Italian Word of the Day: Ridere (to laugh)

Today was a landmark in our son’s cognitive development. At just shy of 13 weeks, he figured out how to laugh (ridere) for the first time! Sadly it wasn’t directed towards either of us but rather a particular white wall in our house of which he’s grown very fond for some reason. Ah well, a misdirected laugh is better than no laugh at all! 🙂

The verb ridere comes from the Latin of the same spelling. The conjugation in the present tense is as follows:

Another way of saying to laugh is to combine the verb fare (to do) with the noun for laugh (risata) to make fare una risata.

Laughter (le risate) comes in all shapes and forms, from the hearty laugh (risata grassa) of an amused friend to the mocking laugh (risata beffarda) of an adversary. When describing different kinds of laughter, you’ll find that Italians often mention facial features and body parts in their expressions, as you can see from the following examples:

• ridere sotto i baffi = to snicker, sneer (lit: to laugh under one’s beard)
• ridere a denti stretti = to laugh halfheartedly (lit: to laugh with clenched teeth)
• ridere di cuore = to laugh heartily (lit: to laugh with the heart)
• ridere a crepapelle = to laugh uncontrollably (lit: to laugh with splitting skin)
• ridere a mezza bocca = to laugh reluctantly (lit: to laugh with a half mouth)

To make (someone) laugh translates as far ridere (qualcuno) but far ridere without an indirect object normally translates as funny. You can see the difference by comparing the two phrases below:

*Note: in the example above, the fa ridere phrase with no indirect object can also be interpreted as ridiculous in the negative sense of the word. Questo film fa ridere = This film is ridiculous.

From far ridere we also get the very common expression far morire dal ridere. It literally translates as to make one die of laughter but a more accurate translation would be hilarious or extremely funny.

If you suddenly burst out laughing, you can use the expression scoppiare a ridere which literally means to explode laughing.

You may also hear Italian people exclaim Che ridere! (That’s so funny! / What a laugh!) when they encounter something amusing.

Laughter isn’t always associated with positive emotions however. It can also communicate derision as you can see from the expressions below:

• ridere in faccia a qualcuno = to laugh in someone’s face
• ridere alle spalle di qualcuno = to laugh behind someone’s back
• ridere dietro a qualcuno = to make fun of someone

And if you’re feeling indignant about someone laughing at you, you might respond by saying:

If you know someone who is a bit touchy and you want to reassure him or her that you just want to have a laugh, you can use per ridere.

In Italian, there are many different pronominal verbs, which are a combination of a basic verb and one or two pronouns, and whose meaning is slightly (or sometimes very different) from that of the original verb. From ridere, for instance, you can create the following:

• si (ridersi) = to laugh at, to make fun of, to poke fun
• si + la (ridersela) = to live carefree and not worry about anything
• si + ne (ridersene) = to scoff at something, not care about something

Even more expressions featuring ‘ridere’

Heather Broster

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.