Heather Broster
(Tu) sei carino/a! is how you would say You are cute! in Italian. If you are talking to a man, you need to make the adjective masculine (carino) whereas for a woman, you would choose the feminine carina. The reason I’ve put tu (you) in brackets is because in Italian, subject pronouns are optional if …
Colours are one of the first things all learners of a second language try to memorise. Today we’re taking a look at the colour brown which translates as marrone (plural: marroni) in Italian. Il nostro cane è marrone scuro come il cioccolato. Our dog is dark brown like chocolate. The diminutive form of marrone is …
I’ve always found it fascinating that the word paese (masculine, plural: paesi) in Italian can refer to one of the largest places where people live (country or nation), as well as one of the smallest (town or village). Whether you mean one or the other is explicated by the context, as you can see by …
The festival of Carnevale, known as Carnival or Mardi Gras in English, takes place in February or early March in Italy. A time of festivities, parades, parties and entertainment, it can be considered the big celebration before the fasting of Lent and the pious restrictions of Easter. The most well-known Carnival celebrations take place in …
The word for young lady in Italian is signorina (feminine, plural: signorine). It derives from the word signora meaning lady or woman. The suffixes -ino / -ina are used to form diminutives, so signorina literally means little lady. L’ho conosciuta quando era una bambina, ma ora è diventata una signorina. I met her when she …
The Italian word for apple is mela (feminine, plural: mele) and the tree upon which they grow is called melo. Both words derive from the Latin word “mālum” meaning “any tree-fruit fleshy on the outside and having a kernel within.” (Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary) Today it forms the basis of many fruit names in …