Italian Word of the Day: Spinoso (thorny / prickly)

Lately my two-year-old son has been very keen on discovering the various plants that grow in our local woodland. Although most plants are safe to touch, there are a few thorny fiends that will give you a nasty prick if you aren’t careful! Spinoso is the adjective Italians use when they want to describe something …

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Italian Word of the Day: Allora (so / then / at that time)

An Italian word that many of our readers and followers on Facebook have been requesting is allora, so let’s dive straight in! Allora is an extremely flexible word in that it can function as an adverb, conjunction or adjective depending on how it is used in a sentence. We’ve decided this article into three sections …

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Italian Word of the Day: Certo (certain / sure / of course)

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 …

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Italian Word of the Day: Idoneo (fit / suitable / adequate)

The word idoneo in Italian is used to describe someone or something that is suitable, fit, appropriate or qualified for a given purpose. It derives from the Latin idonĕus of the same meaning. Being an adjective, the -o ending changes in accordance with the gender and/or plurality of the subject it describes. Idoneo is usually …

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Italian Word of the Day: Spaventoso (scary / incredible)

The adjective spaventoso in Italian is interesting in that it has either a positive or negative connotation depending on how it is used. In its negative and more traditional sense, it describes anything that causes fright or arouses feelings of terror and bewilderment. Some possible translations including scary, frightening, frightful, terrible, horrible or dreadful. Ieri …

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Italian Word of the Day: Soleggiato (sunny / sunlit)

After a number of vicious winter storms, the sun is shining for the first time in days, so what better word to talk about than soleggiato, which means sunny or sunlit. As you have probably inferred, it is a derivative of the word sole (sun). Being an adjective, the ending changes to match the gender …

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