The Italian word for blue is very simple: just chop off the e at the end of the English word and you end up with blu, which is the general term for any shade of colour between green and violet. From there, you can choose between many variants to describe the colour with more precision: blu chiaro = light blueblu scuro = dark blueblu metalizzato = blue metallicblu opaco = blue opaqueblu … [Read more...] about Italian Word of the Day: Azzurro (blue)
Italian Word of the Day: Unico (unique / only)
If you want to talk about someone or something that is one of a kind or that is unlike anything else, you can use the word unique in English, which translates to unico (masculine, plural unici) and unica (feminine, plural uniche) in Italian. La voce di Freddy Mercury era unica, nessun altro cantava come lui. The voice of Freddy Mercury was unique, nobody else sang like him. A … [Read more...] about Italian Word of the Day: Unico (unique / only)
Italian Word of the Day: Vino (wine)
Like food, wine plays a very important role in Italy's commerce and culture. Mangiare (eating) together is a fundamental part of Italian social life, and whether you're at a restaurant or someone's house, a bottiglia (bottle) of wine is always on the table. The word for wine in Italian is vino (masculine, plural vini). As you can imagine, there are lots of different types of wine. Here are … [Read more...] about Italian Word of the Day: Vino (wine)
Italian Word of the Day: Pane (bread)
If there is bread on the table, I can't help myself – I'm going to eat it all, right down to the very last crumb. I've been a bread lover since childhood and when I was 3 years old, I refused to eat anything else. Living in different countries has allowed me to taste different kinds of bread, from the French baguette to the Italian focaccia. The word for bread in Italian is pane (masculine, … [Read more...] about Italian Word of the Day: Pane (bread)
Italian Word of the Day: Arte (art)
Art is the uniquely human skill of being able to consciously create something beautiful or meaningful by employing skill and imagination. Typically visual but also auditory and theatrical, art can assume many forms including paintings, sculptures, music, architecture and more. In Italian, all you need to do is add an e to the end of the English word to create the word arte (feminine, plural: … [Read more...] about Italian Word of the Day: Arte (art)
Italian Phrase of the Week: Posso avere il conto per favore?
When travelling around Italy, the temptation to eat out will prove difficult to resist with all the wonderful ristoranti there are. But even the best meal must come to an end! There are different ways to ask for the bill in Italian. One of the most common is: posso avere il conto per favore? Let's see how the phrase is constructed: posso = I canavere = to haveil conto = the billper … [Read more...] about Italian Phrase of the Week: Posso avere il conto per favore?