The way you would say to tell off or to scold in Italian is sgridare. It is a derivative of the verb gridare meaning to shout or yell.
Se faccio tardi mamma mi sgrida!
If I’m late mom will tell me off!
From this word we get the noun sgridata (scolding, telling-off) which may be combined with a variety of verbs:
- fare / dare una sgridata a (qualcuno) = to tell (someone) off
- prendere una sgridata da (qualcuno) = to be told off by (someone)
- ricevere una sgridata da (qualcuno) = to be told off by (someone)
- beccare una sgridata da (qualcuno) = to be told off by (someone)
Some possible synonyms include rimproverare, strigliare and redarguire, as well as the colloquial fare la ramanzina (a qualcuno) and dare una lavata di capo (a qualcuno).
Sua moglie gli ha dato una bella lavata di capo quando è tornato a casa.
His wife gave him a harsh scolding when he came home.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
