Life is fleeting, which is why we must make the most of every second of every day. We need to take risks, learn as much as we can, and keep pushing towards our goals, even when the going gets tough.
In Italian, there is no better phrase to encompass this positive approach to life than:
Vivi la tua vita al meglio!
Live your life to the fullest!
The first word in the phrase is vivi which is the informal second-person imperative form of the verb vivere (to live). Were you talking to someone in a formal context, it would become viva. When addressing a group of two people or more, it becomes vivete.
Vita is a feminine noun that means life. In Italian, the definite article (the equivalent of “the“) is usually required when the noun is modified by a possessive pronoun like tua (your). For example:
- il mio cane = my dog (literally “the my dog”)
- i nostri genitori = our parents (literally “the our parents”)
- la tua sedia = your chair (literally “the your chair”)
You can learn about all the different definite and indefinite articles in Italian in our dedicated article.
Finally we come to the expression al meglio which is composed of al – the union of the preposition a (to) and the definite article il (the) – and the adverb meglio, meaning “better” or “best”. It translates in a few possible ways including:
- to the full(est)
- to make the most of
- as best as one can
- in the best possible way
Voglio sfruttare al meglio le potenzialità del mio corpo.
I want to make the most of my body’s potential.
Come posso organizzare al meglio il mio lavoro?
How I can best organise my work?
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.
