Italian Word of the Day: Minuto (minute)

Each hour (ora) of the day consists of sixty minutes, which in Italian are known as minuti (singular: minuto). It comes from the late Latin minutum, which means particle, and is the neuter noun form of the adjective minutus. minuto minute Because minuto is a masculine noun, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: …

Read more

Italian Word of the Day: Già (already)

Italian word "già"

Out of all the small and widely used adverbs in Italian, già is undoubtedly one of the most important. Its most frequent translation in English is already and it comes from the Latin word iam of the same meaning. già already It is mostly used with the passato prossimo tense, appearing between the auxiliary verb …

Read more

Italian Word of the Day: Stento (hardship)

The masculine noun stento in Italian is used to describe a situation of severe suffering or privation, much like the word hardship in English. stento hardship It derives from the verb stentare which translates as to struggle, to find difficult or to scrape by. Because stento begins with the letters st-, it takes the following …

Read more

Italian Word of the Day: Costeggiare (to walk along / to run along / to skirt)

Today we’ll be looking at a verb that was suggested by one of the members in our fantastic Facebook community: costeggiare. costeggiare Costeggiare is a regular -are verb, so it can be conjugated in the following manner in the present tense: (io) costeggio (tu) costeggi (lui) costeggia (lei) costeggia (Lei) costeggia (noi) costeggiamo (voi) costeggiate …

Read more

Italian Word of the Day: Marmellata (jam / preserve / marmalade)

What is the first translation that comes to mind when you see the Italian word marmellata? If you said marmalade, you wouldn’t be wrong, but there is more to this sweet and sticky tale than meets the eye … marmellata jam / preserve According to the precise EU definition, marmellata must be crafted from specific …

Read more

Italian Word of the Day: Gonfio (inflated / swollen)

When describing something that has exceeded its normal dimensions, Italians often use the adjective gonfio (feminine: gonfia, plural: gonfi / gonfie). gonfio First and foremost, you can use it to describe something filled with air, in which case we’d generally use the adjective inflated in English. For example, an inflated balloon would be un palloncino …

Read more