The terms ocean and oceano (masculine, plural: oceani), which derive from the Greek ōkeanos, refer to the largest expanses of salt water on the earth’s surface. Just as in English, Italians often refer to the ocean as il mare (the sea), even though technically seas are smaller in size and have different geological characteristics. There …
Arancione (plural: arancioni) is the word for the colour orange in Italian. It derives from the word arancia which is what Italians call the fruit of the same name. Questa arancia è più verde che arancione. Non sarà ancora matura. This orange is more green than orange. It probably isn’t ripe. The word arancio translates …
Traditionally, in Italy, people have four meals a day: colazione (breakfast), pranzo (lunch), merenda (afternoon snack) and cena (dinner or supper). By adding the suffix -one onto the end of cena, you get the word cenone meaning big supper. Cenare is the verb meaning to have supper or to dine whereas dinnertime translates as ora …
The word for milk in Italian is latte (masculine, plural: latti). An easy way to remember this word is to think of the English term lactose or the popular hot drink available at most cafés (latte or caffè latte). But before you go ordering a latte in Italy, it is important to remember that a …
Colours are one of the first things all learners of a second language try to memorise. Today we’re taking a look at the colour brown which translates as marrone (plural: marroni) in Italian. Il nostro cane è marrone scuro come il cioccolato. Our dog is dark brown like chocolate. The diminutive form of marrone is …
I’ve always found it fascinating that the word paese (masculine, plural: paesi) in Italian can refer to one of the largest places where people live (country or nation), as well as one of the smallest (town or village). Whether you mean one or the other is explicated by the context, as you can see by …