The Italian word for airplane is aeroplano. It derives from the Latin aer (air) and planus (plane) via the French aéroplane (which has since been replaced by avion). It is a masculine noun starting with a vowel, so it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Contrary to popular belief, the everyday term for airplane, …
Automobile is one of many terms for car in Italian. Like its English cognate, it entered the language via the French automobile, which comprises two words: auto (‘self’) and mobile (‘mobile’). Being a feminine noun that begins with a vowel, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: l’automobile = the car / automobile le …
Semaforo, also known as a semaforo stradale, is the word for a traffic light in Italian. It is from the French ‘sémaphore’, which was formed irregularly from the Greek sēma ‘sign’ and –phoros ‘bearing’. If you feel this word looks familiar, that’s because it shares the same origin as the English word semaphore, a system …
The generic word for any kind of large truck (US) or lorry (UK) in Italian is camion, which comes from the French word of the same meaning. Camion is an invariable masculine noun, which means that it does not change in the plural form. il camionthe truckun camiona truck i camionthe trucksdei camion(some) trucks Important: …
Pullman is one of my favourite words in Italian, not because it sounds particularly sweet to the ear, but because of its interesting history. Before we turn our attention to the Italian definition, let’s take a brief look at the original meaning associated with the term. In America, pullman actually referred to a luxurious railway …
The verb to walk in English usually translates as camminare in Italian. It derives from the noun cammino (walk, journey) which entered the language from the Latin camminus. Learn with our video Camminare is a regular-first conjugation verb finishing with -are, which means it conjugates in the following manner in the present tense: io camminoI …