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 …
Do you enjoy spending time by the seaside? Then you will love today’s word! The sea in Italian translates as mare, which should be easy to remember as it closely resembles the English word marine. It derives from the Latin mare of the same spelling. It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite …
The Italian word for door is porta. It comes from the Latin porta of the same meaning. If you have trouble remembering this word, try and associate it with the English word portal! Porta is a feminine noun whose ending changes from -a to -e in the plural. It takes the following definite and indefinite …
The word for a city in Italian is città. It is derived from the Latin civitatem, a derivative of civis meaning “citizen“. It generally refers to any human settlement of considerable size with streets, public services, and a local administration. Because it is an invariable feminine noun, the plural form is the same as the …
Animale, the word for animal in Italian, is identical to its English cognate, barring the addition of a word-final e. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin animal, which is based on animalis (‘having breath’). It is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: As in English, animale in Italian can …
Today we’re going to be discussing the meal that comes between colazione (breakfast) and cena (supper) which is, of course, pranzo (lunch)! Pranzo is a masculine noun that comes directly from the Latin prandium of the same meaning. It takes the following definite and indefinite articles: il pranzothe lunch un pranzoa lunch i pranzithe lunchesdei …