June, or giugno in Italian, is the month that marks the beginning of the middle of the year and the beginning of l’estate (summer). Thanks to the longer days and warm temperatures, it is a wonderful time to visit Italy if you enjoy spending time on the beach, swimming, and hiking in the mountains. Giugno …
A person with a lot of courage and resolve can be described using the noun grinta in Italian. The closest equivalents are grit or determination in English, although other translations such as fighting spirit and drive may also work depending on the context. Unlike the vast majority of words in Italian, grinta derives, not from …
The Italian word for the loose-fitting garments we wear to bed is pigiama. It entered the language via English, but can be traced back to the Urdu and Persian words pāy (leg) + jāma (clothing). In English, we use the plural pyjamas to talk about a single pair of pyjamas, whereas Italian has a singular …
Coccinella is the word for ladybug (US) or ladybird (UK) in Italian. It derives from the Latin coccinus, which in turn comes from the Greek kókkinos, meaning ‘scarlet red colour’. It is a feminine noun whose plural form is coccinelle. The definite and indefinite articles it takes are as follows: la coccinellathe ladybuguna coccinellaa ladybug …
Have you ever made a mistake so big that it has continued to haunt you over the years? Then strafalcione is the word for you! Because strafalcione is a masculine noun starting with the consonants st-, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: lo strafalcionethe big mistakeuno strafalcionea big mistake gli strafalcionithe big mistakesdegli …
A word that consistently makes it onto the list of the top 100 most common words in Italian is lavoro. It derives from the verb lavorare (to work), which in turn comes from the Latin ‘laborare’ (to toil). Because it is a masculine noun, lavoro takes the following definite and indefinite articles: il lavoroun lavoro …