Italian word for table - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

When I first started learning Italian, I found it perplexing that the word for table could be both tavolo (masculine) and tavola (feminine) depending on the context. If you too are confused, don’t worry – you are in good company!

IPA: /tà·vo·lo/, /tà·vo·la/

Tavolo (plural: tavoli) is the generic word for table, the ubiquitous piece of furniture found in homes and offices. A big table is called un grande tavolo whereas a small table is called un piccolo tavolo or tavolino (literally “little table”).

Ho comprato un bel tavolo da mettere in salotto.

I bought a nice table to put in the living room.

Voglio spostare il tavolo sotto la finestra. Starà meglio lì!

I want to move the table under the window. It will look better there!

If however you are referring to a table that is set for a meal, you would use the word tavola instead.

Bambini, a tavola! La pasta è pronta!

Kids, (come) to the table! The pasta is ready!

Mi sono seduto a tavola e ho letto il menù.

I sat at the table and read the menu.

La tavola è imbandita per la cena.

The table is set for dinner.

Mia mamma ha portato il piatto in tavola.

My mum served lunch.
(Lit: My mum brought lunch to the table.)

The only exception is when a) reserving a table at a restaurant or b) referring to table service, in which case you’d switch back to tavolo.

Vorrei prenotare un tavolo per due alle sette.

I would like to reserve a table for two at seven.

La serata prevede una cena servita al tavolo.

The evening includes a dinner with table service.

Tavolo can be combined with other words such as:

Gioco da tavolo = board game
Giro di tavolo = introductions when people are sitting around a table, round-table debate
Tavolo da lavoro = work table
Tavolo verde = gaming / gambling table (verde means green)

Other meanings for tavola include plank, board, chart, figure or panel. Here as well, if you combine it with other nouns, you can expand your vocabulary:

posti a tavola = number of seats available at a table
tavola da surf = surfboard
tavola calda = bar that serves hot foot (see more about this in our ristorante article)
tavola rotonda = round table (such as that in King’s Arthur legend)

Alcuni tavoli in un ristorante di Roma

Useful idioms:

A tavola non si invecchia.

Translation: At the table, one doesn’t grow old.
Meaning: Eating is a source of pleasure and enjoyment.

Dalla terra alla tavola.

Translation: From the earth to the table.
Meaning: From farm to table

La buona tavola

Translation: The good table
Meaning: The pleasure of good eating

Far saltare il tavolo

Translation: Blow up the table
Meaning: Walk away from talks without arriving at a deal

Mangerei anche le gambe del tavolo.

Translation: I would also eat the legs of the table.
Meaning: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

Источник

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Inflections of ‘table‘ (v): (⇒ conjugate)

tables: v 3rd person singular

tabling: v pres p

tabled: v past

tabled: v past p

Principal Translations/Traduzioni principali
Inglese		Italiano
table n	(furniture: surface with legs)	tavolo nm
	Just put your drink on the table beside the sofa. To register for the conference, you need to go to that table over there.
	Per iscriverti alla conferenza devi andare a quel tavolo laggiù.
table n	(chart)	tabella nf
		prospetto nm
	The presentation included a table that showed the sales growth.
	La presentazione includeva una tabella che mostrava la crescita delle vendite.

Traduzioni aggiuntive
Inglese		Italiano
table n	figurative (negotiations) (figurato)	tavolo nm
	The two sides sat down at the table to negotiate a peace agreement.
	Le due parti si sono sedute a un tavolo per negoziare un accordo di pace.
table n	figurative (people at table)	tavolata nf
	The table toasted the couple.
	La tavolata ha fatto un brindisi alla coppia.
table n	figurative (food)	pasto, piatto nm
	The chef prepared a delicious table.
	Il cuoco ha preparato un pasto delizioso.
table n	(flat surface)	tavola nf
	I need a table to spread paste on this wallpaper.
	Mi serve una tavola per spalmare la colla sulla carta da parati.
table n	(tablet: for inscription)	lastra nf
		tavoletta nf
	The mason carved names into the table.
	Il muratore ha inciso i nomi sulla lastra.
table n	(gem surface)	faccia nf
	The diamond had a flawless table.
	Il diamante ha una faccia perfetta.
table n	(plateau)	altopiano nm
	The trucks climbed out of the valley and onto the table.
	Gli autocarri sono saliti dalla valle verso l’altopiano.
table n	(stratum: water table)	livello nm
		altezza nf
	The table had lowered substantially and the well went dry.
	Il livello della falda acquifera si è notevolmente abbassato e il pozzo si è prosciugato.
table [sth]⇒ vtr	UK (deal with [sth])	discutere⇒, affrontare⇒ vtr
	(figurato: discutere in modo teorico)	studiare a tavolino vtr
	This matter needs to be tabled immediately.
	Questa questione deve essere affrontata immediatamente.
table [sth] vtr	US (postpone dealing with [sth])	rinviare⇒ vtr
	The committee voted to table the legislation, effectively killing it.
	Il consiglio ha votato per rinviare la legislazione, agli effetti bocciandola.
table [sth] vtr	(enter in table, list)	fare una tabella con [qlcs] vtr
		mettere [qlcs] in una tabella vtr
	I would like you to table all our sales figures for this month.
	Vorrei che tu facessi una tabella coi nostri dati di vendita di questo mese.

Compound Forms/Forme composte table
Inglese		Italiano
actuarial table, actuarial life table, life table n	(mortality probability)	tavola attuariale nf
air hockey table n	(surface for playing air hockey)	tavolo da air hockey nm
bed table n	(placed over person in bed)	vassoio da letto nm
bed table n	(small table next to bed)	comodino nm
bedside table n	(small table beside a bed)	comodino nm
	I keep my phone on my bedside table.
	Tengo il telefono sul comodino.
billiard table n	(surface for billiards)	tavolo da biliardo nm
	No one could play while Amanda lay on the billiard table.
	Finché Amanda restava sdraiata sul tavolo da biliardo, non poteva giocare nessuno.
breakfast table n	(where breakfast is eaten) (in cucina, pensato per pasti veloci)	tavolino, tavolo nm
	The whole family gathers around the breakfast table when Mom makes waffles.
card table n	(table: for card games)	tavolo da gioco nm
	ⓘQuesta frase non è una traduzione della frase inglese. Al tavolo da gioco è imbattibile.
card table n	(table: folding legs)	tavolino pieghevole nm
	ⓘQuesta frase non è una traduzione della frase inglese. La dotazione di serie del mio SUV include un tavolino pieghevole.
changing table n	(for changing diaper)	fasciatoio nm
coffee table, also US: cocktail table n	(low table used in living room)	tavolino da caffè nm
	Please don’t put your feet on the coffee table.
	Questo si chiama «tavolino da caffè», non «poggiapiedi»!
coffee-table book n	(large illustrated hardback book)	libro di lusso
communion table n	(religion)	altare dell’eucaristia nm
computer table n	(desk for a computer)	tavolo per computer
conference table n	(table, usually large, for meetings)	tavolo da conferenze loc nom
		tavolo da riunione loc nom
console table n	(table fastened to wall)	tavolo da muro nm
		tavolo da parete nm
console table n	(table that fits against wall)	tavolo da muro nm
		tavolo da parete nm
		consolle, console nf
corner table n	(table in corner of room)	tavolino angolare nm
	Brian was sitting at corner table in the restaurant.
	Brian era seduto ad un tavolino angolare al ristorante.
credenza, credence table n	(furniture: sideboard) (mobile)	credenza nf
	We keep family heirlooms and our good china in a credenza in the dining room.
	Teniamo i cimeli di famiglia e il nostro servizio di porcellana in una credenza nella sala da pranzo.
database table n	(tabular display of collected data)	tabella di database
deal table n	UK, dated (table of cheap pine wood)	tavolo di pino nm
dessert table n	UK (restaurant sweet trolley)	carrello dei dolci
dinette table n	US (table for a breakfast nook) (da cucina)	tavolino nm
	I generally eat my breakfast at the dinette table.
	Solitamente faccio colazione sul tavolino.
dining table n	(table at which meals are eaten)	tavolo da pranzo
	The dining table is of good quality wood.
	Il tavolo da pranzo è di un legno di buona qualità.
dining-room table n	(table for meals)	tavolo per la sala da pranzo, tavolo della sala da pranzo nm
	A white linen tablecloth covered the dining-room table.
dinner table n	(table where meals are eaten)	tavolo da pranzo nm
	My mother always told me not to scratch myself at the dinner table.
	Mia madre mi diceva sempre di non grattarmi seduto al tavolo da pranzo.
drafting table n	(adjustable work surface)	tavolo da disegno, tecnigrafo nm
	These days most architects have abandoned their drafting tables for computers.
	Oggigiorno i disegni tecnici non si fanno più sul tecnigrafo ma sul computer.
dressing table n	(ladies’ table: with mirror)	toletta nf
	I always imagine an actress sitting at her dressing table, applying her make-up.
	Le attrici me le immagino sempre sedute alla toletta mentre si truccano.
drop-leaf table n	(table with folding sides)	tavolo pieghevole nm
		tavolo a ribalta nm
end table n	(small table at end of sofa)	tavolino da salotto nm
examination table, examining table n	(support for patient being examined)	lettino medico nm
farm-to-table, farm-to-fork n	uncountable (use of local produce)	uso di prodotti locali, utilizzo di prodotti locali nm
		uso di prodotti tipici nm
	Farm-to-table promotes local, organically grown food.
farm-to-table, farm-to-fork adj	(using local produce)	fatto con prodotti locali, realizzato con prodotti locali loc agg
		che fa uso di prodotti locali loc agg
folding table n	(table whose legs fold up)	tavolo pieghevole nm
gaming table n	(table used for gambling)	tavolo da gioco nm
head table	(principal table)	tavolo d’onore nm
high table	UK (college dining table)	tavola dei professori nf
kitchen table n	(dining table in a kitchen)	tavolo da cucina, tavolo della cucina nm
	Everyone in the family enjoys the nightly conversation at the kitchen table.
	ⓘQuesta frase non è una traduzione della frase inglese. Ricordo sempre con piacere le merende con i miei amici attorno al tavolo della cucina.
lay your cards on the table, put your cards on the table v expr	figurative (be frank) (figurativo)	mettere le carte in tavola, scoprire le carte vtr
	It’s time for everyone to put their cards on the table.
league table n	UK (competitive ranking)	classifica nf
	James was happy because his football team was top of the league table.
	James era contento perché la sua squadra di calcio era in cima alla classifica.
mortality table, life table n	(life expectancy)	tavola di mortalità nf
	La tavola di mortalità è uno strumento per l’analisi statistica della mortalità usato nelle scienze attuariali.
multiplication table n	(chart with simple calculations) (delle moltiplicazioni)	tabelline nfpl
	Try as I might, I never managed to memorize the entire multiplication table.
	Ce l’ho messa tutta, ma non sono mai riuscito a imparare a memoria tutte le tabelline.
		tabellina delle moltiplicazioni nf
napkin, table napkin, also UK: serviette n	(table napkin: for meal)	tovagliolo nm
	Erin wiped her mouth with a napkin.
	An embroidered serviette was placed next to each plate.
	Erin si è pulita la bocca con un tovagliolo. Accanto a ogni piatto è stato messo un tovagliolo ricamato.
negotiating table n	figurative (place of negotiation)	tavolo dei negoziati nm
night table n	(small bedside table)	comodino nm
	I keep a glass of water on my night table.
	Tengo sempre un bicchiere d’acqua sul comodino.
on the table adv	figurative (topic: for discussion or negotiation) (figurato: oggetto di discussione)	sul piatto, sul tavolo loc avv
	The proposal on the table was offered by Mr. Smith.
	Let’s put all our options on the table.
	La proposta sul tavolo era stata fatta dal sig. Smith. // Mettiamo tutte le opzioni sul piatto.
on the table adv	US, figurative (plan: under consideration)	al vaglio loc avv
operating table n	(table on which surgery is performed)	tavolo operatorio nm
	The patient was lying on the operating table while the surgeon prepared her instruments.
	Mentre il chirurgo preparava gli strumenti, il paziente stava sdraiato sul tavolo operatorio.
pedestal table n	(table with one central leg)	tavolo a piedistallo
periodic table, periodic table of elements n	(chart of the chemical elements)	tavola periodica degli elementi, tavola periodica nf
	The noble gases are in the last column of the periodic table.
	I gas nobili sono nell’ultima colonna della Tavola periodica degli elementi e precisamente nell’ottavo [VIII] Gruppo.
picnic table n	(table-and-bench structure used outdoors)	tavolo da picnic nm
	The park has picnic tables and a play area.
pivot table n	(spreadsheet: type of table)	tabella pivot nf
plane table n	(drawing board)	tavoletta pretoriana nf
plane-table [sth]⇒ vtr	(surveying) (topografica)	effettuare un’agrimensura
pool table n	(table for playing billiards)	tavolo da biliardo, biliardo nm
	The pub’s games room has a pool table, dartboard, and jukebox.
	La sala giochi del pub ha un tavolo da biliardo, un bersaglio e un jukebox.
roulette table n	(surface marked out for roulette)	tavolo della roulette nm
	I was $10,000 ahead but I lost it all at the roulette table.
round table, round-table n	(conference, meeting)	tavola rotonda nf
	He was an expert in his subject, and participated in round tables.
round-table meeting n	figurative (meeting of equals) (di soggetti alla pari)	tavola rotonda nf
roundtable, round-table adj	(involving discussion) (figurato)	a tavola rotonda loc agg
set the table, also UK: lay the table v expr	(lay place settings for a meal)	apparecchiare la tavola vtr
	My mother asked me to set the table whilst she cooked our dinner.
	Mia madre mi chiese di apparecchiare la tavola mentre lei preparava la cena.
side table n	(furniture)	tavolino di servizio nm
sit down at the table v expr	(take a seat at mealtime)	sedersi a tavola v rif
	Dinner’s almost ready – will you all please come and sit down at the table.
	La cena è quasi pronta: «Venite tutti a sedervi a tavola.»
sit down at the table v expr	figurative (enter negotiations) (figurato)	mettersi attorno a un tavolo v rif
	We will sit down at the table later in the week to discuss terms.
	Ci metteremo attorno a un tavolo per discutere le condizioni più avanti in settimana.
snooker table n	UK (green-baized billiard surface)	tavolo da biliardo nm
sofa table, davenport table n	(table: before or behind sofa) (da salotto)	table-console nm
	(da salotto)	tavolo da muro nm
		tavolino nm
steam table	(cookery) (per tavola calda)	banco di preparazione riscaldato nm
	(per tavola calda)	bagnomaria da banco nm
	(a vapore)	piano riscaldato nm
table a motion v expr	(law: postpone discussion) (di una mozione, proposta, istanza)	rinviare la discussione vtr
	We tabled the motion so we could discuss a matter of greater importance.
	Abbiamo rinviato la discussione della mozione allo scopo di esaminare una questione di maggiore importanza.
table cover n	(protective cloth for a table)	copritavola nm
table d’hôte, plural: tables d’hôte n	French (set meal at fixed price)	menu fisso, menu a prezzo fisso nm
		table d’hote nf
table decoration n	(ornament for a dining table)	decorazioni per tavola
table football (UK), foosball, table soccer (US) n	(tabletop game)	calciobalilla, calcio balilla nm
	(calciobalilla)	calcetto nm
table lamp n	(small free-standing lamp)	lampada da tavolo nf
	The cat climbed up onto the sideboard and knocked the table lamp off.
	Il gatto si arrampicò sulla credenza e fece cadere la lampada da tavolo.
table linen n	(cloth and napkins for a dining table)	biancheria da tavola nf
table manners npl	(etiquette when eating)	galateo nm
		educazione a tavola nf
	His mother’s in despair because he has the table manners of a pig.
	Sua madre è disperata perché ha l’educazione a tavola propria di un maiale.
	(a tavola)	comportarsi⇒ v rif
	(tavola)	maniere nfpl
	Sua madre è disperata perché a tavola si comporta come un maiale.
table mat n	(mat under a serving dish)	tovaglietta, tovaglietta americana nf
table of contents n	(book: contents ordered by page)	sommario, indice nm
	In most English-language books the table of contents is at the front.
	Nella maggior parte dei libri in lingua inglese l’indice si trova all’inizio.
table runner n	(fabric strip used to decorate a table)	guida da tavolo
		runner
table salt n	(sodium chloride used as condiment)	sale da tavola nm
	I was told to gargle with table salt dissolved in warm water.
table stake n	(poker: starting bet) (poker)	table stake nf
table stakes npl	(poker: limiting of bet) (poker)	table stake nfpl
table talk n	(informal mealtime chat)	chiacchiere a tavola nfpl
		chiacchiere da bancone nfpl
table tennis n	(sport: ping-pong)	ping pong nm
	Good table tennis players have to be very quick on their feet.
	Un bravo giocatore di ping pong deve essere molto veloce con le gambe.
table tennis player n	(sportsperson who plays ping-pong)	giocatore di ping-pong, giocatore di tennis tavolo nm
	Mikael Appelgren is one of the best table tennis players in the world.
table wine n	(ordinary wine to accompany food)	vino da tavola nm
table-hop⇒ vi	informal (move around in a restaurant)	muoversi tra i tavoli v rif
tabletop, table top n	(surface of table)	piano del tavolo nm
	When we arrived for Thanksgiving, the tabletop was completely covered with every kind of dish you could imagine.
tabletop, table-top n as adj	(for use on flat surface)	da usare su un piano loc agg
	Do you have any fun tabletop games?
tea table	(furniture)	tavolino da tè nm
tray table n	(tray on a fold-out stand)	tavolino pieghevole, tavolino nm
	Secure your tray table when the airplane’s coming in to land. Jim usually eats his dinner on a tray table while watching the evening news.
	Richiudete il tavolino quando l’aereo è in fase di atterraggio. Di solito Jim cena su un tavolino mentre guarda il telegiornale della sera.
trestle table n	(table with movable top)	tavolo trestle nm
		tavolo rimovibile nm
trestle table n	(table with transverse slabs)	tavolo su cavalletti nm
under the table adv	figurative, informal (secret, illegal) (figurato: illegale)	sottobanco avv
	(figurato, pagamenti)	in nero
	The construction foreman pays his day laborers under the table.
	L’impresario edile paga i suoi lavoratori a giornata sottobanco.
under the table adv	figurative, informal (drunk) (colloquiale: ubriaco)	ciucco, gonfio agg
		ubriaco fradicio, sbronzo v rif
	I don’t really remember the party; I think I spent most of it under the table.
	Non mi ricordo molto della festa, credo di essere stato ciucco per quasi tutto il tempo.
vanity, vanity table n	US (dressing table) (mobile)	toletta, toilette nf
	We bought an antique vanity at a flea market.
	Abbiamo comprato una toletta antica a un mercatino delle pulci.
water table n	(underground level: water beneath)	livello freatico nm

