Pendolare is an interesting Italian word in that it can be classified as a noun, verb or adjective. Let’s begin by looking at its usage as a verb, as doing so will help us understand the meaning behind the noun and adjective.
Pendolare is a regular -are verb that means to oscillate, to swing, or to dangle. It comes from the noun pendolo which means pendulum (of a clock).
Because commuters spend their waking hours travelling between home and work/school, they evoke the image of a pendulum swinging back and forth.
Dal lunedì al venerdì, pendolo tra Torino e Milano.
From Monday to Friday, I commute between Turin and Milan.
People that commute are known as pendolari (singular: pendolare) in Italian – literally ‘the swingers’.
Note that pendolare can be used to describe both males and females, with the gender being revealed by the article (i.e. il pendolare = a male commuter / la pendolare = a female commuter).
The expression fare il / la pendolare means to commute or to be a commuter.
Marta fa la pendolare tra Milano e Genova per motivi lavorativi. Vorrebbe trasferirsi ma suo marito è contrario.
Marta commutes between Milan and Genoa. She would like to move, but her husband is against it.
As we mentioned above, pendolare can also function as an adjective. In this sense, it describes the person doing the commuting. For example:
- un lavoratore / una lavoratrice pendolare = a commuting worker
- uno studente / una studentessa pendolare = a commuting student
Sometimes this word also translates as pendular, as in pendular motion (moto pendolare), but it is a far less common interpretation than commuter.
Pendolare vs Penzolare
A similar verb to pendolare is penzolare, with the ‘z’ replacing the ‘d’. It refers to something that hangs from above or is suspended in the air. It can also imply that the object is oscillating and is followed by the preposition da. In this sense, you will hear penzolare much more frequently than pendolare.
La lampadina penzolava dal soffitto.
The light bulb was dangling from the ceiling.
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.
