24 francesismi di uso quotidiano nell’italiano
Sarà che gli italiani sono un po’ esterofili ma non si può negare che la lingua italiana sia costellata da parole, locuzioni e frasi provenienti da altre lingue, soprattutto dall’inglese, dal francese e dal latino. La così ricca cultura francese ha rivestito senz’altro un ruolo importante nello sviluppo di tutta la cultura europea negli ultimi secoli. […]
How to compliment someone in Italian
If you want to compliment someone on their achievements, you can say: (Che) Bravo! Good job!Bravissimo! Excellent job! If you want to compliment somebody in the specific circumstances of a wedding or graduation or a promotion at work, you can easily say: Congratulazioni! Congratulations!Complimenti! Congratulations! and you could add depending on the context: Congratulazioni te lo […]
Fermare and smettere: what’s the difference?
Misusing or swapping the verbs fermare and smettere is one of the most frequent errors students of Italian as a second language do and I understand why. The confusion is drove by the fact that both verbs, in English, have only one translation: stopping. Instead, Italians have two different verbs to indicate the action of stopping. One verb is […]
How to express positive emotions in Italian
Italians have a reputation to be emotional and sentimental, and this is entirely right. No need to say, we like to express positive and (negative) emotions with friends and family and we do it often. Have you ever wondered what the most common ways to say in Italian ‘Well Done‘ or ‘I was happy about..‘ […]
Lì or là? Qui or qua? Is there any difference between them?
If you have ever felt confused whether using lì or là and qui or qua, when speaking in Italian, this post is for you! Let’s get straight to the point… Is there really any difference between lì and là or qui and qua? The answer is, yes and no. When students ask me if […]
How to use in Italian ECCO e CIOÈ
Ecco and cioè are Italian filler words that Italians use all the time. Hard to translate into English, they will come in handy when you travel to Italy or speak with your Italian friends. Here is a list of how and when to use them. Buona lettura! ECCO ECCO describes the appearance of something or […]
12 Latin words (and sentences) used in spoken Italian
By most measures, in the Romance language family, Italian is the closest language to Latin. Many Latin words and even some entire Latin phrases have become so naturalized in Italian that we use them in full, without a second thought. By learning them your Italian will sound more natural and fancier. IDEM Exclamation meaning same […]
5 modi di dire con la parola PUNTO
Punto generally means point. However, when combined with some verbs or other words can take a whole different meaning. These five collocations will surely make your Italian more sophisticated if you start to use them! Mettere a punto the expression mettere a punto means either to develop or finalize a project IBM ha messo a punto […]
