Heather Broster
The Italian word for planet is pianeta, which comes from the Greek planetes via the Latin planeta. Learn with our video It would be logical to assume that it is a feminine noun given that it ends in the letter ‘a‘, but it is actually masculine. This is likely because the archaic version of the …
The word for youth in Italian, as in the period between childhood and adulthood or the state of being young, is giovinezza (feminine, plural: giovinezze). It derives from the adjective giovane (young). Learn with our video Important: Giovinezza does not mean youth in the sense of a young person (un giovane). La prima giovinezza (lit: …
Balordo is one of those fun Italian adjectives that you will rarely see in a textbook, but comes up all the time in casual conversation between native speakers. Its etymological origin has not been confirmed. It may derive from the French balourd, which in turn comes from the ancient French beslourd. Learn with our video …
The generic name for a baked sweet that is round in shape and made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter and eggs is torta (feminine, plural: torte). Although cake is the most common translation in English, it may also denote a pie. Learn with our video Some different kinds of sweet torte people enjoy …
The adjective sfasato in Italian, which derives from the verb sfasare (to dephase), is used in technical terms to mean out of phase mainly in reference to motors and electrical currents. Learn with our video What should be of interest to most learners of Italian isn’t so much the technical but rather the figurative meaning …
Tired of saying the formal greeting arrivederci when parting ways with someone? Want to transform it into something more casual and friendly? Then why not try saying A presto! (See you soon!) instead! Let’s break it down into its component parts: a A is a preposition that means to or at depending on the context. …