The word fruscio (masculine) in Italian is a noun that usually describes the following kinds of subdued sounds: In most cases, it equates in meaning to the words rustle or rustling in English. The plural form is fruscii with the double “i” at the end. You can hear the singular and plural pronunciations below. Fruscio …
Today we’re going to be taking a look at the verb gironzolare, which describes the act of walking or moving around a place without any particular aim. Some possible English translations include to wander, to hang around or to loiter. As you might have guessed, gironzolare derives from the verb girare which means to turn …
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 …
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 …
The other day, my husband and I decided to watch Johnny Stecchino, an Italian comedy from the early 1990s directed by and starring the fantastically funny Roberto Benigni. The story follows Dante, a naive yet kind-hearted bus driver and part-time banana thief, whose uncanny physical resemblance to Sicilian mobster-turned-police informant Johnny Stecchino lands him in …
One way of saying fearless or undaunted in Italian is impavido. It comes from the Latin impavidus which is a combination of the prefix im- and pavidus (coward). Impavido is the masculine form. The feminine version is impavida, and their respective plural forms are impavidi and impavide. Il principe impavido sfidò il drago per liberare …