Источник

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Have you been trying to speak Italian more easily and confidently in 2022?

I will try to help you by posting a new blog every month in the series “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” With these blogs, I discuss how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.”

Many Italian verbs have a similar use to those in English, which simplifies translation from one language to the other. This blog will focus on the Italian verb potere, which means “to can” or “to be able to.” I like to call this verb the “Italian verb of politeness” since it is used to make polite requests, and therefore it is especially useful to know when traveling in Italy.

For instance, different present tense forms of potere can be used to ask a question politely. Potere can be used alone in the first conjugation in the singular and plural to ask the questions, “Posso?” or “Possiamo?” which mean, “May I?” or “May we?” Combine the third person, “polite you” Lei conjugation of potere, which is “può,” with an action verb to create a polite question in Italian that asks, “Can/Could you…?” Italian travelers: just remember how to use può and you can ask for whatever you need while in Italy!

With the simple examples above, one can easily imagine how the present tense conjugation of potere, and especially the verb può, is essential knowledge for one traveling in Italy. Read on for a simple method that will ensure the Italian traveler “can” create a polite sentence in Italian and “will be able to” relay what they need using the verbs posso, possiamo, and especially può.

This method is an integral part of our Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books. After reading this blog, try our pocket travel book, “Just the Important Phrases,” which summarizes this method and provides essential Italian phrases using può. Many of these phrases have been reprinted here. Use this method to create your own phrases in Italian!

As I’ve said before, I believe that “commonly used phrases” are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time.

If we learn how to incorporate “commonly used phrases” with the Italian verb può, we will be able to communicate just as we do in our native language and ask for whatever we need politely!

This post is the 61st in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases” in Italian
use the verbs

Posso, Possiamo,
and especially Può

in order to ask politely
for what one needs.
See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

************************************************

The Italian Verb Potere

Potere means “to can” or “to be able to,” and is classified as a modal, or helping verb. This means that potere provides information about the ability of the speaker to “be able to” complete the main action described in a sentence. When used in this way, potere is conjugated to reflect the speaker and the action verb follows directly after in its infinitive form — that is, the action verb is not conjugated! (Remember that Italian verbs are categorized into three infinitive forms by the following endings: -are, -ere, and -ire, and that English infinitive verbs are preceded by “to,” as in, “to go” “to stay,” etc.)

One can imagine the infinite number of uses for a helping verb with the meanings of potere. This blog will focus the use of potere as a verb of politeness, with emphasis on how to use the third person, or Lei (polite you) conjugation, which is può. Può translates literally as “he/she can” and “you (polite) can.” For purposes of this blog, in order to demonstrate the use of può to mean “polite you” in a question, the translation will be given as the softer English “could.”

One simple way to use potere while traveling in Italy is to connect the “polite you” conjugation of potere, which is “può” with an action verb in the infinitive.

This will enable travelers to ask for whatever they need with the polite phrase, “Could you…?”

Of course, polite communication is essential to show respect for others in any language and it is especially important when traveling in Italy to make a good impression, or fare una bella figura!

The beauty of this method, which uses [può + infinitive verb] to pose a question, is that it is easy to ask for assistance during the course of a typical day. For instance, one were to direct another to act in a specific manner with a statement in Italian (instead of using a question formulated with può) the polite Italian command form would be required. And the polite command form in Italian is relayed with a verb conjugated in the subjunctive mood — a complex form covered in advanced Italian. However, when the request is made with a question that starts with può, the subjunctive conjugation is no longer necessary! Even knowledge of the complete conjugation of potere is not required!

The traveler only needs to remember the helping verb può and the meaning of the action verb for what they need.
There is essentially no need to conjugate using this method!

Italian travelers can ask for help understanding fluent Italian, with the many simple transactions of daily life, with directions and transportation needs, and while dining at a restaurant simply by using [può + infinitive verb]. Further discussion of how to use può as a traveler is given below for several different situations, after the present tense conjuration.

Finally, we will also discuss how to use the first person singular and plural conjugations of potere, which are posso and possiamo to ask for what one needs at an Italian restaurant.

Of course, the phrases given will serve as examples and this method can be extrapolated to many different situations!

How to Conjugate Potere

Potere is an irregular -ere verb in the present tense. As noted above, for many reasons, and especially to be polite in Italian, this verb is essential to commit to memory!

The complete present tense conjugation of potere is below, with the important conjugations of politeness that are the focus of this blog in green: io (I), “Lei” (polite you) and noi (we).

io	posso
tu	puoi
Lei/lei/lui	può
noi	possiamo
voi	potete
loro	possono

Use Può to Ask for What You Need!

1. Use può if you are having difficulty understanding fluent Italian.

Può is an important conjugation of potere for the beginning student of Italian to remember for when he or she needs help conversing with a fluent speaker.
[Può + parlare + adverb] is a polite way to direct someone to speak Italian in way that is helpful to you. Start a sentence with può and then add the infinitive verb parlare and an adverb requesting another to speak more slowly or loudly, for instance. To be even more polite, start your request with, “Per favore…” or “Per piacere…” for “Please…”
Notice from the examples below how the Italian adverb “più,” which means “more,” is also helpful in this situation.
[Può + ripetere] can be used in a simple phrase to ask someone to repeat what they’ve just said. You can also start a sentence with [può + ripetere] and build your Italian sentence one phrase at a time to describe what you’d like in more detail, as with the last examples in the table below.

Per favore, Può…	Please, Could you…
…parlare più lentamente?	…speak more slowly?
…parlare più piano?	…speak more slowly?
…parlare più forte?	…speak more loudly?
…parlare in inglese?	…speak in English?

Può ripetere?	Could you repeat (that)?
Può ripetere…	Could you repeat…
…che ha detto lui?*	…what he said?
…che ha detto lei?*	…what she said?
…che hanno detto loro?*	…what they said?
…le direzioni? …le direzioni per il duomo?	…the directions? …the directions to the cathedral?
…l’informazione? …l’informazione sullo spettacolo?	…the information? …the information about the show? (one piece of information)
…le informazioni? …le informazioni per la riunione di domani?	…the information? …the information for the meeting tomorrow? (more than one piece of information)

*When a sentence or question starts with che, the subject pronoun is given at the end if one wants to emphasize or clarify who the subject is. Otherwise, the verb ending corresponds to the speaker, as usual.

2. Use può at the service station to ask for assistance with your car

For those brave enough to rent a car in Italy, assistance from a service station may be necessary. Some useful infinitive verbs to remember that can be used after the polite request is made with può are given below.
In some places in Italy, it may still be possible to ask for assistance filling a car with gasoline with the phrase “fare il pieno.” Or, at least, one may still see the gas station attendant conversing with a customer in Italian movies from the 1950s and 60s. Although a polite sentence can be made with può in this case, “Può fare il pieno?” “Can you fill it up?” a shortened phrase is usually used, such as, “Il pieno, per favore!” for “Fill it up, please!”

Può…	Could you…
…caricare la batteria?	…charge the battery?
…controllare l’olio?	…check the oil?
…controllare l’acqua?	…check the water?
…controllare le gomme?	…check the tires?
…cambiare la gomma?	…change the tire?
…aggiustare la gomma che è a terra?	fix the flat tire?
…riparare la gomma che è a terra?	…fix the flat tire?

3. Use “Mi può… ” for every day, simple interactions

A simple question to ask if you are paying in cash and need change uses [mi può + portare] for “Can you bring me…?” Remember that in Italian the pronoun “mi” for “me” comes before the conjugated verb, while in English the pronoun is placed after the verb.
The Italian pronoun Lei, for “polite you” is left out of the sentence, which, along with the word order can complicate things a bit. But, just remember that in this case we are using a method that specifies può means “polite you.” And, with this method, we don’t have to worry about the conjugating an Italian verb! With this method we can ask for change s follows:
Mi può portare il resto, per favore? Could you bring me the change, please?

Of course, the verb portare can also be used to refer to a person, such as when a taxi is needed to transfer someone from one location to another. In this case, just give the address after the phrase “Mi puo portare…” For a proper Italian sentence, remember to use the correct preposition and to put the street number for the address after the street name!
Mi può portare in via Verde? Could you bring me to Green Street?
Mi può portare a via Melzo 10? Could you bring me 10 Melzo Street?

