The Italian equivalent of the exclamative phrases Such is life! / That’s life. / C’est la vie! is Così è la vita! It is used to express acceptance or resignation in the face of a difficult or unpleasant situation in both a serious and jocular way.
Così è la vita!
Such is life! / C’est la vie!
The construction of the Italian phrase is slightly different to its English and French counterparts, so let’s break it down into smaller chunks:
Così
A very useful adverb meaning like this / like that or in this way / in that way.
è
The third person singular of the verb essere (to be) in the present tense.
la
The feminine singular definite article meaning ‘the‘.
vita
The Italian word for ‘life‘. In Italian, vita requires the definite article la when talking about life in general (as opposed to a specific life) whereas in English, it does not. For example:
– godersi la vita = to enjoy life
– la vita è bella = life is beautiful
It is also possible to rearrange the order of the words to create the phrase la vita è così (such is life).
A popular variation is Così è fatta la vita, which incorporates the past participle of the verb fare (to do / make). In this case, the literal translation would be Life is made like this.
Mi spiace che non ti abbiano prolungato il contratto di lavoro. – Eh vabbè, pazienza, così è la vita! Cercherò qualcos’altro.
I’m sorry that they haven’t extended your job contract. – Yeah well, whatever, that’s life! I’ll look for something else.
Così è la vita is also the name of a popular Italian comedy film written, directed and performed by the comic trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo. Released in 1998, it was the trio’s most commercially successful film after Chiedimi se sono felice.
In the scene below, Catania (Giacomo’s police partner) asks if he can take time off for a few hours to meet a woman, leaving Giacomo alone to pick up a prisoner. You’ll hear the phrase così è la vita around minute 1:37. You can activate the auto-generated subtitles, which are not always accurate but better than nothing.
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.
