Today we’re going to be taking a look at the advanced adverb oltremodo which means extremely or exceedingly. It is the combination of the words oltre (beyond, over) and modo (way), and can be written as two separate words. Oltremodo normally appears after verbs and before adjectives and nouns. For example: annoiarsi oltremodo (verb + …
Today’s adverb invano should be familiar to everyone as the English equivalent is nearly identical, except that we provide a space between the two terms (in vain). Ho cercato di convincerli a scappare, ma è stato tutto invano. I tried to get them to escape, but it was all in vain. Interestingly, many Italians mistakenly …
An adverb in Italian that means more or less, approximately or roughly is grossomodo. It may also be written as two words – grosso modo – with grosso meaning large and modo meaning way. Siamo grossomodo a metà strada. We’re approximately halfway there. Grossomodo ci saranno quaranta persone questa sera. There will be more or …
One word for late in Italian is tardi, which should be very easy to remember as we have the same word in English, albeit spelt with a word-final ‘y’ instead of an ‘i’. Both the Italian and the English tardy can be traced back to the Latin tardus meaning ‘slow’. The expressions essere tardi (lit. …
Today we have a fun word that made me smile from ear to ear the first time I encountered it! Nientepopodimeno is a humorous variation on the adverbs nientemeno and nientedimeno, both of which usually translate as no less (than). It is normally followed by the comparative conjunction che (than). Let’s break down the word …
The adverb carponi (also written as a carponi or the less common carpone) is how you would say on all fours or on one’s hands and knees in Italian. It is probably connected with the Latin carpere which means to swipe or to pilfer. Some common verbs you’ll see used with carponi include: camminare carponi …