To ask the concierge at a hotel to call you a taxi, use [mi può + chiamare] for “Can/Could you call me…” In this case, the Italian “mi” serves as the indirect object pronoun “for me.”
Mi può chiamare un taxi? Can you call a taxi for me?

To ask a shopkeeper to show you an article of clothing or other item of interest, use [mi può + mostrare] for “Can/Could you show me…”
Mi può mostrare una camicia bianca? Can you show me a white shirt?

4. Use [Mi può + dire…] to ask for assistance with directions

When visiting an unfamiliar city, it may be necessary to ask a stranger for help. In Italy, it is customary to begin this type of conversation with “mi scusi” for “excuse me” (polite command).
Then, an easy way to politely phrase any question you may have is to use the phrase, “Mi può,” which means, “Could you (polite)… me.” To complete the sentence, add the infinitive verb for what you need after this Italian phrase – once again, there is no need to conjugate with this method! If we add dire to the phrase, for instance, we get, “Mi può dire…” for “Could you (polite) tell me…”
Examples below use “Dov’è…?” for “Where is…?” and allow one to ask for directions to place of interest. If the answer to any of these questions involves a particular street, you will hear the phrase in… via, for the English on… street.
La banca è in via Verde. The bank is on Green Street.
Of course, with this method, one has to be ready to hear the directions in Italian! Examples of useful phrases one might hear in reply are given in the Conversational Italian for Travelers books.

Mi scusi,	Excuse me,
mi può dire	could (you pol.) tell me
dov’è…	where is…
…l’albergo?	…the hotel?
…il ristorante?	…the restaurant?
…la metro/metropolitana?	…the subway?
…la fermata dell’autobus?	…the bus stop?
…la stazione dei treni?	…the train station?
…la banca?	…the bank?
…l’ufficio postale?	…the post office?
…il museo?	…the museum?

5. Use [Mi può + dire…] to ask about Italian schedules

Use “Mi puo…” to ask about a schedule for public transportation or when a place of interest opens or closes.
Quando means when and can be added after the phrase, “Mi può dire…” to find out when transportation will arrive (arriva) or depart (parte).
Use quando to ask when a museum, shop, restaurant or other place of interest will open (apre) or will close (chiude). Notice from the literal translation in the table below, which follows the abbreviation “lit.” that the word order to ask these questions is slightly different in Italian and English.

Mi può dire	Could you (pol.) tell me
quando…	when…
…arriva il treno?	…the train arrives? (lit. arrives the train)
…arriva l’autobus?	…the bus arrives? (lit. arrives the bus)
…parte il treno?	…the train leaves? (lit. leaves the train)
…parte l’autobus?	…the bus leaves? (lit. leaves the bus)
…apre il museo?	…the museum opens? (lit. opens the museum)
…chiude il museo?	…the museum closes? (lit. closes the museum)

6. Use [Mi può + portare] or [Ci può + portare] at the restaurant

While dining at a restaurant, it is often necessary to ask the waiter to bring something to your table. Perhaps you need additional silverware or another napkin. Or maybe another drink or cup of espresso. Just ask the waiter to bring these things to you with the phrase [mi può + portare]. Of course, it will be necessary to remember the Italian for which part of the table setting or which drink you need, as in the examples below. (If you need a refresher on how to use the Italian indefinite article (a, an) or how to create the word “some” in Italian, check out Conversational Italian for Travlers “Just the Grammar.

Cultural note: Italian restaurants do not usually serve water or soft drinks with ice (ghiaccio). The reason is often simple — there usually is no ice maker on the premises. Also, many Italians still believe that a very cold drink is not good for one’s health. In short, if you’d like to ask for ice while traveling in Italy, it is possible to do so by asking, “Mi può portare del ghiaccio,” for “Can you bring me some ice?” but don’t be disappointed if there is none available!
An additional bottle of water or wine, or perhaps an additional basket of bread might be needed for all the guests dining at a table. In this case, one can make a request for the entire table simply by changing the “mi” for “me” in the original phrase to “ci” for “us.”

Mi può portare…	Could you bring me…
Ci può portare…	Could you bring us…
…dell’acqua naturale?	…some still water (natural water)?
…dell’acqua con gas/frizzante?	…some sparkling water?
…del pane/più pane?	…some bread/more bread?
…del sale e pepe?	…some salt and pepper?
…un cucchiaio, un coltello, una forchetta?	…a spoon, a knife, a fork?
…un tovagliolo?	…a napkin?

Cultural note: remember that there is a charge in Italy for any bread served, whether it is brought to you by request or not! This charge is listed on the bill as the “pane e coperto” or “bread and cover charge,” and, as the name suggests, also serves to reserve the table for as long as the guests would like to stay. An additional charge will be added for any additional bread requested, so don’t be surprised to see this charge on the bill as well. Luckily, the pane e coperto at the time of this writing is usually only 1-3 euros, although more may be charged in an upscale restaurant. It is best to check the notice that should be listed in the menu if you are on a budget.
A simple question to use if you’d like a receipt at a restaurant replaces portare with dare (to give) in the formula; [mi può + dare] means, “Can you give me…?” Remember to ask for the receipt when dining in Italy, as there is no limit for the amount of time one can linger and enjoy food and friends and the waiter will not want to interrupt your time together! Use, “Mi può dare la ricevuta, per favore?” for “Could you give me a receipt, please?

7. Use [Posso + infinitive verb] or [Possiamo + infinitive verb] at the restaurant

In the table below are some expressions commonly used when dining in a restaurant. The io (I) and noi (we) forms of the verb potere are important to know in this situation, since requests are usually made for oneself or for the entire table.
We expand the polite use of potere with, “Posso?” for “May I…?” and “Possiamo?” for “May we…?”
Use the reflexive pronoun mi (myself) with [posso + sedersi] when asking to be seated in Italian. Use the reflexive pronoun ci (ourselves) with [possiamo + sedersi] when requesting a group be seated. You will notice from the phrases below that the reflexive pronouns mi and ci are attached to the infinitive action verb sedersi after removing the -si ending. This is the rule for all [helping verb + reflexive verb] combinations.
Sitting is not reflexive in English, so you will not find a reflexive pronoun in the translations in the table below. Instead, English simply uses the verb “sit” alone or sometimes adds the adverb “down” to personalize the meaning of the verb sit.
Cultural note: It is not usually necessary to ask for the menu in an Italian restaurant; the waiter will generally bring menus to the table once everyone is seated. But, if for some reason you need to see the menu again, it is customary to make this request in Italian with the verb avere (to have) rather than the American verb “to see.”
Language note: In Italian, the word for table has both masculine and feminine endings. The masculine, “il tavolo” refers to any type of table — a table one will be eating on or working on, for instance. When the table is full of food, it becomes feminine, as in “la tavola.” Therefore, if one is simply asking for a table at a certain place in a restaurant (before the food has arrived), the masculine ending applies.

Posso…	May I…
…sedermi vicino alla finestra? …sedermi fuori? … sedermi a un tavolo fuori?	…sit by the window? …sit outside? …sit at an outside table?
…sedermi a un’altro tavolo?	…sit at another table?
…avere il menù?	…see (have) the menu?

Possiamo…	May we…
…sederci vicino alla finestra? …sederci fuori? …sederci a un tavolo fuori?	…sit by the window? …sit outside? …sederci a una tavola fuori?
…sederci a un’altro tavolo?	…sit at another table?
…avere il menù?	…see (have) the menu?

Finally, if you have food allergies or special requests, use posso to describe what you can… or cannot do!

Non posso mangiare niente…	I cannot eat anything…
…fatto con noci/arachidi.	…made with nuts/peanuts.
…molto piccante.	…very spicy.

Simply follow the method detailed in this blog
to use potere to ask for what you need politely
and “fare una bella figura” while in Italy!

I guarantee you will use può every day!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books are where to find “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!”

The cover of Conversational Italian for Travelers "Just the Important Phrases" book is viewed on a smartphone

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently in 2022?

Why not set a goal to learn Italian, starting today, for the year 2022? I will try to help you with this goal by posting a new blog every month in the series “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” In these blogs, I discuss how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.”

To speak fluently in another language, it is important to know how to make comparisons. Every day we all compare the characteristics of one thing to another — larger vs. smaller, better or worse — often to describe what we prefer. The Italian language uses precise sentence structures and specific prepositions when making comparisons that are not always identical to English. The good news is that Italian is consistent, and it is easy to learn the “Italian way” of thinking to compare the things in the world we live in!

In a prior blog in this series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! – How to Use ‘Di’ in Italian,” we learned that the Italian preposition di can mean “of, from, or by.” Now, we will put di to use in another way — to replace the English word than when making comparisons!

Let’s continue our new series on Italian prepositions with another blog about the essential Italian preposition “di.” If we learn how to use the Italian preposition “di” to make comparisons, we will truly sound like a native Italian!

This post is the 56th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases”
in Italian use

the preposition “di”
to make comparisons

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar*

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

*The material in this blog has been adapted from the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and the reference book “Just the Grammar.”

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Use “Di” to Compare Italian Nouns
and for Comparisons with Piacere

To speak fluently in another language, it is important to know how to make comparisons. Every day we all compare the characteristics of one thing to another — larger vs. smaller, better or worse — often to describe what we prefer. The Italian language uses precise sentence structures and specific prepositions when making comparisons that are not always identical to English. In this blog, we will explore several ways to make comparisons that use the Italian preposition di. The good news is that Italian is consistent, and it is easy to learn the “Italian way” of thinking to compare the things in the world we live in!

To compare two different nouns — people, places, or things — where one has a superior or inferior characteristic, use the following Italian phrases below. Note that the Italian preposition di will combine with the definite article the (il, la, lo, l’, etc.) according to the usual rules, if a definite article is needed in the sentence.

In this case, the Italian preposition di is translated into English with than. Notice that “the” is often used in Italian but is not needed in English, due to the different way the two languages express possession (see the first example below). If you need a refresher on the Italian preposition di, visit a prior blog in this series, “How to Use “Di” in Italian.”

Also, the translation into English will not match the Italian word for word when making comparisons. English uses the irregular “larger” and “smaller” and therefore the Italian “more large” and “more small” cannot be translated directly into English.

Comparison of Two Different Nouns

più… di	more… than
meno… di	less… than

Comparison sentences with two different nouns (person, place, or thing) are given below. The nouns that are being compared are red.

Pietro ha più soldi di Caterina.	Peter has more money than Kathy.
Caterina ha meno soldi di Pietro.	Kathy has less money than Peter.

La casa di Pietro è più grande della casa di Caterina.	Peter’s house is larger than Kathy’s house.
Firenze è più piccola di Roma.	Florence is smaller than Rome.

This Italian sentence structure using di also works
when making comparisons using piacere between two nouns
that have different characteristics.

Let’s look into how to make comparisons with the verb piacere. Piacere is how Italians say they like something. (If you need a refresher on how to conjugate the verb piacere, visit our blog, “Piacere — How Italians Say, ‘I like it!’”)

Piacere often comes into play to describe how much we like doing something compared to something else. For instance, in a prior blog, “Let’s Talk About… TV and Movies in Italian.” we discussed how to state a preference for one film over another. The two lines below give the correct Italian sentence structure and again use più di and meno di.

Mi piace… (film) più di + definite article… (film).
Mi piace… (film) meno di + definite article… (film).

Mi piace il film La Vita è Bella più delle serie Commissario Montalbano.
I like the film Life is Beautiful more than the series Detective Montalbano.

Mi piace il film Pane e Tulipani meno di La Vita è Bella.
I like Bread and Tulips less than Life is Beautiful.

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Use “Che” to Compare
Italian Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs

However, to combine two different verbs, adverbs or adjectives where one has a superior or inferior characteristic, or one is liked more than another, substitute che for di. The two lines below use più che and meno che with the verbs correre and nuotare in green, and the adjectives giallo and rosso in brown. Notice that the subject is the same in these comparisons — in this case, the subject is what one likes but of course one can substitute “mi piace” with a noun (person, place or thing).

The English transition when comparing two verbs uses the present progressive tense (-ing verb).

Mi piace correre più che nuotare.
I like running more than swimming.

Mi piace giallo meno che rosso.
I like yellow less than red.

Finally, use più che or meno che if making a comparison that uses a preposition.

Rosa è più contenta con te che con me.
Rose is happier (more happy) with you than with me.

Or use che alone to express a preference.
Preferisco partire il 7 che il 5 di mattina.
I prefer to leave at 7 than at 5 in the morning.

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Use “Di” with
Irregular Adverbs

Comparative sentences that use adverbs are common, since people often discuss how well (bene) — or how badly (male) — something is going. To compare how one action is better or worse compared to another, use the irregular comparative adverbs meglio and peggio with the preposition di and the same sentence structure described in the last section of this blog.

In the examples below, the adverb that is used in the comparison is in brown and its verb in green.

Caterina parla italiano bene.	Kathy speaks Italian well.
Caterina parla italiano meglio di Francesca.	Kathy speaks Italian better than Frances.

Francesca parla italiano male.	Frances speaks Italian badly.
Francesca parla italiano peggio di Caterina.	Frances speaks Italian worse than Kathy.

To express the relative superlative “the best” or “the worst” in Italian, one can simply use the comparative sentence structure we have learned with the Italian phrases “meglio di tutti” or “peggio di tutti.”

Caterina parla italiano meglio di tutti.	Kathy speaks Italian better than everyone.
	Meaning: Kathy speaks Italian the best.

