Heather Broster
The word for whale in Italian is balena (feminine, plural: balene), which comes from the Latin balaena. When talking about a young whale calf or balena giovane, the diminutives balenottero or balenotto are used. Whales are amongst the largest marine mammals (mammiferi marini) on earth, and are characterised by their streamlined hairless bodies, horizontal tail …
Sopravvissuto, the word for survivor in Italian, comes from the verb sopravvivere meaning to survive. It is formed of two parts: sopra (above) and vissuto (past participle of vivere ‘to live’). If you are talking about a woman instead of a man, the masculine sopravvissuto becomes the feminine sopravvissuta. Their respective plurals are sopravvissuti and …
The word for tiger in Italian is the feminine noun tigre (plural: tigri) which derives from the Latin tigris. It remains feminine regardless of whether you are talking about a male tiger (una tigre maschio) or a female tiger (una tigre femmina). It is the largest of the so-called big cats (grandi felini) that make …
In Italian, any verb that follows the plural first-person pronoun noi (we) must be conjugated with the ending -iamo in the present tense. This means that, for example, the infinitive andare (to go) becomes noi andiamo (we go), fare (to do/make) becomes noi facciamo (we do/make) and venire (to come) becomes noi veniamo (we come). …
One of two ways to translate the word together in Italian is insieme, which comes from the vulgar Latin insemel. The other is assieme, and while they are almost completely interchangeable, insieme is the term you will hear more often. Note: If you have trouble remembering this word, I find it helps to think of …
The word for dragon in Italian is drago (masculine, plural: draghi). It comes from the Latin draco which in turn comes from the Greek drakon meaning serpent. Note: Anglophone learners of Italian might be tempted to use the synonym dragone since it sounds closer to the English word but drago is the preferred term. La …