Heather Broster
The way you would say to tell off or to scold in Italian is sgridare. It is a derivative of the verb gridare meaning to shout or yell. sgridare to tell off The s- is known as an intensive prefix, which means that it intensifies the meaning of the verb. While s- in Italian is …
The word for what we call a stroller, baby buggy or pushchair in English is simply passeggino in Italian. It is a derivative of the word passeggio meaning walk or stroll. passeggino pushchair / stroller It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Unlike a carrozzina (pram / baby carriage), …
The word for both clock and watch in Italian is orologio (masculine, plural: orologi). It comes from the Latin horologium which in turn derives from the Greek ὡρολόγιον (hōrológion), a combination of the words ὥρα (ora – hour) and λέγω (dire – to say/tell). If you want to specify that you are talking about a …
The word for bicycle in Italian is bicicletta (feminine, plural: biciclette). Both the English and Italian terms were borrowed from the original French word for bicycle which was, you guessed it, bicycle. (These days the French prefer the words bicyclette and vélo.) Just as the English word bicycle is normally abbreviated to bike, so too …
The phrase Mi dispiace in Italian translates as I’m sorry in English. It comes from the verb dispiacere which means to be sorry or to regret. Mi dispiace Mi dispiace is mainly used when you wish to express regret or sorrow about an unfortunate situation. Imagine, for example, that your friend tells you that she …
Broccoli is one of a handful of Italian words that was imported into the English language in its plural form to denote the singular, much like panini, pepperoni and zucchini. The proper singular is actually broccolo with an o rather than an i at the end of the word. It is the diminutive of brocco, …