I never cease to be amazed at how Italian manages to make even the ugliest things in life sound beautiful. This is certainly the case with the word spazzatura which translates as garbage, trash or rubbish. Spazzatura is a feminine noun whose plural form is spazzature. la spazzaturauna spazzatura le spazzature* delle spazzature* *Note: keep …
The Italian word for what we call a dressing gown in English is vestaglia. It derives from the word veste meaning dress, clothing or garment. Vestaglia is a feminine noun, and its plural form is vestaglie. Here are its definite and indefinite articles: la vestagliathe dressing gown una vestagliaa dressing gown le vestagliethe dressing gowns …
The Italian word istruzione, in its singular form, generally translates as education, schooling or training in English. You can use it to talk about a) the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, generally carried out in school, or b) that which is learned or studied. It comes from the Latin instructio-onis, a derivative of …
The word for a pedantic person who raises questions and objections, and causes difficulties or problems over things of little importance is piantagrane in Italian. Some possible translations in English include troublemaker, fault-finder and nitpicker. Piantagrane is the combination of the verb piantare (to plant) and the noun grana, which in addition to meaning ‘grain‘ …
The last time I received a multa was when I was driving home, going perhaps five kilometres over the speed limit. The police car was hidden from view by a bend in the road, so he could easily catch anyone in too much of a hurry to reach their final destination. That €60 punishment was …
I’ve been stung by many api (bees) and vespe (wasps) in my lifetime, but I thank my lucky stars that I’ve never been on the receiving end of a calabrone sting! The word calabrone comes from the Latin crabronem of the same meaning. calabrone hornet Calabrone is a masculine noun. The plural is calabroni. un …