Heather Broster
It’s difficult to believe that we are already well into the month of May, known as maggio in Italian. Maggio is the fifth month of the year (quinto mese dell’anno) according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. As is the case with all months of the year, maggio isn’t capitalised in Italian as it is …
The affectionate name children use towards their father (padre) in Italian is papà. It is the equivalent of dad, daddy or pa in English. A very easy mistake you might make when you first start learning Italian is to accidentally place the emphasis on the first rather than the last syllable. If you place it …
If you’re experiencing sadness from the absence of a family member, close friend, lover or spouse, a good phrase to know is I miss you which translates as (Tu) mi manchi in Italian. In conversation, the personal pronoun tu is almost always omitted since the grammatical person is clear from the conjugation of the verb …
The name almost all children call their mother (madre) in Italian, no matter their age, is mamma, which translates as mom / mommy in American English or mum / mummy in British English. Three possible variations are the affectionate diminutives mammi, mami and mammina. When using a possessive adjective like mia (my), you have the …
Faith, or fede in Italian, can be defined as either the strong belief in something based on spiritual conviction rather than hard proof, or the complete trust in someone or something. The word can be traced back to the Latin fidem, which ultimately comes from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ-. Fede is a feminine noun that takes …
The second Sunday of May is Mother’s Day in Italy, known as La Festa della Mamma in Italian. In addition to being a celebration honouring the mothers (mamme) in our lives, it is also a time to commemorate motherhood, maternal bonds, and the significant influence of mothers in our society. In recognition of this special …