Italian Idiom: Essere alle prese con (to be dealing with / struggling with / up against)

Problems (i problemi) are a common part of daily life, but that doesn’t make them any less challenging to handle! Today’s idiom – essere alle prese con – addresses precisely this issue as we’ll see below.

Italian expression "essere alle prese con"

Essere is the verb to be, whereas presa is a feminine noun that has different meanings such as grab, grasp, grip and handle. It can also mean electric / wall socket.

Essere alle prese con can be literally translated as “to be at grips with.” While the literal translation might seem similar to the English expression to come to grips with, in Italian, this would actually be translated differently – accettare (to accept), capire (to understand), or padroneggiare (to master) – depending on the context in which it’s used.

A synonymous yet less poetic expression of this week’s idiom is lottare con (to fight against).

Shot of hands grabbing a young womans against a dark background

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