I’ve always found it surprising how quickly children grow. One minute they’re in diapers, getting ready to take their first steps, and the next, they’re packing their bags for college! The word for child or boy in Italian is bambino (plural: bambini) whereas girl is bambina (plural: bambine). These words are used to describe any …
The humble tomato forms the basis of nearly all Italian cuisine. It is used to make tomato sauce for pasta and lasagne, is a key ingredient in most pizzas, and is a popular addition to many Mediterranean salads. If you thought that the Italian word for tomato would sound like the English or the Spanish …
In Italian and English, it isn’t uncommon to come across “false friends“, or in other words, vocabulary items in different languages that look or sound similar but have a completely different meaning. One of the best examples of this is the word camera (feminine, plural camere). At first glance, any English speaker would immediately assume …
The very last king to rule Italy was Umberto II of the House of Savoy. Immediately following the 1946 referendum to abolish the monarchy and the transformation of Italy into a republic, he was exiled to Cascais on the Portuguese Riviera, having reigned for a mere 34 days. Umberto II’s departure marked the end of …
If you’re just wiping the last crumbs from your mouth following a wholesome Italian meal, you may feel the need for what the Italians call a pennichella! Pennichella is a feminine noun and takes the following articles: la pennichellathe napuna pennichellaa nap le pennichellethe napsdelle pennichelle(some) naps Pennichella is one of the most common words …
The most widely known translation for the word luce is light in the sense of the natural agent that makes things visible to the eye. Luce is a feminine noun and takes the following articles: la lucethe lightuna lucea light le lucithe lights delle luci(some) lights Just as in English, it can be used to …