Heather Broster
Certo is the Italian word for certain or sure. It derives from the Latin certum, the past participle of cernĕre meaning “to distinguish”. Being an adjective, its form changes to match the gender and/or number of the noun it describes. We should start out with some good news for English speaking learners: certo covers more …
Italian culture has made a name for itself all across the globe. We love Italian food, Italian fashion, Italian cars – the list goes on! When I want to splurge at the grocery store, I treat myself to name brand Barilla pasta, and sometimes a big jar of Nutella to top my favorite breakfast breads. …
Written by our American contributor in Florence, Lyssa Yapp, and translated into Italian by Valentina Nicastro. Title: Pro e Contro di Vivere in Italia (da Americani) Some Americans were born with souls meant to wander the Earth; we call them “expats”. Others were descended from immigrants, and now want to return to the patria (“homeland”). …
We all know that one person who acts as if he or she knows everything and dismisses the opinions, comments, or suggestions of others. In English, the best word to describe a person like this is know-it-all (or know-all) whereas in Italian, you’ll probably hear people using the terms sapientone (for a man) and sapientona …
Do you enjoy spending time by the seaside? Then you will love today’s word! The sea in Italian translates as mare, which should be easy to remember as it closely resembles the English word marine. It derives from the Latin mare of the same spelling. It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite …
The Italian word mistero is a noun that means mystery or something that is not easily understood or explained. We know with certainty that it derives from the Latin mysterium, which – surprise, surprise – also means mystery, and the Greek musterion. In ancient Rome, mysterium (which is a contraction of ministerium ‘ministry’) was used, …