Italian Word of the Day: Olio di oliva (olive oil)

Olio di oliva – or olive oil in English – is technically three words, but they appear together so often that we figured you’d let us off the hook, just this once! 😉 Olio is a masculine noun. To create the plural form, just get rid of the ending -o and you have oli, and …

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Italian Word of the Day: Mandorla (almond)

The word for almond in Italian is the lovely sounding mandorla (feminine, plural: mandorle). Both words can ultimately be traced back to the medieval Latin amandula. Mandorla shouldn’t be confused with the masculine equivalent mandorlo which is the word for the almond tree. Learn about ‘mandorla’ with our video To say that something is made …

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Italian Phrase: Vorrei un caffè. (I would like a coffee.)

If you visit a bar (café or coffee shop) in Italy, it is important to know how to order food and drink in Italian. In this article, we’ll be looking specifically at how to order a classic cup of coffee. Vorrei un caffè. I would like a coffee. Let’s see how the phrase is composed. …

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Italian Word of the Day: Torta (cake / pie)

The generic name for a baked sweet that is round in shape and made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter and eggs is torta (feminine, plural: torte). Although cake is the most common translation in English, it may also denote a pie. Learn with our video Some different kinds of sweet torte people enjoy …

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Italian Word of the Day: Toast (toasty / toasted sandwich)

When you think of the word toast, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably a slice of bread (pane) that’s just popped out of the toaster (tostapane), covered in butter (burro), jam (marmellata), or peanut butter (burro di arachidi). Note: Toast isn’t pronounced /toʊst/ in Italian but /tōst/ with a long ‘o’ sound. …

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Italian Word of the Day: Dolce (sweet)

If you have a soft spot for sugary foods like chocolate, cakes and candy, an adjective you should add to your Italian lexicon right away is dolce, which means sweet. Learn with our video ‘Dolce’ as an adjective Dolce is one of those adjectives whose form only changes for the plural, not for the gender. …

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