Heather Broster
One way of saying astonished, speechless or shocked in Italian is attonito. Being an adjective, it also has a feminine form (attonita), as well as masculine and feminine plural forms (attoniti and attonite). The word has an interesting origin according to Treccani. It comes from the Latin attonitus which itself is a derivative of the …
The Italian word for hail, as in pellets of frozen rain, is grandine (feminine, plural: grandini). It derives from the Latin word of the same spelling. One way of translating the verb to hail is to use the verb cadere (to fall), as in cade la grandine (the hail falls), but it is just as …
The Italian word for flame is fiamma (feminine, plural: fiamme). Both the Italian and English words can be traced back to the Latin flamma of the same meaning. /fiàm·ma/ Some of the most common types of flames and the objects that produce them include: La fiamma della candela oscillava nel vento. The flame of the …
The word for today in Italian is oggi. It derives from the Latin hŏdie which itself is a contraction of hoc die (on this day). Ieri mi hai detto che l’incontro si sarebbe tenuto oggi, ma in realtà ho scoperto che si svolge domani! Yesterday you told me the meeting would be held today but …
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 …