Francesca parla italiano peggio di tutti.	Frances speaks Italian worse than everyone.
	Meaning: Frances speaks Italian the worst.

Meglio is used in the same way when talking about a thing, rather than a person. For instance, to compare a recent film with a well-known TV series, see the example below from our blog “Let’s Talk About… TV and Movies in Italian.”

This film is better than…

Questo film è meglio di + definite article…

Questo film è meglio del Commissario Montalbano, sono sicuro!
This film is better than Detective Montalbano, I am sure.

Equally important are comparisons made with the adverbs very (molto) or little (poco). People have a tendency to make comparisons between doing something more (più) or doing something less (meno). We have seen the Italian adverbs piu and meno in action in the first section as part of the sentence structure for making a comparison. When used with the meaning of “more” or “less,” piu and meno are considered irregular adverbs.

However, when making a comparison in Italian using più or meno with the meanings of more or less, speakers often don’t mention the second term. This is common in every day conversation when both speakers already know the topic under discussion. When the second term in the comparison is omitted, the preposition di is added before più or meno to complete the sentence.

Use di più or di meno, rather than simply più or meno
when the second term of the comparison is not stated.

In the examples below, the adverb used in the comparison is in brown and its verb in green.

Pietro ha mangiato molta pizza.	Peter ate a lot of pizza.
Pietro ha mangiato più pizza di Michele.	Peter ate more pizza than Michael.
Pietro ha mangiato di più.	Peter ate more.

Michele ha mangiato poca pizza.	Michael ate a little pizza.
Michele ha mangiato meno pizza di Pietro.	Michael ate less pizza than Peter.
Michele ha mangiato di meno.	Michael ate less.

To express “the most” or “the least” in Italian, one can simply use the comparative sentence structure we have learned with the Italian phrases “più di tutti” or “meno di tutti.”

Pietro ha mangiato più di tutti.	Peter ate more than everyone.
	Meaning: Peter ate the most.

Michele ha mangiato meno di tutti.	Michael ate less than everyone.
	Meaning: Michael ate the least.

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Use “Di” with
Irregular Adjectives

See the irregular comparative adverbs we have just discussed in the previous section in the table below, along with their relative superlative adjectives and phrases.

Adverb		Comparative Adverb		Relative Superlative Adjective/Phrases
bene	well	meglio	better	il migliore	the best
male	badly	peggio		il peggiore	the worst
molto	very	più di più	more	più la maggior parte di il maggior numero di	the most
poco	a little	meno di meno	less	meno il minimo di la minima parte di	the least

Now let’s talk about the relative superlative adjectives in the third column of our table above.

The Best and the Worst in Italian:

Earlier in this blog, we mentioned that to express the relative superlative adjective “the best” in Italian, one can simply use the Italian phrase “meglio di tutti” to state “better than everyone.”

However, when we use the irregular adjective “il migliore” to state someone or something is “the best,” a different sentence structure is required. One might say Italian is more precise than English since Italian expresses the difference between Frances the person and Frances’ knowledge of Italian. In English, this difference is simply understood. (If you need a refresher on how to state possession with the Italian preposition di, visit a prior blog in this series, “How to Use “Di” in Italian.”)

In short, an Italian sentence that uses the adjective migliore must start with the noun that migliore modifies. Once again, we encounter differences in the English and Italian way of thinking — in this case about how to be the best!

Below are examples from the prior section again, with the addition of a sentence with “il migliore” for comparison. The last example also includes “the worst,” or “il peggiore,” which follows the same sentence structure. The adverb that is being compared is in brown and its verb in green. The noun described as “the best” or “the worst” is in red.

Caterina parla italiano meglio di tutti.	Kathy speaks Italian better than everyone.
	Meaning: Kathy speaks Italian the best.
L’italiano di Caterina è il migliore.	Meaning: Kathy’s Italian is the best.

Francesca parla italiano peggio di tutti.	Frances speaks Italian worse than everyone.
	Meaning: Frances speaks Italian the worst.
L’italiano di Francesca è il peggiore.	Meaning: Frances’ Italian is the worst.

The Most in Italian:

Previously in this blog, we mentioned that to express the relative superlative adjective “the most” in Italian, one can simply use the Italian phrase “più di tutti” to state “more than everyone.”

We can also use più in a sentence that starts with a noun followed by quello(a,i,e) to express the idea of “the most.” Use this Italian way of speaking to refer to the greatest quantity of something, measure of something (tangible or intangible), or number of something. The Italian sentence structure is similar to the examples given for how to use migliore and peggiore. English speakers tend to express the same idea in a different way, as noted by the translations below.

Il bicchiere di Marco è quello che ha più vino.	Mark has the most wine in his glass.
Anna è quella della famiglia che è più bella.	Ann is the most beautiful of all of us in the family.
Quest’albero è quello che ha più mele.	This tree is the one with the most apples.

Two other phrases, “la maggior parte di” and “il maggior numero di” can also mean “the most,” regarding “the greatest quantity” and “the greatest number” of something.

Also, “Per la maggiore parte…” is commonly used to say, “For the most part…”

Our original examples are listed below again, with additional ways to say “the most.” Notice how the meaning changes with the use of the last two phrases. Also that “fetta di” is itself a separate phrase, so that di is not combined with the definite article.

Pietro ha mangiato più di tutti.
Peter ate more than everyone/the most.

Pietro ha mangiato la maggior parte della pizza.
Peter ate most (the most part of) of the pizza.

Pietro ha mangiato il magior numero di fette di piazza.
Peter ate most (the most number of) of the pieces of the pizza.

The Least in Italian:

Finally, to say “the least,” one can use “meno” with quello(a) and the same sentence structure as described above for più.

Michele è quello della famiglia che ha mangiato meno pizza.
Michael has eaten the least pizza of all of us in the family.

“Il minimo di” and “la minima parte di” can also be used to describe “the least.” See examples below. Remember to change the ending of minimo(a) to match the gender of the noun that is modified.

Michele ha mangiato meno di tutti.
Michael ate less than everyone/the least pizza.

Michele ha mangiato la minima parte della pizza. Michael ate the least (amount of) pizza.

Michele ha mangiato il minimo del pane. Michael ate the least (amount of) bread.

Remember how to make comparisons with
the Italian preposition “di” in conversation
and I guarantee you will use the Italian “di” every day!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books: Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone from www.learntravelitalian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently in 2022?

Have you set a goal to learn Italian? I will try to help you by posting a new blog every month in the series “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” In these blogs, I discuss how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.”

For instance, many Italian verbs have a similar use to those in English, which simplifies translation from one language to the other. However, often the meaning of an Italian verb will vary from the usual English connotation. And in many situations, the same verb can have several different meanings in both languages, depending on the context. Mettere (along with its reflexive form mettersi) is one of those verbs that is used in many ways in Italian and is important to “put to” good use if you want to speak like an Italian.

As I’ve said before, I believe that “commonly used phrases” are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time.

If we learn how to incorporate “commonly used phrases” when use the Italian verb mettere, we will be able to communicate just as we do in our native language!

This post is the 55th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases” in Italian
use the verb

Mettere

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

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Let’s Talk About…

The Many Uses of the Italian Verb

Mettere

The Italian verb mettere and its reflexive counterpart mettersi are used in many colloquial expressions in Italy today. It is important to “put in” the time to learn how to use mettere, both literally and figuratively, if one wants to speak Italian like a native!

The Italian verb mettere is most often translated into English as “to put” or “to place.” It can be used in a simple way, to describe moving an object from one place to another.

Mettere is commonly used with the prepositions a, da, in and su in many Italian expressions that have the connotation of “putting” or “placing” something or someone in a place or situation. One commonly heard expression is, “Metti su l’acqua!” for “Put on the water!” which, of course refers to boiling a pot of water in preparation for making pasta! The Internet also provides another opportunity to use mettere su.

Mettersi a and mettere in are used to relay that an individual is “going to” initiate an action — such as starting to cook dinner or starting a car. Mettersi a can also be used in the impersonal third person to describe an act of nature starting up on its own. Finally, use mettere in to describe the emotional state or situations you have been “put into.”

Italian uses mettersi to describe the act of getting dressed. In English, we combine the verb “put” with the preposition “on” to make “put on” with reference to clothing. The preposition “on” does not have any other purpose than to change the meaning of the verb “put,” in the same way that the reflexive form of an Italian verb is used to modify or even change that verb’s original meaning. Messo, the past participle of mettere, is important to describe what one was wearing in the past. Several examples of how to use mettere and mettersi to describe getting dressed will be given in the next section. For additional information on this topic, visit a previous blog in this series: How We Dress in Italian.

Mettere can be used in the figurative sense, meaning, “I suppose” or “I presume.” Mettere can also be used figuratively to ask how something “looks.” If you are more sure of yourself, use ammetere and admit/confirm whatever is under discussion at the moment.

Use the pronominal verb phrase “mettercela tutta” as an informal way to describe that you’ve “put in” the most effort you can/are doing your best, or to encourage another to “give it their all.”

Finally, many Italian sayings incorporate mettere. Some of the most popular have been listed at the end of this blog.

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Let’s talk about how to conjugate mettere in the present, past, and future tenses before using it in some example sentences. Luckily, mettere is regular in all tenses except for the passato prossimo, due to its irregular past participle, which is messo.

Present tense: Mettere is a regular -ere verb in the present tense. The present tense conjugation is below.

io	metto
tu	metti
Lei/lei/lui	mette
noi	mettiamo
voi	mettete
loro	mettono

Past tense: When used in the passato prossimo to describe a single event, avere is the helping verb and the past participle is messo.

Mettere has a regular conjugation in the imperfetto past tense (mettevo, mettevi, metteve, mettevamo, mettevate, mettevano).

Future tense: mettere is regular in the future tense (metterò, metterai, metterà, metteremo, metterete, metteranno).

1. Use mettere to describe the simple act of moving an object from one place and “putting” or “placing” it in another place.

Mettere is commonly followed by a noun and then a preposition to describe the act of “putting” or “placing” an object somewhere in one’s household.
The singular familiar command form of mettere, which is metti is also important to remember when directing family or friends where to put an object.
The past participle messo is important when one has remembered (or is trying to remember) where they have put an object.
The direct object pronouns “them”(le) and “it”(lo) are red, so as not to confuse them with a verb ending.

Ho messo i piatti sulla tavola per la cena.

I put the plates on the table for dinner.

Brava! Ora, pian piano, metti i bicchieri di cristalleria vicino a i piatti!

Great! Now, carefully place the crystal wine glasses next to the plates!

Ho messo le chiavi nella mia borsa, ma ora non riesco a trovarle!

I put the keys in my purse, but now I can’t find them!

Mettilo di là, in stanza mia.

Put it over there, in my room.

2. Use mettere su to describe “putting” food “on” the stove, to “put on” something in figurative sense, or to “put up a post on” the Internet

Mettere with the preposition su is a commonly used expression in home cooking. For instance, when a family is ready for dinner, one can direct another to “put” a pot of water “on” the stove to boil. No other details are necessary, for every Italian knows that boiling, salted water is essential for making pasta! Specific foods one would like to encourage another to cook can also follow mettere su, and one can be asked more directly simply to make la pasta. Of note: with expressions of this type, the preposition su is not combined with the definite article.
Mettere su is used in common expressions to mean “to put on weight” or “to put (someone) on a pedestal,” just like in English.
Use mettere su in the figurative sense, as in to “put on a show” of something, or to “organize” or “create” an event.
To sound like a native Italian when speaking about the internet, use mettere su or mettere in rete instead of postare for “putting up” with the meaning of “posting” or “publishing on line. Along these lines, “mettere in coppia” means “to copy someone” on an email.

Sono arrivato! Metti su l’acqua!

I’m home! Put on the (pot of) water (to boil to make the pasta)!

Metti su la pasta! / Metti su la carne!

Start cooking the pasta! / Start cooking the meat!

Lui ha meso su pancia quest’anno.

He has put on belly fat this year!

Anna mette su un piedistallo il suo fidanzato Marco.

Ann puts her fiancé Mark on a pedastal.

Lui ha meso su uno spettacolo per tutti ieri sera con i suoi scherzi.

He put on a show for everyone last night with his jokes.

Marco ha messo su un bel viaggio per tutti.

Mark has organized a nice trip for everyone.

Metti su internet una foto del tuo viaggio!

Put up a photo of your trip on the Internet!
Post a photo of your trip on the Internet!

Lei ha messo su un blog su internet questa settimana.

She has put up/posted a blog on the internet this week.

3. Use mettersi a, mettersi in the third person, or mettere in moto to describe initiating an action

Mettersi a is used to tell someone you are “about to/starting to” do something, such as starting to cook dinner. The Italian phrase is [mettersi a + infinitive verb]. The English translation is [to be + going to] when mettersi is used in this way.
Mettersi a followed by an infinitive verb can also be used in the third person to describe an inanimate object or an act of nature starting up something by itself. There is a popular Italian saying, “Da Santa Lucia, il freddo si mette in via,” which means, “From Saint Lucia’s Day, the cold is on its way.” The two verbs that mean “to start,” cominciare and iniziare cannot be used in the third person this way. For a more detailed discussion on the topic of how to use impersonal reflexive verbs, visit a previous blog in this series Impersonal Statements and Reflexive Verbs.: “Come si dice?”
Mettere in moto is a commonly used expression to describe starting a car but can also be used figuratively with the meaning of “to embark on” or “set off on” a journey.

Sono arrivato! Ora mi metto a cucinare la cena.

I’m home! Now I am going to cook dinner.

