Heather Broster
Today’s Italian expression cannot really be classified as an idiom, but it is an interesting one to explore nonetheless because a) it has a dual meaning, and b) it is an expression that often bewilders learners when they first encounter it. fare il bagno to go for a swim / dip Before we proceed any …
When I first started learning Italian many moons ago, I clearly recall that one of the topics I struggled with the most was difference between the prepositions da and per when talking about periods of time or durations. Indeed, it is possible to translate for X number of years (to use a common example) as …
Some Italian words look unmistakably Italian: just think of casa, mangiare, bellissimo. What makes them look Italian? Well, they all end in a vowel, for one! Other words, however, can catch you totally off guard because they don’t seem particularly Italian at all. Sometimes they even look more like English, French, or, as in the …
Lately, I have found myself dealing with “brain fog” more often than I would like to admit. We all know that la vita (life) has a funny way of piling things on, be that due to work responsibilities, bringing up kids, daily worries and decisions, and of course expectations which may or may not even …
Have you ever done something to benefit yourself, knowing full well that your actions could put someone else at a disadvantage? Or perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end of somebody’s selfish actions? Either way, there is a very appropriate expression in Italian to describe this way of behaving. tirare acqua al proprio mulino to …
There are certain phrases that seem to pop of my mouth almost without thinking. One of them is the typical line “What’s wrong?” And I probably say it most often to mio figlio (my son)! Sometimes it’s because he’s gone unusually silenzioso (quiet). Sometimes he’s come through the door looking abbattuto (despondent) after school. Sometimes …