I spent most of my early life living in big cities, but for the past seven years, I’ve had the immense privilege of being able to live by the mare (sea). There is nothing quite like breathing in the fresh salty air and falling asleep to the sound of the waves and the gabbiani (seagulls)!
Gabbiano is a masculine noun, and its plural form is gabbiani. It derives from the Latin gavia of the same meaning.
il gabbiano
the seagull
un gabbiano
a seagull
i gabbiani
the seagulls
dei gabbiani
(some) seagulls
Several species of gull inhabit Italy, some of the most common being:
- gabbiano comune = black-headed gull
- gabbiano reale = yellow-legged gull
- gabbiano reale pontico = Caspian gull
- gabbiano reale nordico = European herring gull
- mugnaiaccio = great black-backed gull
- gabbianello = little gull
Il gabbiano è piombato all’improvviso e mi ha rubato il gelato!
The seagull swooped down unexpectedly and stole my ice cream!
Il Gabbiano e La Balena
Below you can watch Il Gabbiano e La Balena (“The Seagull and the Whale”), a simplified story in slow Italian with English subtitles for beginner to intermediate Italian learners of all ages. If you find this story useful, you can watch even more videos by visiting The Fable Cottage.
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.
