The word for aunt in Italian is zia (feminine, plural: zie). It comes from the Latin word thia and, as in English, is used to describe the sister of one’s mother or father, or the wife of one’s uncle (zio). To describe the latter, the term zia acquisita (aunt by marriage) is often used. Mia zia abita in Italia da dieci anni. My aunt …
When I lived in Turin, I always looked forward to paying a visit to my local panetteria (feminine, plural: panetterie), which is the Italian word for bakery. In addition to various types of homemade bread (pane), the counter was always piled up with breadsticks (grissini), pastries (pasticcini), slices of focaccia, farinata and pizza, and various …
The word for angry in Italian is arrabbiato. It is also the past participle of the verbs arrabbiarsi (to get angry) and far(e) arrabbiare (to anger). Because it is an adjective, the ending of arrabbiato changes depending on whether you are talking about a solitary male (arrabbiato), a solitary female (arrabbiata), a group of males …
One of the most useful words you’ll come across in the Italian language is bisogno (masculine, plural: bisogni). On its own, it translates as need or desire but when combined with the verb avere (to have) and the preposition di (of ) or the conjunction che (that), it corresponds to the verb to need. The …
The word for sunset in Italian is tramonto (masculine, plural: tramonti). Derived from the verb tramontare (to set, fade, wane), it is a combination of the word monte (mount) and the prefix tra-. The latter normally means between, but in this case, the definition is closer to beyond. Together they form ‘to go beyond the …
The way to say to sleep in Italian is dormire. If you have trouble remembering this word, I find it helps to think of the closely related English term dormitory which, of course, refers to a large bedroom where many people sleep. Because dormire is a regular -ire verb, it conjugates in the following manner: …