Finalmente lui si mette a lavorare con noi stamattina.

Finally he is going to work with us this morning.

L’eruzione del vulcano si mette a fare la terza eruzione oggi.

The volcano starts the third eruption today.

L’acqua si mette ad alzarsi a Venezia a febbraio.

The water starts to rise in Venice in February.

Michele mette in moto la macchina.

Michael starts the car.

Dopo aver lasciato Anna, Michele mette in moto una vita nuova.

After leaving Ann, Michael sets off on a new life.

4. Use mettere in and mettere a/di to describe negative or positive emotional states or figurative positions you have been “put into.”

Mettere is often used figuratively. There are many expressions that describe the negative emotions and situations one can be “put into” by completing the phrase “mettere in…” An Italian can be put into a difficult position, doubt, embarrassment, ridicule, risk, danger, or even “to their knees” or “on the run”! On the other hand, to be saved is to be “mettere in salvo.” The phrase that means “to be quarantined” is “mettere in quarantena.”
Mettere a or mettere di, conversely, are used in many expressions that describe positive interactions, such as: putting someone at ease, putting things in order, being available to help out, and helping to reach an agreement. Mettere insieme means “to put together” but also “to bring together.” And remember to say, “Sono d’accordo!” for “I agree!” once you have come to an understanding with others!
When describing an event, “mettere in…” can simply mean “to put into play” (gioco) or “to put on a show” (mostra). “Mettere in vendita” means “to put up for sale.”
There are many other common Italian phrases that start with mettere! Listen for how Italians use this versatile verb and you will hear it often!

Mettere in…
	difficoltà	to put in a difficult position to hinder
	dubbio	to doubt
	imbarazzo	to embarrass to make someone uncomfortable
	ridicolo	to ridicule
	rischio	to put someone at risk to put in danger
	ginocchio	to bring someone to their knees
	fuga quarantena	to put someone on the run to put someone in quarantine

Mettere a…	proprio agio	to put somebody at ease
	posto	to put in order to clean up to put away
	disposizione	to make available
	servizio	to put at one’s disposition
Mettere d’… Sono d’…	accordo	to help reach an agreement I agree!

5. Use mettersi to describe the act of getting dressed

There are several Italian verbs that are used to convey the act of wearing clothing and getting dressed. Mettersi is an important verb to know in this regard. For more information on this topic, visit a previous blog in this series: How We Dress in Italian.

Mettersi can be used to convey three different types of English sentences: “I put on my dress,” “I put my dress on,” and “I put on the dress.” In general, Italian uses reflexive verbs to describe daily actions we all must perform to keep up “la bella figura.” English instead uses a [verb + preposition +possessive adjective] sentence structure. Although the last English example is correct, we most often default to using the first two examples, with the possessive “my.”

Although the sentence structure that describes getting dressed differs in Italian and English, in both cases there is a straightforward formula to follow. For Italian, the reflexive pronoun mi (myself) is placed before the conjugated form of mettersi and the article of clothing to be put on is then placed after the verb. The subject pronoun is omitted, as usual. So the final translation for “I put on my dress” is, “Mi metto il vestito.”

Just remember the simple phrase “mi metto” and replace il vestito with your chosen article of clothing and you will be able to describe getting dressed!

To describe action in the tu (you) form, just conjugate mettersi normally and then add the article of clothing, as in “ti metti.” For the lei/lui (she/he) form, use “si mette,” and so on.

(Io) Mi metto il vestito.	I put on my dress./I put my dress on./I put on the dress.
(Tu) Ti metti l’anello.	You put on your ring.
(Lei/Lui) Si mette le scarpe.	She/He puts on his shoes.

In order to describe what they have worn in the past, most Italians use mettersi and its irregular past participle messo.

Remember to use the helping verb essere for the passato prossimo with the reflexive verb mettersi. And, of course the last vowel of the past participle must agree in gender with the person wearing the clothing, since we are using essere as the helping verb (see the red vowels in the examples). The table below shows how this all works:

Marco si è messo un completo oggi.	Mark wore a suit today.
Maria si è messa una gonna oggi.	Maria wore a skirt today.

6. More figurative uses for mettersi and mettere

Mettersi can be used figuratively to ask how something “looks,” such as the weather or an interpersonal situation.
Mettere can be used in the figurative sense, meaning, “I suppose,” or “I presume” in a compound sentence with a subjunctive mood verb. In the examples below, abbia is the subjunctive for avere and sappia is the subjunctive for sapere (singular first, second, and third persons). These are two helpful verbs to remember, even if one is not versed in the subjunctive mood. If you are more sure of yourself, use ammetere and admit/confirm whatever is under discussion at the moment, also with the subjunctive mood.
Remember that the noi conjugation of a verb is also used in the imperative to mean “let’s.” (See the last example.)

Come si mette il tempo oggi?

How does the weather look today?

Come si mette la situazione con Clara?

How does the situation with Clara look?

Tu sai la situazione meglio di me. Quindi, ammetto che tu abbia ragione.

You know the situation better than me. Therefore, I admit/confirm that you are right.

Mettiamo che Marco sappia più di noi.

Let’s presume that Mark knows more than us.

7. Use the pronominal verb phrase “mettercela tutta” as an informal way to describe that you have “put in your best effort.”

Mettercela is a pronominal verb, recognized by the ce and la tacked on to the end of metter, which is just mettere without the last “e.” Conjugate this verb exactly as you would mettere, then add the pronominal particles ce and la, following the usual rules for pronouns.
The pronominal particles ce and la change the meaning of mettere. “Mettercela tutta” means “to put in your absolute best effort” or “to give it your all,” as in strength and determination, in order to achieve a goal.
The speaker can use the phrase “mettercerla tutta” in the present tense to describe an ongoing effort. “Ce la messo tutta…” means, “I am putting in my best effort.” This phrase is also commonly used in the past tense when the speaker wants to emphasize that the outcome wasn’t for lack of trying. In this case, the passato prossimo conjugation for this completed event is, “Ce l’ho messa…”
Mettercela tutta can be preceded by devo, which means “I must” for an even more forceful statement. In this case, there is no need to conjugate mettercela. Just leave it in the infinitive form, as usual for verbs that follow dovere.
Or, the speaker can encourage another to try as hard as they can and keep making their best effort. Use the familiar command form of mettere, which is metti, and attach ce and la to the end of the verb for “Metticerla tutta!” To stress the importance of the effort needed, precede metticela tutta with, “Dai!” for “C’mon!”
Notice another pronominal verb in our examples, farcela, which in this case means “to succeed.”
Follow these simple formulas for using mettercela to really speak like a native Italian!

Ce la metto tutta. Spero di farcela!

I putting in everything I have! I hope to succeed!

Devo mettercerla tutta questa settimana per trovare un cliente nuovo.

I must focus all my effort this week into finding a new client.

Ce l’ho messa tutta, ma non ho superato l’esame lo stesso!

I gave it my all but I failed (didn’t pass) the exam anyway!

Dai! Dobbiamo vincere questa partita. Metticela tutta!

C’mon! We have to win this match. Give it all you’ve got!

*To make sense of the construction “Ce l’ho messa,” we must remember that the l’ stands in for ” la” and therefore is feminine. La drops its “a” in the passato prossimo before ho, to make l’ho, which is easier to say. Then, this dropped “a” reappears as the new ending for the past participle! These rules are explained in detail in our Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” book.

8. Common Italian sayings that use mettere

Mettere i soldi in cassa = to make money (literally to put money in the cash register)

Mettere a pane e acqua = a harsh punishment (literally to give someone only bread and water)

Mettere i piedi in testa a = walk over/trample over somebody

Mettere il carro davanti ai buoi = put the cart in front of the horse

Mettere in piazza qualcosa = to be open about something/lay your cards on the table

Mettere in primo piano = make a priority of something/ emphasize/focus on

Mettere il becco in = to stick your nose in/interfere

Mettere bocca su tutto = always commenting on/have an opinion on everything

Mettere i puntini sulle “i” = dot your i’s/ be nitpicky

There are even more ways to use the Italian verb mettere than space in this blog!
Practice listening for the Italian phrases that use mettere and
try them out in your own Italian conversations!

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently in 2022?

Why not set a goal to learn Italian, starting today, for the year 2022? I will try to help you with this goal by posting a new blog every month in the series “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” With these blogs, I discuss how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.”

To speak fluently in another language, it is important to know how to introduce an object, or to describe direction, location or time. We do this naturally in our own language with prepositions — short words like of, to, at/in/from, and by. All languages use prepositions but the choice of preposition in a given situation will differ from one language to another. This is the case for English and Italian; English and Italian often use prepositions in a different way. Also, in some situations Italian sentence structure may require a preposition where English does not!

Let’s start our new series on Italian prepositions with the essential Italian preposition “di.” If we learn how to use the Italian preposition “di,” which can be translated into the English prepositions “of, from,” and “by,” we will truly sound like a native Italian!

This post is the 54th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases”
in Italian use

the preposition “di”

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar *

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

*This material adapted from the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

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Use “Di” to Say
Where You are From

One of the most frequent questions asked during polite conversation is, “Where are you from?” This is expressed in Italian with the verb to be (essere) and di, which is translated in English to the preposition from in this situation. The Italian sentence structure is, “From where are you?”

di + dove + essere

from + where + to be

In proper English, of course, we would say, “Where are you from?” Although the Italian sentence sounds awkward in English, the rule in Italian is never to end a sentence with a preposition; in effect, the English sentence likely sounds awkward to Italians! The answer in Italian will also use di and is followed by the town of one’s birth. Notice that the subject pronoun io (I) is usually left out of the answer, as it is understood from the ending of the verb. For instance:

Di dov’è Lei?	Where are you (polite) from?
Di dove sei?	Where are you (familiar) from?
Sono di Chicago.	(I) am from Chicago.

Note: there is another way of asking where someone is from in Italian — the phrase, “Da dove viene?” This phrase uses the conjunction da with the verb venire, and is a more general reference to where one has been living in prior years. The answer is “Vengo da…” for “I am from…” This phrase will be discussed in more detail in a future blog about the preposition da.

Expressing Possession with “Di”

In Italian, the word di is used to expresses possession, and in this situation, di means of. To describe ownership of a car in Italian, for instance, one would use di to create the sentence: “Questa è la macchina di Pietro.”

We can translate the Italian way of thinking into English with the following sentence: “This is the car of Peter.” To the American ear, though, this sounds formal and too wordy. We have the option of expressing this thought with [apostrophe + the letter s] (‘s) tacked onto the name of the person doing the possessing. The English version of our example above would be, “This is Peter’s car.” In Italian, though, if we want to use someone’s name to describe possession, we have only the very first sentence structure: “Questa è la macchina di Pietro.”

General Uses for “Di”

1. In order to express authorship of a work, Italians use di, which in this case corresponds to the English word by. Also use di with the verb conoscere to describe “knowing someone by” their appearance or their name. Notice we may render these ideas a bit differently in English.

8 ½ è un film di Frederico Fellini.	8 ½ is a film by Fredrico Fellini.
Conosco Marco di vista, ma non ci siamo mai incontrati.	I know what Mark looks like, but we have not (ever) met.
Conosco Marco di nome, ma non ci siamo mai incontrati.	I know Mark’s name, but we have not (ever) met.

2. In order to express what something is composed of, Italians use di. In English, we say “made of,” and in Italian the past particle fatto can be used as an adjective to make the corresponding phrase “fatto(a,i,e) di.” However, in Italian the adjective fatto is optional and the entire meaning of the phrase is usually conveyed just with the preposition di. This is why it is so important to learn how to use Italian prepositions correctly. A short, simple preposition can change the meaning of an entire sentence!

Note: for all metals that are not gold (oro) and for the cloth velvet (velluto) use the preposition in instead of di. These exceptions are simply by convention.

Questa sedia fatta di legno è dura.	This chair made of wood is tough.
Ho comprato un camicia di seta oggi.	I bought a silk blouse today.
Mio marito mi ha regolato un’anello d’oro.	My husband bought me a ring made of gold.

—–but-—-

Questa è una scultura in bronzo.	This sculpture is made of bronze.
La vecchia poltrona è stata rivestita in velluto.	The old chair was restored with velvet cloth.

There are also many descriptive nouns in English that are composed of two nouns, one of which acts as an adjective to describe the other. Some of these descriptive noun/adjectives must be linked with di in Italian if the descriptive term represents what the main item is made of. For instance the two English words that represent one item from the example silk blouse given above is translated into Italian as camicia di seta. The single English word sandcastle is il castello di sabbia in Italian, or “the castle made of sand.” Descriptive nouns will be covered in more detail in a future blog about da.

3. In order to relate that a topic is being talked about, or discussed/argued about, Italians use di to link certain verbs with the subject matter under discussion. The most common verbs used in this way are: parlare (to talk), discutere (to discuss) and trattarsi, (concerning or regarding).

For the verb parlare, the Italian preposition di is translated as “about” in English. When a verb follows parlare di or discutere di to complete the sentence, Italian simply adds an infinitive verb after di. English uses [about + gerund of the verb]. You remember, of course, that the gerund is the commonly used “-ing” form of a verb in English. Below are two examples using parlare and discutere.

Caterina parla di viaggiare, non di politica.	Kathy talks about traveling, not about politics.
Marco discute di politica troppo!	Mark discusses/talks about politics too much!

