Heather Broster
The adverbial phrase a malapena means barely, scarcely, hardly, just about or only just in English. /ma·la·pé·na/ In both languages, these expressions often (albeit not always) imply some degree of hardship or difficulty. Il paziente con la bronchite riesce a malapena a respirare. The patient with bronchitis is hardly able to breathe.The patient with bronchitis …
Sfida (feminine, plural: sfide) is the Italian word for challenge. It refers to the act of challenging someone to a battle, duel, race or any other kind of competition to decide who is superior in terms of ability or strength. It comes from the verb sfidare which means to challenge or to defy. Some verbs …
A fun Italian word that sounds just like its meaning is ruzzolone (masculine, plural: ruzzoloni), which translates as a tumble or hard fall in English. It derives from the verb ruzzolare (to tumble / to roll) which can ultimately be traced back to the Latin word rota meaning wheel. To take a tumble translates as …
Last year, we covered how to say “I’m hungry!” in Italian, so today we’re going to look at what to say when you’re feeling a little (or very) parched! Ho sete! I’m thirsty! Let’s break the phrase down into its component parts: ho The first person singular conjugation of avere (to have). Note that Italians …
The word for alarm in Italian is allarme (masculine, plural: allarmi). It derives from the military expression All’arme! (To arms!) which was, and still is, a command to soldiers to take up their weapons and be ready to fight. Arme was the ancient plural of arma (weapon) but it has since been replaced by armi. …
Life – or la vita in Italian – is a rollercoaster filled with incredible highs and devastating lows. Unfortunately there isn’t a single handbook to help us navigate all of life’s ups and downs but that is exactly what makes it such an adventure! Below you’ll find a collection of twenty of our favourite inspirational, …