Whenever my son does something naughty, his response is almost always the same: It wasn’t me, mamma! Because Italian is the language we speak at home, he says this to me in Italian, of course. There’s just one problem: what he says isn’t grammatically correct. So, what does he say? Non è stato me! What …
Whenever you want to say that you are happy to take care of an issue, or deal with a problem, consider using the very useful Italian expression Ci penso io! Let’s break it down bit by bit. Ci penso io! I’ll take care of it / deal with it / see to it! Let’s start …
The Italian expression Tanta roba! began as a slang phrase used among the younger generations but has now spread to the lingo of all Italians, both young and young-at-heart. I’ve even heard my suocera (mother-in-law) say it every now and then, and she’s 82! tanta roba Tanta is the feminine form of tanto, meaning many …
Ci è mancato poco is a common Italian expression used to indicate that an event, often negative, was narrowly avoided. It corresponds perfectly to the English idiom “a close one” or “a close call”. Ci è mancato poco! That was a close one! Let’s break it down into its component parts: Let’s start with the …
Today we’re going to take a look at a simple yet incredibly versatile Italian phrase: lasciare stare, which can also be written and said as lasciar stare. Literally, it translates as “to leave it to stay” (lasciare = to leave, stare = to stay/to be), but this obviously makes little sense in English. Let’s take …
Today, we’re going to look at a simple phrase that can be useful both for sincerely acknowledging someone’s good fortune and for making a slightly sarcastic remark about their happy circumstances, often with a touch of envy: Beato te! Beato te! Lucky you! Beato te! is essentially the equivalent of Lucky you! in English, with …