Heather Broster
When someone says “Thank you!” in English, there is more than one way we can respond depending on the formality of the situation and who we are talking to. Unsurprisingly the same applies to the Italian language. In this article, we take a look at ten of the most popular ways of responding to “Grazie!” …
The Italian word for the beautiful blue planet we all call home is la Terra (the Earth). It is normally spelled with a capital T in scientific contexts. Terra La Terra gira intorno al Sole. The Earth revolves around the Sun. Terra in its uncapitalised form (plural: terre) may be used to refer to the …
Vinegar, or aceto as it is known in Italian, has a surprisingly wide variety of industrial and domestic uses due to its mild acidity (acidità). It is a common ingredient in cooking and is also popular as a natural household cleaner (detergente). Spesso uso l’aceto per pulire il lavandino. I often use vinegar to clean the sink. …
Ferro (plural: ferri) may not seem like a very interesting word on the surface, but dig a little deeper and you’ll soon discover that it forms the basis of many terms and expressions in both Italian and English! Il ferro si usa solitamente per produrre acciaio. Iron is normally used to produce steel. For example, …
There are thirty-eight big cat species in the world, but none is quite as iconic as the lion – or leone (masculine, plural: leoni) in Italian. A female lion, or lioness, is called a leonessa, whereas a lion cub can be translated as leoncino (little lion), although you will also hear cucciolo di leone. African …
We are all well aware that English is abound with words of Italian origin but did you know that Italian regularly borrows from English as well? Italian has a long history of incorporating foreign words into its vocabulary but it is only in recent years that the amount of English vocabulary entering Italian has exploded. …