In celebration of Valentine’s Day, we want to share an Italian term that describes someone deeply in love: innamorato.
It derives from the verbs innamorare (to enchant / make people fall in love with you) and innamorarsi (to fall in love), which in turn are derivatives of the noun amore (love) with the prefix in-.
Innamorato is an adjective, which means that its form changes depending on the subject in question. If you are talking about a man in love, you need to use the masculine form innamorato, while the feminine equivalent is innamorata. Their respective plural forms are innamorati and innamorate. It usually appears in the company of the preposition di (of).
Giulio è innamorato di Chiara.
Giulio is in love with Chiara.
In informal Italian, you might see innamorato followed by the word pazzo (crazy), which is simply an idiomatic way of saying that someone is madly in love or smitten. Alternatively you can use the adjective cotto (cooked) or perso (lost) instead of pazzo.
Mia sorella è innamorata pazza di un ragazzo italiano.
My sister is head-over-heels in love with an Italian boy.
Though frequently associated with individuals, innamorato can also depict a sentiment directed towards objects. In this case, some possible translations include passionate, very fond of, crazy about, or simply to love.
Io sono innamorato della costiera amalfitana.
I love the Amalfi Coast.
Innamorato can also function as a noun with the meaning of lover or lovebird. For example, i due innamorati could be translated as the two lovers/lovebirds.
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.
