There’s a particular reason I’ve chosen to write about the word tovaglia (tablecloth) – and it’s not because I use one every day. (In fact, I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I don’t even own one!) Rather, it’s because I often confuse it with two other words that I do use frequently, both of which …
I don’t know about you, but whenever I start learning a new language, I have the terrible habit of mixing up the verbs that correspond to “to hear” and “to listen” (and let’s not even get into “to watch” “to see” and “to look”!) Today’s verb is ascoltare which means “to listen” – let’s discover …
As our son’s birthday draws near, our thoughts have turned to wrapping regali (gifts), baking his torta (cake), and of course, birthday decorations. A classic decoration that makes an appearance at most feste (parties) is the palloncino, the Italian word for balloon. palloncino balloon Palloncino is the diminutive form of pallone, a word that means …
Have you ever asked an Italian what time the next bus is coming, only to get a beautifully vague answer like verso le 9 (around 9) or verso mezzogiorno (around midday)? Sure, there’s wisdom in that answer (who can predict public transport!), but it also introduces a useful word to know in Italian: verso. verso …
Some Italian words are so similar to their English counterparts that you barely even need a translation. Take eliminare: it looks like “to eliminate,” it sounds like “to eliminate,” and yep, that’s pretty much what it means. eliminare But keep reading, because this verb has more nuances than you’d expect. The doctor might use it …
Indaffarato is an adjective meaning busy or run off one’s feet to use a more idiomatic translation. It comes from the noun daffare, meaning ‘work’ or ‘a lot to do.’ indaffarato Being an adjective that ends in -o, the ending changes in accordance with the gender and number of the subject in question. You may …