Heather Broster
When I first started learning Italian, I found it perplexing that the word for table could be both tavolo (masculine) and tavola (feminine) depending on the context. If you too are confused, don’t worry – you are in good company! Tavolo (plural: tavoli) is the generic word for table, the ubiquitous piece of furniture found …
In the biographical romantic drama Eat Pray Love, unfulfilled business woman Elizabeth Gilbert – played by Julia Roberts – leaves behind her marriage, house and high-flying job in America to embark on a year-long spiritual journey of self-discovery in Italy, India and Indonesia. Her first stop is Rome where she spends four month stint learning …
One of the most well-loved creatures on the planet is the butterfly, known as farfalla in Italian. farfalla butterfly It is a feminine noun, so the definite and indefinite articles it takes are as follows: la farfallathe butterflyuna farfallaa butterfly le farfallethe butterfliesdelle farfalle(some) butterflies If this word sounds strangely familiar, this is because farfalle …
When we used to live in Turin, we’d never let a week go by without a trip to one of our favourite local restaurants. After all, there is nothing quite like Italian cuisine! Ristorante (plural: ristoranti) is the Italian word for restaurant and as you can see, the spelling is very similar to the English …
When I was a kid back in Canada, my friends and I used to have competitions in class to see who could roll their Rs the longest, much to our teachers’ chagrin. Now, I don’t have many claims to fame from my school years, but I can proudly say that when it came to tongue …
An Italian word that has an established place in the English language is graffiti which specifically refers to writing or drawings on public walls, usually done without permission and as a form of artistic expression. In English, graffiti is almost always used as if it were a mass noun but in Italian, you will encounter …