Heather Broster
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 …
If someone asks the question “How are you?” in Italian, which normally translates as Come stai? (informal) or Come sta? (formal), there are various ways you can respond depending on your mood or the situation. In this article, we’ve covered all the most common responses, listed in order from the most to least positive, and …
An extremely useful word in Italian is volentieri and if you learn to use it correctly, you’ll be one step closer to sounding like a native speaker! It comes from the French word volontiers which in turn derives from the Latin voluntarie. Volentieri can translate in numerous ways depending on the context, though in every …
A handy word you will find yourself using all the time in Italian is abbastanza. It comes from the ancient form a (to) + bastanza (an antiquated derivative of bastare = to suffice). The doubling of the letter b can be attributed to a linguistic phenomenon called syntactic gemination. There are two predominant translations for …
Most people – with perhaps the exception of my minimalistic father who only ever travels with a teeny tiny bag – pack their belongings inside a valigia (feminine, plural: valige or valigie) when they go on holiday. The word derives from the Latin valisia, which possibly came from the Gaulish *valisia meaning leather bag. Some verbs …
A blanket term for any decorative or artistic object kept on a shelf or piece of furniture, regardless of its value, is soprammobile (masculine, plural: soprammobili) in Italian. Some possible translations in English are knick-knack, shelf ornament or decorative piece. It is a combination of two words: sopra meaning on top of or above and …