Il Natale è alle porte is a very common expression used when Christmas is only days away. It literally translates as “Christmas is at the doors” and equates to the English expressions: Il Natale è alle porte. Christmas is just around the corner. The use of the definite article il (the) is optional. You can …
You’ve probably already learned the extremely common greeting Come stai? (“How are you?”) in Italian, but what if you want to ask what someone is up to? In this case, you can use the expression: Che fai di bello? What are you up to? Che fai…? , the variation Cosa fai…? and the more formal …
If you ever travel to Italy, one key phrase you should make an effort to memorise is “Can you help me?” which translates as Mi può aiutare? in Italian. Mi può aiutare? Can you help me? (formal) Mi is simply the equivalent of “me” in Italian. It is known as an unstressed direct object pronoun. …
If you are curious to know what someone does for a living, the most natural phrase you can use in Italian is: Cosa fai nella vita? What do you do for a living? The literal translation of this phrase is “What do you do in life?” but it is implied that you are referring to …
The vast majority of the people who subscribe to our newsletter and Facebook group are Americans of Italian descent. Some were born to immigrant parents, whereas others may have had to look back a few generations to discover their Italian roots. No matter where you fall on the spectrum, we are sure that today’s phrase …
If someone provides you with an explanation but you struggle to understand the meaning behind their words, it is only natural to ask the question: What do you mean? One way to express this in Italian is with the phrase Che cosa vuoi dire? which, word-for-word, can be translated as What do you want to …