Trattarsi di is generally used in the third person as “Si tratta di…” to ask and answer the question “What is this regarding?” Parlare often starts a conversation of this type, when one person asks to speak to another about something, someone, or an action. Two example conversations are below; the first could take place between a boss and a worker, the second perhaps between two family members. To add a feeling of urgency or importance to the conversation, the examples start with “devo” for “I have to.” Notice again how the Italian preposition di is always placed at the beginning of a question, just like in the first section examples that ask where someone is from.

Devo parlarti.	I have to talk to you.
Di cosa si tratta?	What is this regarding?
Si tratta del tuo stipendio.	It is regarding your salary.

Devo parlarti di una cosa importante;	I must speak to you about something important;
…si tratta di Paolo.	…it’s concerning Paul.
…si tratta della mia macchina vecchia.	…it’s regarding my old car.
…si tratta di viaggiare in Italia insieme.	…it’s regarding traveling in Italy together.

To complete our discussion, note a change in use of the preposition di required in Italian that is not evident in English: when talking about a person or something by name, the Italian preposition su is used in the following construction: [su + definite article + noun]. The English translation “about” is the same.

Sto leggendo un bel libro su DaVinci. Ho guardato un bel film su DaVinci.	I am reading a good book about DaVinci. I watched a good film about Da Vinci.
Ho imparato molto sul Rinascimento all’Università.	I’ve learned a lot about the Renaissance at college.

4. The verb pensare has a special relationship with the preposition di. When saying, “I think so,” to agree with someone, or “I don’t think so,” to disagree, one might say pensare is being used as a verb of discussion, as in #3 above. In this situation, the conjugated form of pensare is followed by “di si” or “di no.”

Also use [pensare di+ infinitive verb] when thinking about an action you may want to carry out. But, use [pensare a +noun] when thinking about a person, place, or thing.

For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that [pensare che + subjunctive mood verb] is used to link to phrases with different subjects in a single sentence. However, use of the subjunctive mood is beyond the scope of this blog!

Penso di si.	I think so.
Penso di no.	I don’t think so.
Penso di viaggiare in Italia l’anno prossimo.	I am thinking about traveling to Italy next year.

—–but-—-

Penso a te, a Rosa, e alla vostra famiglia.	I am thinking about you, Rose, and your family.
Penso a Roma ogni giorno.	I think about Rome every day.
Penso a tutti i bei vestiti fatti a Roma.	I am thinking about all the beautiful dresses made in Rome.

5. To mention an acquaintance’s age in conversation, use di as part of a descriptive phrase about the individual before giving their age in years. The phrases “all’età di (at the age of) or “a girl/woman, boy/man, etc. of precede the age type of sentence. This sentence structure also works for the age of an inanimate object, such as a bottle of wine!

Lei è una signora di ottantadue anni.	She is a lady of 82 years.
Ho una bottaglia di vino rosso di 10 anni.	I have a ten-year-old bottle of red wine.

6. To say something happened “in” or “at” a particular time of day, use di before the Italian words for morning (mattina), afternoon (pomeriggio), evening (sera), or night (notte).

Ci vendiamo di mattina.	We’ll see each other in the morning.
Di pomeriggio, vado al lavoro.	In the afternoon, I go to work.
Io e mio marito ceniamo alle sei di sera.	My husband and I eat dinner at 6 in the evening.
“Buona notte!” dice mia figlia preciso alle undici di notte.	“Good night,” my daughter says at precisely 11 o’clock at night.

7. To say something happened “in” the summertime or wintertime, use di before the Italian words for summer (estate) and winter (inverno). Use the Italian preposition in for spring (primavera) and autumn (autunno). This is by convention.

D’estate, andiamo spesso alla spiaggia.	In the summer, we go to the beach often.
Andiamo in montagne a fare sci d’inverno.	We go to the mountains to ski in the winter.
In primavera, tutti i fiori fioriscono.	In springtime, all the flowers are in bloom.
In autunno, le foglie cadono dagli alberi.	In autumn, the leaves fall from the trees.

Common Expressions with “Di”
Avere and Essere

There are several Italian phrases used to express one’s feelings that require the preposition di to link the conjugated form of the verb avere with the infinitive form of the verb of action that will complete the sentence. In English, replacing the Italian preposition di with the translation of is variable. In some cases, the English infinitive verb will be used alone or the English expression may use a gerund instead of an infinitive verb. You must really learn to think in Italian to use these expressions! Some examples of how to use these phrases are given in the last column. How many more can you think of?

avere bisogno di	to have need of	Ho bisogno di… riposare.
		I need to rest.
avere paura di	to be afraid/have fear of	Ho paura di… guidare.
		I am afraid of driving/to drive.
avere voglia di	to feel like	Ho voglia di… mangiare una pizza.
		I feel like eating a pizza.

There are several expressions of feeling that use the verb essere and take the preposition di prior to adding an infinitive verb to complete a sentence. Again, in English, we do not always use an additional preposition for these phrases, aside from the word to that is already a part of the infinitive verb.

essere certo di	to be certain of	Sono certo di… ricordare il tuo nome.
		I am sure to remember your name.
essere sicuro di	to be certain of	Sono sicuro di… ricordare questo posto.
		I am sure to remember this place.
essere contento di	to be happy to	Sono conteno di… stare qui.
		I am happy to be here.
essere felice di	to be happy to	Sono felice di… incontrare mio cugino oggi.
		I am happy to meet my cousin today.
essere fortunato di	to be lucky to	Sono fortunato di… mangiare questa cena.
		I am so lucky to be eating this dinner.
essere libero di	to be free to	Sono libero di… viaggiare.
		I am free to travel.
essere stanco di	to be tired of	Sono stanco di… volare.
		I am tired of flying.

When to Use “Di”
to Link Italian Verbs

When we link two Italian verbs together in the present tense, the first verb, or helping verb, is conjugated and the second verb, or action verb, is left in the infinitive form. For instance, “Tomorrow, I have to go to work,” is a simple statement that can be translated as, “Domani, devo andare al lavoro.” “I have to” meaning, “I must,” is the first person present tense of dovere, which is devo. Andare means “to go.”

Other helping verbs, such as potere and volere work the same way in the present tense. In fact, using the polite first person of potere, which is può, followed by an infinitive verb, is a simple way to ask for what you need while traveling in Italy. Once you remember “Mi può…” no further conjugation is necessary using this method Just tack on the infinitive verb for what you need and finish the sentence!

Some examples that use [può + infinitive verb] useful for traveling are given below:

Mi può portare a Piazza Navona?	Could you take me to Piazza Navona?
Mi può parlare in englese?	Could you speak to me in English?
Mi può chiamare un tassì?	Could you call a taxi for me?

Although the traveler to Italy can get by with simple phrases, it is important to understand how to create a more complex sentence if one truly wants to be fluent in Italian. This is where the preposition di becomes important. There are some action verbs that need to be followed by the Italian preposition di before an infinitive verb is added to complete the sentence.

Most of the verbs that must use di prior to an infinitive verb describe speaking, thinking, or an activity that needs to be completed. We have already discussed parlare and pensare. Other actions, such as trying to (cercare di), finishing (finire di), and waiting (aspettare di) need the preposition di to join them to an additional verb of activity.

In the case of cercare, the meaning will change when di is used to link this verb to another. By itself, cercare means to look for, but cercare di means to try to. For the Italian speaker, it is natural to insert the preposition di after certain verbs; it just sounds correct when one has grown up with the Italian language. For the Italian student, listening to Italian will also be important. Listen for the word di when these phrases come up in Italian movies and songs and soon it will become natural to say these phrases correctly!

Accettare	to accept	Accetto di… lavorare duro perché è necessario.
		I accept working hard because it is necessary.
Aspettare	to wait	Aspetto di… ricevere un regalo dal mio fidanzato.
		I am waiting to receive a present from my fiancée.
Cercare di	to try to	Cerco di… studiare bene.
		I am trying to study well.
Credere	to believe	Credo di… avere ragione.
		I believe I am correct.
Decidere	to decide	Decido di… andare a visitare la mia amica mentre in giro.
		I decide to visit my friend while I am out and about.
Dimenticare	to forget	Non dimenticare di… prendere la medicina! (command)
		Don’t forget to take the medicine!
Dire	to say/tell	Dico di… no. Non sono d’accordo.
		I say no. I don’t agree.
Finire	to finish	Finisco di… lavorare per oggi alle sei di sera.
		I finish working every day at 6 PM.
Occuparsi di	to work at	Mi occupo di… medicina.
		I work as a doctor/nurse/in the medical field.
Ordinare	to order	La mamma ordina ai bambini di… studiare.
		The mother orders the children to study.
Pensare	to think	Penso di… si.
		I think so.
Pregare	to pray/beg	Prego di… andare in Italia l’anno prossimo.
		I pray to go to Italy next year.
Ricordare Ricordarsi	to remember	Ricordati di… prendere la medicina! (command)
		Remember to take the medicine!
Scegliere	to choose	Sceglo di... prendere un caffé con un biscotto ogni mattina.
		I choose to take coffee with an Italian cookie every day.
Scrivere	to write	Scrivo di… viaggiare.
		I write about traveling.
Smettere	to stop	Smetti di… bere il vino! (command)
		Stop drinking the wine!
Sperare	to hope	Spero di… trovare la strada giusta.
		I hope to find the right road.

Remember how to use the Italian preposition “di” in conversation
and I guarantee you will use the Italian “di” every day!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books: Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone from www.learntravelitalian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD for Conversational Italian for Travelers books

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently in 2022?

Why not set a goal to learn Italian, starting today, for the year 2022? I will try to help you with this goal by posting a new blog every month in the series “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” With these blogs, I describe how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.”

February is the month we in America celebrate Valentines Day, a holiday that originated in Italy and is still popular there today, as described in last years’ February blog “How to Say… ‘I feel’ on Valentines Day with Sentirsi.” Since the Italian phrases that describe a romantic relationship are not usually listed in textbooks, I’ve focused on Italian novels and movies to learn how Italians talk about falling in love. Once I discover a phrase about dating or romance, I check with my native Italian friends and instructors for authenticity and to verify how the phrase is used today.

I’ve managed to piece together the following information about how Italians talk about dating and romantic relationships in this blog, some of which is reprinted from my blog for advanced students of Italian: Italian Subjunctive (Part 4): Italian Hypothetical Phrases of Love. After reading this introductory blog, you may want to check out the dialogue I have created in Italian Hypothetical Phrases of Love, where these phrases are put to use!

If we learn a few phrases to describe dating in Italian, we will be able to talk to others about the person who has become the “special someone” in our life!

This post is the 53rd in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE.

Many “commonly used phrases”
in Italian describe

Dating in Italian

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

**************************************

Let’s Talk About… Dating in Italian

Today in America, we “date,” “go out on a date,” or refer to two people who are “dating,” from the first romantic encounter until they become married. After marriage, a couple can still go out on “date nights.” But be careful when translating American romantic experiences into Italian! The English verb “to date” as used in America today to refer to a romantic relationship does not have a literal translation in Italian.

Of course, “to court” a woman was common in past centuries, and the Italian language still reflects this. When a man tries to show he is interested in a woman, the phrase “fare la corte a…” is used from the verb corteggiare or “to court.” For instance, “Marco fa la corte a Maria,” is translated literally as “Mark is courting Maria,” with the connotation that he is “pursuing” her or trying to “win” her love.

The verb corteggiare can also be used figuratively, between any two adults, to describe when one is trying to cajole, flatter, or entice another, usually to “convince” them to do something. “Marco corteggia il proprietario alla festa perché vuole un aumento di stipendio.” “Mark flattered the owner at the party because he wanted an increase in his salary.”

There is a verb still in use in Italy today that refers to a man seducing, or “winning over,” a woman: “conquistare… ” such as, “Marco ha conquistato Maria.” If Maria lets herself be “won over” or “captivated” by Marco, she can use the phrase, “Mi lascio conquestare da Marco.”

*********************

In today’s vernacular, if one wants to allude to the fact that they are dating, or “seeing” someone special in the Italian language, the following phrases can be used:

“Mi vedo con un ragazzo.” “Mi vedo con una ragazza.”	“I’m seeing a boy.” “I am seeing a girl.”
“Esco con un ragazzo.” “Esco con una ragazza.”	“I’m going out with a boy.” “I’m going out with a girl.”
“Il ragazzo con cui ho/avevo appuntamento/date.” “La ragazza con cui ho/avevo appuntamento/date.”	“The boy with whom I have/had an appointment/date.” “The boy with whom I have/had an appointment/date.”

It should be noted that ragazzo and ragazza also translate into boyfriend and girlfriend. To let another know you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, simply say, “Ho un ragazzo,” or “Ho una ragazza.”

Also, you’ll notice that from the above translations that the Italian noun appuntamento does double duty, since it corresponds to both appointment and date. In English, the word appointment is generally used to refer to a business meeting or a formal meeting in general, often between people who do not know each other well. The noun “date” can be used to describe a general meeting between friends, and is always used when one wants to imply a romantic interest.

Italian can be used to refer to regular romantic “get togethers” before marriage with the phrase “to go out with someone”—“uscire con qualcuno.” “Io esco con Marco ogni sabato sera,” means, “I go out with Mark every Saturday night,” and implies, “I go out on a (romantic) date with Mark every Friday night.”

The Italian verb “frequentarsi,” which means “to spend time with each other” can also be used to describe a special relationship. Frequentarsi can also be translated as “to see each other” or “to date each other” in the romantic sense or simply to “to hang out with” friends. The non reflexive form, frequentare, means “to frequent” or “to visit” a certain place.

Some examples of how to use the Italian verbs that describe a special relationship are listed in the table below. Remember that ci and si in these examples stand for “each other.” For a refresher on how to use reciprocal reflexive verbs, visit our blog in this series called Italian Reciprocal Reflexive Verbs.

