Mattino (masculine) and mattina (feminine), both of which translate as morning in English, are two words of different genders that derive from the same Latin adjective matutinus. They indicate the part of the day between dawn and noon. Their respective plurals are mattini (masculine) and mattine (feminine). Knowing which word to use and when can …
In Italian, the words solo, solamente and soltanto all translate as only in English. When used as adverbs and conjunctions, they are completely interchangeable. As an adverb: When used as an adverb, all three correspond to the English adverb only (as in exclusively or merely). For example: Mio figlio mangia solo pane e pasta.Mio figlio …
As human beings, we have the natural tendency to talk about what we want in conversation with friends and family, be it food, drink, sleep, company or something more profound. In Italian, the infinitive verb for to want is volere and when expressing a personal desire in the first person, it can be conjugated in …
In English, the phrase I love you is extremely flexible. It can be used not only towards a lover or a person you’re in love with, but also family members, your children and even really good friends. In Italian however, there are two different phrases that equate to I love you and learning how they …
In Italian, there are two main ways you can translate the word now. One is ora and the second is adesso. For all intents and purposes, ora and adesso are synonyms in modern day Italian, and swapping one for the other will rarely sound strange to the native ear. Ora derives from the Latin hora …
In English, we have one adverb of place to describe the location of something close to us – here – and another to describe the location of something further away – there. This is why many learners are surprised to learn that four different adverbs exist in Italian: qui and qua (the equivalents of here) …