Heather Broster
Today is the first day of February (il primo giorno di febbraio) and that means the days are getting longer and winter is finally on its way out! 🙂 Febbraio is the second month (secondo mese) of the year according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. As is the case with all months of the …
The room in the house where all the cooking is done is called a cucina (feminine, plural: cucine) in Italian. It is closely related to the verb cucinare which, as you’ve probably guessed, means to cook. Ho cucinato un pollo in cucina oggi. I cooked a chicken in the kitchen today. When talking about the layout of …
Just as in English, the word pesce (masculine, plural: pesci) can refer to the living aquatic animal, as well as any kind of culinary dish made out of the animal. If this word sounds familiar, it is because it shares the same etymological origin as the English word pescatarian (someone who eats fish but not …
Did you know that we have Italy to thank for La Festa di San Valentino (Saint Valentine’s Day)? Saint Valentine, or San Valentino as he is known in Italian, was a Roman priest. Legend has it that he began marrying persecuted Christian couples in secret, and after being discovered by Emperor Claudius Gothicus and refusing …
The word for hope in Italian is speranza (feminine, plural speranze). It bears no relation to the English word but if you understand some French, you’ll notice that it is similar to the word espoir. It is related to the verb sperare meaning to hope. Some other words with the same origin include: speranzoso = …
The word for cousin in Italian is cugino. Unlike the English word however, you can specify the gender of the person by changing the last letter of the word. A male cousin is a cugino and a female cousin is a cugina. There are also masculine and feminine versions of the plural cousins. Many male …