If you have young children or a pet that likes to roll around in the mud, one word you simply cannot do without is sporco, the Italian word for dirty. As with many adjectives, the ending changes depending on whether the subject is masculine, feminine or plural. Devo pulire la stanza perché è molto sporca. …
One of the seven colours that sits between arancione (orange) and verde (green) on the spectrum is giallo (yellow). It is also one of the three primary colours along with rosso (red) and blu (blue). It comes from the Latin word galbĭnus which means greenish-yellow or yellowish. Il giallo era il mio colore preferito quando …
A delicious tropical fruit that Italians love eating in the summertime is ananas, the Italian word for pineapple. It is currently the third most important tropical fruit in world production. Whereas the English word pineapple was applied to the fruit because of its resemblance to a pine cone, much of mainland Europe adopted the word …
The word for eye in Italian is occhio (masculine, plural: occhi). Just as in English, it refers to the physical body part but also has a number of figurative meanings related to sight. Mi è entrato qualcosa nell’occhio! Something went into my eye! Below is a brief selection of the many figurative expressions containing the …
A very useful word in Italian is spreco, which translates as waste in English. It refers to the act of using or expending something carelessly or extravagantly to no purpose. spreco waste Spreco is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Below are a few common expressions using the word spreco: …
Have you come down with a cold (raffreddore)? Or perhaps you suffer from allergies (allergie)? If so, you might find yourself sneezing more than usual! The word for a sneeze in Italian is starnuto, which comes from the verb starnutire meaning to sneeze. starnuto sneeze Note: less common variations are found in Italian literature, such …