Dissestato isn’t the kind of word you will come across in everyday Italian, but for those keen on expanding their vocabulary, it is one worth remembering. Because it is an adjective, the ending changes to correspond with the gender and/or plurality of the subject: First and foremost, it is used to describe things that have …
Have you ever had to endure a lengthy and convoluted explanation or discussion that left you feeling more confused than when you started? If so, you could aptly describe it with an adjective that’s just as much of a mouthful as the discourse it depicts: arzigogolato. Arzigogolato is an adjective that derives from the verb …
Orlando Furioso (The Frenzy of Orlando) and its prequel Orlando Inamorato (Orlando in Love) are two of the longest epic poems ever written in the Italian language. And they are packed with hundreds of characters, some of whom are so well-known and influential that their names have made their way into the Italian dictionary! One …
The adjective dolciastro, which derives from the more commonly known adjective dolce (sweet), refers to anything that is sweet in flavour, but not pleasant. Some possible translations include sickly sweet or cloying. Adjectives such as dolciastro always agree with the noun they describe, which means that they have to demonstrate whether they are masculine, feminine, …
You may be as surprised to learn as I was that there is a single verb in Italian that means “to wag its tail” in Italian which is scodinzolare. scodinzolare to wag one’s tail Scodinzolare is a regular -are verb, so it can be conjugated in the following manner in the present tense: (io) scodinzolo …
Today we have a word that I actually heard for the first time while playing the game Memory with my son. The theme of the game was animals, many of which were quite obscure! colibrì hummingbird Colibrì is an invariable masculine noun. Invariable is just a fancy way of saying that its singular and plural …