Marco e io ci frenquentiamo.	Mark and I are spending time with each other. (romantically) Mark and I are seeing each other (romantically) Mark and I are dating each other.
Noi ci frequentiamo il sabato sera.	We are seeing each other/dating every Saturday night.

Marco e Maria si fequentano.	Mark and Maria are dating each other.
Loro si frequentano ogni venderdì sera.	Mark and Maria see each other/ going out on a date every Friday night.

Marco frequenta il Ristorante Paolo il sabato.	Mark frequents/goes to Ristorante Paolo on Saturday nights.
Marco si frequenta con i suoi amici in piazza quando non ha niente da fare.	Mark hangs out with his friends in the piazza when he doesn’t have anything to do.
Marco si fequenta con Maria spesso.	Mark often hangs out with Maria. (as friends)

Marco e i suoi amici frequentano il Ristorante Paolo.	Mark and his friends hang out at Ristorante Paolo.
Loro si frequentano ogni vender sera.	They see each other every Friday night. (as friends)

Finally, to express a close romantic relationship in Italian, we can use the word “rapporto.” Any relationship in general is considered a “relazione.” But be careful, as an “affair” outside of marriage is also a “relazione,” whereas “affari” refers to more general personal and business “affairs.”

*********************

Now that we have learned the Italian needed to talk about dating, let’s review how to say, “I love you” to that special someone on Valentines Day.

“Ti voglio bene” is an old Italian expression that is still used for both platonic and romantic love. The meaning of this phrase is not easily translated into English, but it is used often in Italy to express one’s feeling of closeness to another. This expression has its origin in the Italian phrasal verb “volere bene (a qualcuno).” “Ti voglio bene” can been translated as, “I care for you” or,”I wish you well,” but really, it is the way Italians tell others that they love them.

The expression “ti voglio bene” can be used between family members and friends, as well as a boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and a wife. Watch some older Italian movies, and you will hear this expression often!

Mi voui bene?	Do you care for/about me?
Ti voglio bene.	I care for/about you.

The verb amare, which means “to love” is reserved for romantic love — that one true love held between a couple who are dating, fiancée and fiancé, or wife and husband. Remember the simple expressions with amare in the table below to use with someone special this Valentines Day!

Mi ami?	Do you love me?
Ti amo.	I love you.
Ti amo per sempre.	I will always love you.

If you learn to talk about dating in Italian
and how to use the verb amare
you will really have learned to think in Italian!

Buona Festa del San Valentino!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books: Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone from www.learntravelitalian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently in 2022?

Now that 2022 is upon us, why not set a goal to learn Italian, starting today, for the year 2022? I will try to help you with this goal by posting blogs that describe how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.”

For instance, did you know that Italians still use impersonal constructions? By “impersonal constructions” I mean sentences that describe what “one” is doing, in order to make a general statement.

A common example of an Italian impersonal construction is the phrase, “Come si dice…” This simple Italian phrase is used by every Italian student at one point or another when asking for help with their vocabulary. The literal translation of “Come si dice…?” is, “How does one say…” In spoken English, this construction is only rarely used today, and usually in formal situations. Instead, to generalize, English speakers often use the collective “you” — directed both at no one in particular and at everyone at the same time! Especially in an informal conversation, “Come si dice…” would be translated as, “How do you say…?” But in Italian, when one generalizes, he or she cannot replace the “si” for “one” with “tu” for “you” the way we do in English.

If we learn how to use impersonal phrases in Italian, with Italian reflexive verbs, we will be able to ask general questions, give directions, and even express how mechanical objects work!

This post is the 52nd in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases”
in Italian are Impersonal Statements
that describe general interactions
and use

Italian Reflexive Verbs

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

************************************************

Italian Reflexive Verbs

Knowing how to use Italian reflexive verbs is extremely important for conversation, since Italian reflexive verbs often describe activities and emotions that are encountered every day. Reflexive verbs are recognized by the –si ending of their infinitive form. Let’s review a bit about reflexive verbs before going on to discuss how they are used to make impersonal statements.

Direct reflexive verbs, as their name suggests, are used when an action refers back directly to the speaker in the subject of the sentence. For example, if one wants to describe the everyday act of falling asleep in Italian, they must use the reflexive verb addormentarsi. Italian reflexive verbs are also used to express the English concept of “to get,” as we’ve seen in a prior Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day blog. When one “gets mad,” they must express this concept in Italian with the verb arrabbiarsi. Consider also the every day activity of “getting dressed,” with mettersi, which was the focus of another blog in this series, How We Dress in Italian.

All Italian students are introduced to a direct reflexive verb of the –arsi type at the very beginning of their studies, when they learn how to introduce themselves with the reflexive verb that means “to be named,” which is chiamarsi. There are, of course, also reflexive verbs of the –ersi and –irsi types as well, such as mettersi (to put on clothes/to get dressed) and divertirsi (to enjoy oneself).

The necessary component of all reflexive verbs is the reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself, himself, etc.), which is what actually corresponds to and refers directly back to the subject.

To review, the reflexive pronouns are:

mi – myself
ti – yourself (familiar)
si – yourself (pol.)/ herself, himself, itself, oneself

ci – ourselves
vi – yourselves (familiar)
si – themselves

To conjugate a reflexive verb, start with the subject pronoun and follow with the corresponding reflexive pronoun. However, remember that for conversational Italian the subject pronoun is usually left out of the sentence and is only sometimes included for emphasis.

Our first table below starts us on our way to the complete conjugation of a reflexive verb by pairing each subject pronoun with its corresponding reflexive pronoun:

io	mi	I	myself
tu	ti	you (familiar)	yourself
Lei lei/lui	si	you (polite) she/he	yourself herself, himself, itself, oneself

noi	ci	we	ourselves
voi	vi	you all	yourselves
loro	si	they	yourselves (polite) themselves

All we need to do now is to add our verb to create the action! Notice that the English translation adds the reflexive pronoun after the verb, while in Italian the reflexive pronoun comes before the verb (except for familiar commands). This may take a little time to get used to!

Let’s conjugate divertirsi — to have fun / enjoy oneself — as an example:

io	mi	diverto	I enjoy myself
tu	ti	diverti	you (familiar) enjoy yourself
Lei lei/lui	si	diverte	you (polite) enjoy yourself she/he enjoys herself, himself

noi	ci	divertiamo	we enjoy ourselves
voi	vi	divertite	you all enjoy yourselves
loro	si	divertono	they enjoy themselves

How to Make Impersonal Statements
Italian Reflexive Pronouns

Generalizations in the third person, called impersonal statements, are used sparingly in English but are common in Italian. An Italian impersonal statement is created by using the reflexive pronoun si, along with a verb in the singular or plural third person (either the lei/lui or the loro form).

As noted from the conjugation tables from the first section…

when the reflexive pronoun si is used in the singular third person, the reference is to a single, unnamed person, and the subject can be translated as “one.”
when the reflexive pronoun si is used in the plural third person, the reference is to a group of unnamed people and the subject can be translated as “they.”

In both situations, the speaker is referring in general to someone,
without a individual or group of people in mind.
It makes sense, then, that these statements are called “impersonal statements.”

A common example of an Italian impersonal statement is the phrase, “Come si dice…” This simple Italian phrase is used by every Italian student at one point or another when asking for help with their vocabulary. The literal translation of “Come si dice…?” is, “How does one say…” This construction is only rarely used in spoken English today, and usually in formal situations. Instead, when an English speaker wants to generalize, he or she often uses the collective “you” — directed both at no one in particular and at everyone at the same time! Especially in an informal conversation, “Come si dice…” would be translated into English as, “How do you say…?” But in Italian, when one generalizes, he or she cannot replace the “si” for “one” with “tu” for “you” the way we do in English.

Some generalizations that come up frequently in Italian conversation are listed below. The direct Italian translation is given first, with the English phrase more commonly used to express the same idea in the following translation. You may want to remember the first example when asking for help with your Italian!

Come si dice…?	How (does) one say…? How do you say…?
Come si dicono…?	How (do) they say… How (do) you all say...

In Italia, si parla italiano.	In Italy, one speaks Italian. In Italy, Italian is spoken.
In America, si parlano molte lingue.	In America, they speak many languages. In America, many languages are spoken.

Si può fare?	Can one do it? Can it be done? Can you do it?
Si sa che…	One knows that… You know that…
Non si sa mai!	One never knows! You never know!

Impersonal statements can also be used to describe a rule and are often found in Italian sayings or proverbs.

Si deve obbedire alla legge.	One must obey the law. You have to obey the law.
Non si paga per parcheggiare la domenica.	One doesn’t pay for parking on Sundays. You don’t pay for parking on Sundays.

Qualche volta, uno si trova a un bivio della propria vita.	Sometimes, one finds himself at a crossroads of his life.
Vivendo s’impara.	One learns by living.

Use Italian impersonal statements when giving directions, such as when talking a friend through a recipe for a favorite dish. For instance, to describe how to make your family’s Italian tomato sauce, use the common verbs aggiungere (to add) and mettere (to put) in the third person singular with the reflexive pronoun “si” to describe how “one” cooks. For examples, see the first table below. In English, of course, we default to “you” when giving directions to someone in conversation, and this is reflected in the translation. To follow are a few pointers about how to cook pasta to go with that delicious pot of tomato sauce!

Prima, si taglia a pezzi una cipolla e uno spicchio d’aglio.	First, one chops an onion and a clove of garlic into small pieces. First, you chop…
Poi, si mette la verdura in pentola con l’olio di oliva.	Then, one puts the vegetables in a pot with olive oil. Then, you put…
Li si cuoce, si mescola bene, fino a quando tutti e due sono morbidi.	One cooks them, sautéing well, until both are soft. You cook them…
Si aggiunge la passata di pomodoro, l’acqua, e il basilico.	One adds tomato puree, water, and basil. You add…
Si agguinge un po’ di sale e pepe.	One adds a little bit of salt and pepper. You add…
Si cuoce la salsa per almeno un’ora, e si mescola bene.	One cooks the sauce for at least one hour, stirring well. You cook the sauce… and you mix…

Per la pasta perfetta, si deve seguire questo metodo:	For the perfect pasta, one must follow this method: For the perfect pasta, you must…
Si mette una pentola grande con tanta acqua sui fornelli.	One puts a large pot with lots of water on the stovetop. You put…
Si copre e si riscalda l’aqua fino a bollire.	One covers it and heats up the water until it is boiling. You cover it… you bring the water to boil…
Si aggiunge una manciata di sale, si ricopre la pentola, e si riscalda l’aqua fino a fare bollire di nuovo.	One adds a handful (lots) of salt, one covers the pot, and brings the water to boil again. You add… you recover the pot… and you bring the water to boil…
Quando l’acqua sta bollendo, scoperchiare la pentola e aggiungere la pasta. Si deve mescolare bene a questo punto.	When the water is boiling, uncover the pot and add the pasta. One must mix well at this point. You must mix well…
Si fa bollire la pasta secondo le istruzioni nella scatola della pasta.	One must boil the pasta according to the directions on the pasta box. You must boil the pasta…
Quando la pasta è al dente, scolare l’acqua e aggiungere la salsa!	When the pasta is “al dente,” drain the water and add the sauce!

How to Describe Movement with
Italian Reflexive Verbs

When an inanimate object does something automatically, this idea is rendered in Italian using the third person of a reflexive verb. In many situations, Italian uses a reflexive verb to describe movement when English relays the same idea by combining the verb with a preposition, such as “on” or “up.” Note that in English, the preposition is added only to change the meaning of the verb. In the same way, Italian uses a reflexive verb, with its reflexive pronoun, to change the meaning of a verb.

Let’s take a simple, everyday situation at home for our first example: “Ann turns on the light.” The verb that means “turn on” in Italian is accendere and the Italian translation is, “Anna accende la luce.” However, electric lights can be programmed to turn on automatically. In English, I can say, “The automatic light turns itself on when I enter the room.” Although the preposition “on” is required in English, the reflexive pronoun “itself” is optional. To convey the same idea, it is mandatory in Italian to use the reflexive verb accendersi: “La luce automatica si accende quando entro la stanza.”

In short, English sometimes uses a third person reflexive verb to describe an automatic action but often does not, instead relying on the addition of a preposition. Italian is more consistent, with a reflexive counterpart to most verbs of action that refer to mechanical movement.

Another simple action that requires a reflexive verb in Italian and a verb + preposition combination in English is that of “rising up” or “going up.” The verb alzare means “to raise” or “to lift” something. “I lifted the box onto the table,” is a simple sentence that translates as, “Ho alzato la scatola sul tavolo.” But if a person “gets up” in the morning, the action becomes reflexive and the verb alzarsi is needed. Similarly, a bird or an inanimate object such as a kite can “rise up” or “go up” into the sky and the verb alzarsi once again comes into play.

Below are some examples of how Italians use reflexive verbs to describe movement of inanimate objects. Notice exceptions to what we have just discussed: the verb cominciare (to start) and cadere (to fall) are not reflexive when speaking about an inanimate object. However, mettersi a followed by an infinitive verb can be used in the third person to describe an inanimate object or an act of nature starting to do something by itself. Also, the verb smettere (to stop) is not used in a reflexive way, although fermare, which also means to stop, does have a reflexive counterpart: the verb fermarsi.

La luce automatica si accende quando entro la stanza.	The automatic light turns (itself) on when I enter the room.
Le luci della casa si accendono ogni sera.	The house lights turn (themselves) on every night.
Le luci della casa si spengono ogni sera.	The house lights turn (themselves) off every morning.

