The word for lake in Italian in lago, which derives from the Latin lacum of the same meaning.
Lago is a masculine noun whose plural form in laghi. Remember to insert the letter ‘h’ between ‘g’ and ‘i’ to preserve the hardness of the ‘g’!
il lago = the lake
un lago = a lake
i laghi = the lakes
dei laghi = (some) lakes
Preferiresti vivere vicino al mare o vicino a un lago?
Would you rather live near the sea or near a lake?
The largest freshwater lakes (laghi d’acqua dolce) in the world are i Laghi Grandi, or the Great Lakes, located along the border between il Canada and gli Stati Uniti.
The largest Italian lakes, on the other hand, are Lago di Garda, Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como.
George Clooney è in vacanza sul lago di Como.
George Clooney is on holiday in Lake Como.
Some other kinds of lakes include:
- lago d’acqua salata = salt lake
- lago glaciale = glacial lake
- lago artificiale = man-made lake
- lago d’acqua salmastra = brackish lake
Lago can also be used figuratively to refer to a pool of liquid, such as water or blood, or the flooded area of a living space.
C’è un lago attorno al gabinetto! Che cos’hai combinato?
There’s a puddle of water around the toilet! What did you do?
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.
