This week’s phrase was inspired by the refrain of Zitti e Buoni, the song that won 2021 edition of the European Song Contest. Written by Italian rock band Måneskin, it is dedicated to the widely misunderstood and misjudged Generation Z, to which the band members belong.
Siamo fuori di testa!
We’re out of our minds!
Learn with our video
Let’s break down the phrase into smaller chunks!
Siamo
is the first-person plural form of the verb essere (to be). It is the equivalent of are in English.
There is no need to include the subject pronoun noi (we) because the verb ending -iamo clearly demonstrates who the subject is.
fuori
can mean a number of things including outside, out, outward and exterior.
di
is a preposition that can be translated in multiple ways but, in this case, it means of.
testa
literally means head but used figuratively, it can translate as mind or brain. Note how in Italian, the singular testa (mind) is used rather than the plural teste (minds).
But let’s be realistic for a second: how often do we openly declare our own insanity? Almost never! That’s why the idiom fuori di testa is more likely to be used toward another person (sei fuori di testa = you are out of your mind) or to talk about another person (è fuori di testa = he/she is out of his/her mind), as in the following example:
Quel ragazzo è fuori di testa. Guida come un pazzo.
That boy is out of his mind. He drives like a madman.
A more colloquial way to use this expression is to omit di testa and use fuori. It also works as a rhetorical question.
Vai a fare paracadutismo senza paracadute? Ma sei fuori?!
You’re going skydiving without a parachute? Are you out of your mind?!
Some other ways of saying fuori di testa in Italian include:
- pazzo = crazy
- matto = crazy
- folle = crazy
- impazzito = gone crazy
This article is also available in video format on our YouTube channel. The audio version can be found on Podbean, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast and Spotify.
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.
