The other day, while we were having lunch at our favourite local restaurant in Turin, the waiter—looking more cheerful than usual—came over and asked if he could share a few of his favourite freddure (the Italian word for puns or quips). He proceeded to list three, but we only managed to understand one! freddura pun …
Some Italian words take time to master because they lack a precise or direct equivalent in English. The adverb ormai is a prime example of this. ormai While ormai is commonly translated as now, by now, at this point, nearly, finally, anymore, and already, it’s not always clear when each translation is appropriate. Given its …
At its core, the Italian word gusto refers to the literal sense of taste. It plays a key role in our perception of flavours, working alongside our olfatto, or sense of smell, to create the full experience of taste. gusto taste / flavour Gusto is derived from the Latin gustus of the same meaning. Being …
Today, we’re going to explore one of the most quintessentially Italian words: the adverb and conjunction pure. Like many words in this grammatical category, it has a broad range of translations in English, making it challenging to master in the early stages of learning the language. Let’s see if we can break it down and …
A tool that we use far less today due to the advent of the computer and keyboard is the humble pencil, known as a matita in Italian. matita pencil The word derives from the Latin lapis haematites, which refers to the hematite stone or pietra di ematite in Italian. Hematite ore was historically used for …
Each of us has our own habitual routines, the things we do regularly, no matter what. In Italian, the word solito captures this sense of the usual and habitual things we do in life. solito usual Solito can be both an adjective and a noun in Italian, but in either case, the best translation tends …