The Italian word for easy or simple is facile. As you’ve probably guessed, it shares the same origin as the English word facile (meaning simplistic). Both come from the Latin facilis meaning easy. The singular facile is used to describe both masculine and feminine subjects and there is only one plural (facili). Non è facile …
People across the world are familiar with the informal Italian greeting Ciao! (pronounced CHOW) which can be used at the start of a conversation to greet someone, or at end of a conversation to sign off. The meaning is exactly the same as Hi! and Bye! in English. Ciao Enrica, come stai? Hi Enrica, how …
The word pecora (feminine, plural: pecore) is the common name for all bovine mammals of the genus Ovis, comprising six wild species and numerous domestic breeds. It is also the specific term for the female adult sheep. The male is known as montone or ariete (ram) whereas the offspring is called agnello (lamb) up to …
The Italian word morbido may look and sound a lot like the English word morbid but don’t be fooled: these two terms are actually false friends! The correct translation for morbido is soft whereas morbid is morboso. What’s interesting is that morbido and morbid can both be traced back to the same Latin root morbus …
The word for sad in Italian, which comes from the Latin tristis, is triste. Like all other adjectives that end in e, the ending of triste stays the same regardless of whether the subject is masculine or feminine. In its plural form, it becomes tristi. È una situazione molto triste per tutte le persone coinvolte. …
This week, we’ve chosen a classic Italian expression with which I imagine the vast majority of you are already very familiar! 🙂 Grazie! is the equivalent of Thank you! or Thanks! in Italian. It is the plural of the noun grazia which literally translates as grace, gracefulness, favour or generosity depending on the context. Ricordati …