How to Say “Welcome” in Italian – Benvenuto / Benvenuta

The word welcome – as in the polite and friendly greeting you use upon someone’s arrival – can be translated as benvenuto in Italian. The end of the word changes depending on whether you are addressing a man, woman or multiple men and women. Benvenuti alla mia festa! Welcome to my party! The same word …

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Italian Phrase: Lei parla inglese? (Do you speak English?)

If you’ve only just arrived in Italy and your vocabulary hasn’t progressed far beyond ciao and grazie, there is a survival phrase you should definitely make an effort to learn: Do you speak English? Italian has both formal and informal registers, so if you’re addressing a stranger on the street or in a shop, the …

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50 Common Italian Words Used in the English Language

There are literally hundreds of words in the English language that sound or look similar to their Italian equivalents. This is because English has been heavily influenced by Latinate and Romance sources, such as French and Anglo-Norman, ever since the Early Middle Ages. In this article, I’m not going to be investigating Italian-sounding words that …

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Italian Word of the Day: Niente (nothing / anything)

English speakers are taught from an early age that putting more than one negative in a sentence is grammatically incorrect. In fact, I’m sure my English teacher would have spontaneously combusted had I ever written “I don’t have nothing,” in one of my essays! Not so in Italian! In the language of love, it is …

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Italian Word of the Day: Arcobaleno (rainbow)

The Italian word for rainbow is arcobaleno (plural: arcobaleni). l’arcobalenoun arcobaleno gli arcobalenidegli arcobaleni It is composed of two words: arco (arch) and baleno (flash, flare). Ho visto un arcobaleno dopo il temporale. I saw a rainbow after the storm. The seven colours of the rainbow (sette colori dell’arcobaleno) are as follows: violetto = violet …

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