The way you would translate fed up or sick and tired in Italian is stufo. I personally found this word quite easy to remember when I first started learning the language because the “uff” sound that makes up the word’s core is reminiscent of a grumble or sigh of annoyance.
Because stufo is an adjective, the ending changes according to the gender and plurality of the subject it modifies.
- stufo = masculine, singular
- stufa = feminine, singular
- stufi = masculine, plural
- stufe = feminine, plural
Did you know that…?
Stufa as a noun means stove or heater in Italian.
It is often seen in the company of the verbs essere (to be) / sentirsi (to feel) and followed by the preposition di (of).
- essere stufo di (qualcosa) = to be fed up with (something)
- sentirsi stufo di (qualcosa) = to be fed up with (something) (lit: to feel fed up with something)
Sono veramente stufo di vivere in questa topaia!
I’m downright fed up with living in this dump!
The word derives from the verb stufare which means to be fed up or to have enough. (Note that it has the additional meaning to stew or to simmer in the context of cooking!)
If you want to be even more emphatic about how disgruntled you are, try using the evocative expression stufo marcio which literally translates as “rotten fed up”. Another good word is arcistufo (seriously fed up) – a combination of the reinforcing prefix arci- and stufo that can be used with stufo in the same sentence.
Sono stufo e arcistufo di sentire le tue lamentele.
I’m really tired of hearing your complaints.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
