The Italian word for a glass or cup from which one drinks is bicchiere (masculine, plural: bicchieri). It is thought to derive from a dialectal form of old French, or possibly the Greek βῖκος (bikos). Learn with our video Ho fatto cadere il bicchiere e si è frantumato in mille pezzi. I dropped the glass …
Accidenti! is one of the mildest interjections found in Italian. The plural of accidente (mishap or sudden illness), it is used to express a variety of emotions including wonder, anger and annoyance. Learn with our video Did you know that…?Accidenti is actually the ellipses of expressions such as ti arrivino degli accidenti or ti vengano …
The most literal translation for the verb spopolare in Italian is to depopulate. Formed from the prefix s- (which in this case denotes a removal or reversal) and the verb popolare (to populate), it is used when a group of people dies or moves away, reducing the population. Learn with our video L’epidemia ha spopolato …
Recently one of our readers asked us to write an article explaining the different uses for magari in Italian. Given that this is one of our all-time favourite words, we were more than happy to oblige! Magari = maybe / perhaps The translation for magari which learners find easiest to comprehend is maybe or perhaps. …
The Italian word for a firefly, glow-worm or lightning bug is lucciola (feminine, plural: lucciole). It comes from the Latin lucjola, which is the diminutive form of lux lucis meaning light. Learn with our video All species of lucciole, both at the larva and adult stage, are characterised by the ability to produce luce (light) …
Olio di oliva – or olive oil in English – is technically three words, but they appear together so often that we figured you’d let us off the hook, just this once! 😉 Olio is a masculine noun. To create the plural form, just get rid of the ending -o and you have oli, and …