Heather Broster
The word for squid in Italian is the masculine noun calamaro. Technically speaking, calamaro is actually the term for the European squid but in everyday Italian, it has come to refer to the entire squid family. If this word sounds familiar, that’s because in English, we use the plural form calamari to refer to squid …
If you want to express absolute disbelief in Italian, an exclamation you simply cannot afford not to learn is Ma dai! Ma dai! Oh, come on! / Seriously? Ma is the word for but, whereas dai is a catch-all exclamation used when: It is in this final sense of the word that the expression Ma …
The word pappa (feminine, plural: pappe) in Italian traditionally refers to a thick minestra (soup) cooked in water, broth or milk, containing bread or semolina. It is used as food for newly weaned babies or for adults who have difficulty chewing. These days, pappa refers more broadly to any dish with a mushy texture, including …
Purché is a conjunction that introduces a conditional clause, much like the expressions as long as or provided that in English. It is the combination of pure, in the archaic sense of ‘only’, and che (that). The verb that follows purché is normally in the subjunctive mood, as you can see from the following example …
The word for shower in Italian is doccia (feminine, plural: docce). It derives from the now-obsolete doccio, the term for an archaic kind of gutter or drainpipe. As in English, doccia can refer to the apparatus that produces the spray of water, the cubicle itself, and the act of showering. To take / to have …
A person who is always ready to start an argument or pick a fight, often over trivial matters, is an attaccabrighe in Italian. The closest English translations are troublemaker and quarrelsome person. Because it is an invariable noun, its form does not change if you are talking about a woman or multiple people. The word …