Whenever someone asks me how to say “to tease” or “to take the mickey” in Italian, my first instinct is to teach them the expression prendere in giro, simply because it is the most commonly used translation. Those who wish to amplify their vocabulary, however, may be interested in a similar expression which replaces giro …
When we want to describe something that ends in an exciting, impressive, successful or spectacular manner, we can use the following expressions in English: In Italian, every single one of these expressions can be encapsulated by chiudere in bellezza, which literally translates as “to close in beauty”. An alternative expression is finire in bellezza, which …
In Italian, if you want to say that something is easy to do, you might say è facile / semplice (it’s easy), è molto facile / semplice (it’s very easy), or è facilissimo / semplicissimo (it’s very easy). All these expressions are just fine, but if you want to go for something a bit more …
If you’ve ever been faced with a difficult or seemingly unresolvable problem, you could define it in Italian as una bella gatta da pelare, or literally, a beautiful female cat to skin. avere una bella gatta da pelare to have a difficult problem to resolve So, where does this expression come from? Though its exact …
Since I began learning languages over 20 years ago, one thing that has always struck me is how often different languages have idioms or proverbs that convey the same idea, yet express it in completely different ways. A good example is today’s proverb, Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca, which roughly corresponds to the English …
Today’s idiomatic expression has a direct equivalent in English, yet, as we’re about to see, the two expressions couldn’t be more different in imagery. In English, when we attempt something beyond our true abilities without considering the possible consequences, we’re often warned not to “bite off more than we can chew.“ Italian offers an expression …