Italian Word of the Day: Cetriolo (cucumber)

Cetriolo is the standard Italian word for cucumber. Is is derived from the Vulgar Latin citriòlum, and in turn from citrium, which comes from citrus (meaning “citron”). cetriolo cucumber Being a masculine noun, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Ricordati di prendere un po’ di cetrioli quando vai al supermercato. Remember to buy …

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Italian Word of the Day: Minuto (minute)

Each hour (ora) of the day consists of sixty minutes, which in Italian are known as minuti (singular: minuto). It comes from the late Latin minutum, which means particle, and is the neuter noun form of the adjective minutus. minuto minute Because minuto is a masculine noun, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: …

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Italian Word of the Day: Già (already)

Out of all the small and widely used adverbs in Italian, già is undoubtedly one of the most important. Its most frequent translation in English is already and it comes from the Latin word iam of the same meaning. già already It is mostly used with the passato prossimo tense, appearing between the auxiliary verb …

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Italian Word of the Day: Storia (history / story)

Storia is a multifaceted word in Italian that means so much more than its English cognate, story. Let’s find out more about it now! Storia is a feminine noun, so it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Arguably the most common translation for storia is history, not story as one might expect. Storia can …

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Italian Word of the Day: Basta (enough / stop)

We recently conducted a survey on our Facebook group, asking them which words their parents used with them most frequently. Unsurprisingly, the short yet powerful word “basta” ranked very close to the top of the list. Basta, when used as an interjection, has a couple of primary translations in English. The first is (that’s) enough, …

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Italian Word of the Day: Ragione (reason / right)

In most instances, the Italian word ragione directly corresponds to our English word reason. First and foremost, both reason and ragione denote the human ability to think, comprehend, and engage in logical reasoning. Some common expressions related to this definition of ragione include: Sono contento che tu abbia ascoltato la voce della ragione. I’m glad you …

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