Heather Broster
Some words are staples of everyday conversation, and in Italian, dunque is one of them. dunque so / therefore / well Dunque is a conjunction, adverb and even a noun as we’ll discover further down. It originates from Late Latin dunc, which is likely a blend of dumque (meaning “while, at the same time”) and …
While listening to Radio Italia, a word caught my attention during a report about how Germans no longer embody the Protestant work ethic as strongly as they did just a few years ago. That word was stacanovista—the Italian term for a workaholic. stacanovista workaholic / hard worker This word derives from the noun stacanovismo (or …
Imagine you’ve got a 40th birthday party to plan. You handle the decorations, order the perfect cake, coordinate with friends and family, prepare the guest list, and even organise a karaoke evening and a DJ—all while juggling your usual responsibilities. (And, yes, I am speaking from personal experience!) This kind of dedication is a perfect …
The other day, while we were having lunch at our favourite local restaurant in Turin, the waiter—looking more cheerful than usual—came over and asked if he could share a few of his favourite freddure (the Italian word for puns or quips). He proceeded to list three, but we only managed to understand one! freddura pun …
Some Italian words take time to master because they lack a precise or direct equivalent in English. The adverb ormai is a prime example of this. ormai While ormai is commonly translated as now, by now, at this point, nearly, finally, anymore, and already, it’s not always clear when each translation is appropriate. Given its …
A useful idiomatic expression for indicating something is absolutely certain or blatantly obvious is Non ci piove. Non ci piove! No doubt about it! The literal translation of this phrase is It doesn’t rain on it, with piove meaning “it rains” and the particle ci meaning “on it.” Some possible English equivalents include: It’s often …