moreover, furthermore, besides

oltre a: in addition to

ugualmente importante: equally important

similmente / in modo simile / analogamente: similarly

in particolare / in special modo: in particular, especially

in generale: in general

infatti: in fact

ad esempio / per esempio: for example/instance

cioè: that is

ciò significa che: that means that

ciò vale a dire che: that is to say that

certamente: by all means / certainly

assolutamente: by no means

come / come ad esempio: such as

principalmente / preliminarmente: chiefly/mainly

particolarmente: especially

è importante ricordare/tenere a mente: it is important to keep in mind/remember

in vista di ciò: with this in mind

dunque: therefore

di conseguenza / pertanto: consequently, accordingly

Opposing Ideas

nonostante ciò/questo: in spite of this

tuttavia / ciononostante / nonostante ciò: nevertheless/nonetheless

eppure: yet/still

da un lato: on the one hand

dall’altro [lato]: on the other hand

invece di: instead of

contrariamente a.. / al contrario: conversely

allo stesso tempo: at the same time

mentre: whereas

anche se: even though

nel frattempo / intanto: meanwhile

Conditions and Causes

dal momento che: since

per questo motivo/questa ragione: for this reason, as a result

nel caso / nel caso in cui: in case / in the event that

dato che: given/provided that

affinché: so that

a causa del fatto che: due to the fact that

fritalianblr

Expressions ~ Italian & French

“Gatta ci cova !” ► “Y’a anguille sous roche !” _ there’s a problem hiding, someone is hiding something.

“Sono nel pallone !” ► “J’suis largué !” ; “J’en perds mon latin !” _ when you don’t know what is going on, you’re lost in a conversation, you discover something and can’t understand it…

“Peggio per te !” ► “Tant pis pour toi !” _ when someone deserve something.

“Piantala !” ► “Arrête !” _ to stop somebody who’s really annoying you. you can put a swear word after in french, like “arrête putain !”

“Vacci piano !” ► “Tout doux, tout doux !” _ to calm down somebody who’s getting too much excited. In france we use it for our pets too, like to slow down your dog who’s pulling you hard on the walk.

“Salute !” ► “A tes souhaits!” _ to someone who sneeze ; “Santé !” _ to celebrate something with a drink.

“Acqua in bocca !” ► “Motus et bouche cousue !” _ to stop someone from talking, when you tell a secret and don’t want the person to tell it.

“In bocca al lupo !” “Crepi !” ► “Merde” ; Bonne chance !” _ to wish good luck to someone. in italian, you have to reply with “crepi (il lupo)”. In french, don’t answer to “merde”, only answer “merci” to “bonne chance”.

Learnt in the book “Italien pour les Nuls” (Italian for the dummies), for my 7th Day of Productivity at my uni’s library !