A connoisseur of good food is known as a buongustaio in Italian. It is made up of the following three parts: buon (good) + gustare (to taste / savour) + aio (a suffix used to form agent nouns) Buongustaio is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Unlike a mangione (a …
The word for sad in Italian, which comes from the Latin tristis, is triste. Like all other adjectives that end in e, the ending of triste stays the same regardless of whether the subject is masculine or feminine. In its plural form, it becomes tristi. È una situazione molto triste per tutte le persone coinvolte. …
What do you imagine when you hear the word panini? Probably a delicious sandwich, served warm after being toasted to perfection, am I right? What you may not know is that panini is actually the plural of the Italian singular panino, which quite simply means bread roll or sandwich. Etymologically speaking, it is the diminutive …
The word for wind in Italian is vento (masculine, plural: venti) and it comes from the Latin term ventus. Whereas in English, we tend to say It’s windy to describe breezy conditions, Italians have the choice between two expressions: Tira vento. = Lit: It’s pulling wind. C’è vento. = There is wind. Caspita, c’è tanto …
In Italian, there are two predominant terms for watermelon, and the one you end up using the most will depend on where you live in Italy. My husband is from Turin in the north-west of Italy, and the only word he’s ever used for watermelon is anguria (feminine, plural: angurie). This term is also dominant …
In Italian, the word matrimonio (masculine, plural: matrimoni) can mean both wedding and marriage depending on the context. If you’re struggling to remember this word, I’ve found that it helps to think of the English word matrimony. Il matrimonio è durato otto mesi. The marriage lasted eight months. Il matrimonio si è tenuto in gran …