Can you pass this basic Italian test?

Answer: BUONGIORNO

The correct answer is buongiorno, which translates to good day, good morning or hello. Buona giornata is used when saying goodbye to someone, similar to the phrase have a good day. Buonasera is used in the evening, while bella giornata means beautiful day.

Answer: TI AMO / TI VOGLIO BENE

There are actually two ways to say I love you in Italian: ti amo, which is for romantic love between couples, and ti voglio bene, which is for platonic love between friends and family members. Mi piaci, which means I like you, isn’t as strong.

Answer: HOT

Learners of Italian commonly assume that caldo means cold because of the similarity in spelling, but in actual fact, caldo means just the opposite – hot. The word for cold in Italian is freddo.

Answer: IN

Prepositions can be tricky for anyone learning Italian. Just remember, when you’re talking about countries, you need to use the preposition in for both being in the country and going to the country. (Vado in Francia / Sono in Francia)

Answer: HO FAME

The correct answer is ho fame. In English, we say I am hungry using the verb to be, but in Italian, you need to use the verb avere (to have). This is because fame is a noun that means hunger, so you’re literally saying I have hunger. Fama is a similar-sounding noun that means fame and voglio mangiare means I want to eat.

Answer: MY RELATIVES WORK ON A FARM

Here we have a couple of false friends. Parenti in Italian means relatives, not parents, and fattoria means farm, not factory. So the correct answer is number 3!

Answer: STUDIO L’ITALIANO DA 5 MESI

The correct answer is studio l’italiano da 5 mesi. A very common mistake among English speakers is to use per (for) instead of da (from) to express how long you have been doing something. You should also use the present tense studio (I study) because the action is still ongoing in the present.

Answer: MI PIACE IL GELATO

The correct answer is mi piace il gelato (or il gelato mi piace). This is because the Italian verb piacere actually functions in a similar way to the English verb to please – literally “the gelato pleases me.” The ice cream becomes the subject of the sentence, and “I / me” becomes the object.

Answer: TO GROSS OUT / DISGUST

Many learners assume that fare senso means to make sense because, in many cases, fare translates as to make / to do. But what it actually means is to gross out or to disgust! If you want to say to make sense, you need to use the expression avere senso (literally “to have sense”).

Answer: LEGA

The word lega may look a lot like the English leg, but it actually means league, association or legion. Leg in Italian is gamba.

Answer: COME STA?

Come sta? is the formal equivalent of Come stai? (How are you?) The other two expressions – Come butta? and Tutto bene? – mean What’s up? and Everything ok? respectively.

Answer: TUESDAY

It’s true that martedì and Monday both start with the letter M, but martedì means Tuesday. You can discover all the days of the week in Italian here!

Answer: GREEN

Don’t let the letter V deceive you – verde isn’t violet but green! You can discover all the Italian colours here!

Answer: PREFERITA

While favorito does mean favourite in certain cases, such as when referring to someone who is advantaged (e.g., the king’s favourite) or someone with good prospects of winning, preferito is used when talking about what you like best. Adorato means adored, and migliore means the best.

Answer: GRAZIE

Grazie is always written with an -e on the end, and the -e is clearly pronounced. Gracias is Spanish, so try not to mix up the two languages! Grato is an adjective that means grateful.

Answer: PREGO

The most common response to grazie is prego, which has six additional meanings, just to make matters more confusing! Piacere means nice to meet you or to please / like while ti prego means I beg you. Sei benvenuto means you are welcome (as in “you are welcome to my house / to join us”), but it isn’t used as a response to grazie.

Answer: SCRITTO

My 4 year old son, bless his heart, always says scrivato instead of scritto. Scrivo is the present tense (I write) and scrivendo is the gerund (writing).

Answer: QUANTI ANNI HAI?

This phrase can be especially tricky to translate for English speakers. First, you cannot translate it literally as quanto sei vecchio / vecchia. Second, in Italian, people “have” years, so you need to use the verb avere (to have) rather than essere (to be). Finally, be careful with the double nn in anni. If you pronounce it as ani, you might accidentally ask the other person how many a**holes they have!

Answer: INVERNO

The correct answer is inverno. Primavera is spring, autunno is autumn and estate is summer. Discover our article all about the four seasons in Italian here!

Answer: LUI È ANDATO

The correct answer is lui è andato. In Italian, there are two auxiliary verbs – essere and avere – and andare (to go) always takes essere as its auxiliary.

Answer: SONO EMOZIONATO/A

You might be tempted to translate excited as eccitato, but in Italian, eccitato has a strong sexual connotation. For this reason, it’s best to use emozionato if you are excited about something non-romantic. Agitato means upset, restless or worried, while annoiato means bored.

Answer: IL PROBLEMA

Just as you learn that Italian nouns ending in -a are typically feminine, you encounter all the exceptions, including the most notorious one: il problema. Interestingly, many nouns ending in -ema are masculine, including il tema (theme), il poema (epic poem) and il cinema (cinema).

Answer: BELLO

The correct answer is bello. If you tend to confuse these four B words in Italian, take solace in the fact you aren’t alone!

Answer: FARE LA DOCCIA

In Italian, you “do / make the shower” – fare la doccia – rather than “have” or “take” a shower!

Answer: TU MI MANCHI

The correct answer is tu mi manchi. Like the verb piacere we saw above, the verb mancare (to miss) requires you to switch the position of the subject (in this case I / io) and the object (you / tu). A very literal translation could be something along the lines of “you are missing from me.”

Answer: CE N’È

The correct answer is ce n’è, which means there is some. This expression features the contracted form of ce ne è, composed of ce (derived from the particle ci) and the pronominal particle ne followed by the verb essere (to be) in its third person singular form. Ce ne is used when essere is in the third person plural form sono – ce ne sono (there are some). I know, I know, this wasn’t a basic question – I promise the rest will be easier!

Answer: ALL OF THE ABOVE

Nipote is a very confusing word for learners. It can mean five different things – granddaughter, grandson, grandchild, nephew and niece! You can tell whether the person in question is masculine or feminine by looking at the article – il nipote or la nipote – but there is no way to tell the difference between grandson and nephew / granddaughter and niece without additional context.

Answer: PRONTO

Because prego can mean so many different things, some learners assume it is also used to answer the phone. Wrong! The correct term is another short P word – pronto!

Answer: ALL OF THE ABOVE

As we saw earlier on, prego has many different meanings including please, excuse me and you’re welcome. You can discover all six meanings here!

Answer: CIAO CIAO

I thought we could wrap up this quiz with a straightforward question. The informal way to say goodbye in Italian is ciao ciao, which is similar to the English bye bye. You can also say ciao one time. Ciao means both hello and goodbye, but the double ciao ciao only works to say goodbye. Arrivederci is more formal, addio is poetic and final, and salve is used when saying hello to someone.