L’acensore si apre.	The elevator opens.
L’acensore si chiude.	The elevator shuts.

Il treno comincia l’itinerario.

Il treno si mette ad andare velocemente.

The train starts its route.

The train starts to go fast.

Il treno si ferma automaticamente.

The train stops automatically.

Il gabbiano si alza e vola via.	The sea gull rises up and flies away.
L’aquilone si alza nelle nuvole.	The kite rises into the clouds.
Le foglie cadono per terra ogni autunno.	The leaves fall to the ground every autumn.

How to Describe Nature and Life with
Italian Reflexive Verbs

We all know the forces of nature well, as they act every day to create the environment in which we live. Since nature is an inanimate being, the actions of the weather are often given with reflexive verbs in Italian. Listen closely to the Italian news and you will hear about how a volcano in Sicily finally stopped erupting, or how the sea has begun to rise in the Venetian lagoon — all described in the third person with Italian reflexive verbs!

For the common phrases that describe what weather “it” is making, such as, “Fa caldo oggi” (“It is hot today”) or “Fa freddo oggi” (“It is cold today”), Italians use fare in the third person without an indirect object pronoun. But to say, “It is getting late,” or “It is getting dark,” we use the reflexive farsi for the phrases, “Si fa tarde” or “Si fa buio.” (For more of these common phrases, visit our blog in this series, “Lets talk about… the weather in Italian!”)

In the same way, it is often necessary to use Italian reflexive verbs when speaking about abstract forces that can “act” on our lives. Life itself is often spoken of as “moving” slowly or quickly. However, there is no reflexive verb for passare, so time can be seen as “passing by” without the addition of a reflexive pronoun. (For more ways to use passare, visit our blog in this series, “The Many Uses of Passare.” )

In short, to understand the nuances of how to use reflexive verbs to describe actions of the weather or make generalizations about life, it is helpful to listen to native Italians as much as possible. In this way, it will eventually become natural to use Italian verbs the way Italians do!

The examples discussed above are listed below.

L’eruzione del vulcano in Sicilia si è fermato.	The eruption of the volcano in Sicily has stopped.
L’acqua a Venezia si è alzata due metri e si sta alzando ancora!	The water in Venice has risen 2 meters and is still rising!
Fa caldo oggi. / Fa freddo oggi.	It is warm today. / It is cold today
Si fa tarde. / Si fa buio.	It’s getting late. / It is getting dark.

Nella campagna, la vita si muove lentamente.	In the country, life moves slowly.
Il tempo passa lentamente quando si aspetta.	Time passes slowly for one who waits (when one is waiting for something.)

Listen carefully to Italians when they speak
and I guarantee you will hear
Italian impersonal statements and Italian reflexive verbs
every day!

Conversational Italian for Travelers: “Just the Verbs”

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Conversational Italian for Travelers books

Buon Natale a tutti voi!

Christmastime is a magical time in Italy. The colorful decorations and holiday lights that adorn every Italian town bring with them a feeling of celebration that inspires children and adults alike. Italians of Jewish faith celebrate Chanukah in December as well, with glowing candles that bring their own special beauty to the December evenings. Chanukah was celebrated earlier this month, and if you’d like to learn more about how Chanukah is celebrated in Italy, please visit the blog “Our Italy — Celebrating Chanukah in Italy.

But what really makes the December holidays special,
both in Italy and around the world? For most, it is the gathering of family and friends.

For 2021, my hope is that all people who celebrate the Christmas holiday (le vacanze di Natale) or another holiday of their faith this December, can gather with their loved ones. As of this writing, there is a good possibility that the new normal will continue to expand to include Christmas parties (le feste di Natale) and gatherings for Chanukah dinners, instead of online meetings where people are together, yet distant. Extended families and friends should be able to celebrate the joy of being in each others’ presence and even have the opportunity to introduce new friends to old ones during the holidays for 2021.

This post is the 51st in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE.

Many “commonly used phrases” in Italian

are used during the
Christmas Holiday Season

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

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Christmas in Italy

There are several important holidays that Italians celebrate during the Christmas season (periodo di Natale), which begins on December 8th with L’Immacolata and ends on January 6th with L’Epifania. The feast of Santa Lucia on December 13th is also an important holiday in northern Italy and this saint day is celebrated with candles, special pastries, and presents for children who have been good during the year.

Young girl celebrating Santa Lucia Day

See the table below for a list of the important celebrations that take place in Italy during the Christmas season and some common phrases that Italians use to wish each other “happy holidays.” We first encountered these phrases in our blog What I wish… for the holidays!

L’Immacolata	Feast of the Immaculate Conception: Catholic holiday that celebrates mother Mary.
Vigilia di Natale Natale	Christmas Eve Christmas
Buon Natale! Buone Feste!	Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
Auguri di buon Natale!	Best wishes for a merry Christmas!
Tanti Auguri! / Auguri!	Best wishes!
Il biglietto di auguri Natalizi Regalo di Natale	Christmas greeting card Christmas gift

L’ultimo dell’anno	New Year’s Eve
La notte di San Silvestro	December 31st is the feast day of San Silvestro for the Catholic church.
Capodanno	New Year’s Day
Buon anno nuovo! Buon anno!	Happy New Year! (used most often)
Felice anno nuovo!	Happy New Year!
L’Epifania	Epiphany: Catholic holiday that celebrates when “Wise Men” visited the baby Jesus. In Italy, gifts are exchanged on this day. Italian tradition holds that a friendly witch, La Befana, brings gifts to children on this day, although Santa Claus is also celebrated.

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An Italian Holiday Party Conversation

When at a holiday party where Italian is spoken,
one will surely encounter the introductory phrases and polite responses below.

Introductions:

The most common Italian introduction at a gathering is a familiar phrase — a phrase used when a person introduces one of their friends to another. For example, let’s assume Pietro and Caterina are friends. Pietro wants to introduce Caterina to another of his friends, Paolo. He will do this with the simple sentence, “Caterina, ti presento il mio amico Paolo.” Pietro uses the informal “ti” since he is already friends with Caterina, the person to whom he is speaking.

In a more formal situation, Pietro may want to introduce someone he does not know well to one of his friends. In this case, if Pietro is addressing either a woman or a man, he will need to use “Le” (“polite you” indirect object pronoun). To stay in the polite mode of conversation, Pietro will likely introduce one guest to another using their last names with a polite title, such as il Signor (Mr.), la Signora (Mrs.), or la Signorina (Miss).

Keep in mind that in English we do not use the same sentence structure as in Italian, so the English translation of these phrases will not follow the Italian word for word. We may start out with “Let me” or “I would like to” and then add “introduce you to…” Also, in an informal situation, English speakers in America tend to omit the “Let me introduce you to” altogether! Instead, an English speaker might just say something like, “Kathy, meet my friend Paul.”

Several options to use when making an introduction are listed below. Remember to use the direct article before the title for a formal introduction!

Caterina, ti presento il mio amico Paolo.	Kathy, let me introduce you to my friend Paul. Kathy, meet my friend Paul.
Signor Rossi, Le presento il Signor Manzini.	Mr. Rossi, let me introduce you to Mr. Manzini.
Signora Rossi, Le presento il Signor Manzini.	Mrs. Rossi, let me introduce you to Mr. Manzini.
Signorina Rossi, Le presento il Signor Manzini.	Miss Rossi, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Manzini.

Responses:

At first glance at the table below, the responses to an Italian introduction may seem a bit complicated, because they have several variations. The most important key to understanding which of these variations to choose is the formality of the situation.

In the initial phrases in this table, “Piacere di conoscerla“ and “Piacere di conoscerti,“ the difference between the two phrases will depend on whether one is speaking in the polite (pol.) or the familiar (fam.). The polite phrases are given first in our example list, as it is the norm in Italy to use the polite form with a new acquaintance. The familiar form of this phrase is often be used between younger people, who tend to be less formal, and may also be appropriate among older adults of the same age or social status. If you need a refresher on when to use polite and formal Italian phrases, please refer to our blog Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! – Getting from polite to familiar with “Dare del tu.”

The other reason there are so many variations to learn when introductions are made is the Italian use of masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives. Every Italian student learns early on that nouns and adjectives must agree in gender and number.* At first, it may not be obvious that one is using an adjective at the beginning of the sentence, “Lieto(a) di conoscerla/ti,” since these phrases are used so often in Italy that the subject and verb of the sentence, “I am…” have been left out! The full sentence, “I am delighted to meet you,” though, makes it clear that the verb essere (to be) is in use, and of course the ending for the adjective lieto(a) for delighted must reflect back to the gender of the speaker to make sense.

The easiest thing for the Italian student to do, of course, is to pick out the phrase that corresponds to their own situation and memorize the endings. But these phrases provide a good opportunity to learn how to change Italian endings quickly and easily and can provide a pattern for more complicated sentences. For the examples below, the nouns, adverbs, and prepositions are black, the verbs are green, the polite/familiar pronouns red, masculine adjectives blue, and feminine adjectives brown.

Piacere di conoscerla. Piacere di conoscerti.	Pleased to meet you (pol.). Please to meet you (fam.).
Piacere mio.	The pleasure is mine.
Lieto di conoscerla. Lieta di conoscerla. Lieto di conoscerti. Lieta di conoscerti.	Delighted (masc. speaker) to meet you (pol.). Delighted (fem. speaker) to meet you (pol.). Delighted (masc. speaker) to meet you (fam.). Delighted (fem. speaker) to meet you (fam.).
Molto lieto! Molto lieta!	Delighted! (masc. speaker) Delighted! (fem. speaker)
Sono molto contento di vederla. Sono molto contenta di vederla. Sono molto contento di vederti. Sono molto contenta di vederti.	(I) am very happy (masc. speaker) to see you (pol.). (I) am very happy (fem. speaker) to see you (pol.). (I) am very happy (masc. speaker) to see you (fam.). (I) am very happy (fem. speaker) to see you (pol.).
Sono felice di rivederla. Sono felice di rivederti.	(I) am happy to see you (pol.) again. (I) am happy to see you (fam.) again.

*Italian nouns are assigned a gender, either masculine or feminine. Italian adjectives, which modify nouns, will change their endings to match the noun modified. In general, Italian nouns will end in -o if masculine and -a if feminine. A noun that ends in -e can be either masculine or feminine. There are, of course, many exceptions to these rules!

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Below is an excerpt from the Conversational Italian for Travelers story found on the website www.learntravelitalian.com. This short dialogue will allow us to put together all we have discussed about what to say when introducing and meeting others at an Italian holiday party. In this dialogue, Pietro introduces his cousin Caterina to his friends Luigi and Paolo. This simple conversation uses phrases that are repeated over and over again at Italian gatherings of every type.

At the end of the dialogue printed here is a common transition phrase that takes Caterina into the familiar form with Pietro’s friends, “Diamoci del tu, per favore!” We have discussed this phrase and others used to make the transition from a polite to a formal situation in a previous blog, “Getting from Polite to Familiar in Italian with ‘Dare del tu!’” With this simple line, a friendly conversation can truly begin! To listen to the remainder this conversation in its entirety, just click on the link It’s a Party!

Pietro:	Caterina, ti presento il mio amico Paolo.
	Kathy, (I) introduce to you (fam.) my friend Paul.

Caterina:	Piacere di conoscerla.
	(It is a) pleasure to meet you (fam.).
	(Caterina uses the polite form for a person she has just met, even though Paolo is Pietro’s friend.)

Pietro:	E questo è il mio amico Luigi.
	And this is my friend Louis.

Caterina:	Piacere.
	(It is) a pleasure.

Luigi:	Piacere mio. Io sono professore dell’italiano, come Pietro.
	Paolo è un medico.
	(The) pleasure is mine. I am (an) Italian professor, like Peter.
	Paul is a physician.

Caterina:	Molto interessante.
	Very interesting.

Paolo:	Io sono di Novara, una città vicino a Milano.
	Diamoci del tu, per favore!
	I am from Novara, a town near to Milan.
	Let’s use the familiar form of you with each other, please!
	(Paolo officially asks if he can use the familiar, or “tu” form with Caterina.)

Caterina:	Va bene. Volentieri!
	O.K. Gladly!

Warm wishes for a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year
filled with treasured time
together with family and friends!

Auguri a tutti voi!

Make it a “Conversational Italian” Christmas! “Just the Phrases” makes a great stocking stuffer. Or Just download the Conversational Italian for Travelers books on your phone for easy reference anywhere you go! Download at www.learntravelitalian.com. Purchase books at Amazon.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently by the end of 2021?

Why not try to learn a few words about a sport that is an integral part of Italian society? Of course I am referring to soccer, or calcio as the Italians call the popular sport, derived from the verb calciare, which means “to kick.”

After Italy’s thrilling victory at the UEFA EURO 2020 this past July, I decided to revisit a couple of blogs I’ve written about Italians and their passion for soccer. I’ll expand on these blogs today to give a brief history of the sport, talk about Italy’s most popular soccer team and the Italian victories at the FIFA and UEFA competitions, all while focusing on basic Italian words and phrases about the game.

As I’ve said before, I believe that “commonly used phrases” are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time.

If we learn how to incorporate “commonly used phrases” when we talk about soccer in Italian, we will be able to communicate just as we do in our native language!

Were you able to watch EURO 2020 this past summer? Was it your first introduction to Italian soccer or were you already a lifelong fan? If you are in a soccer league here in the United States or just like to watch soccer at home, knowing a few Italian words and phrases will certainly add to the excitement of being involved in this truly Italian sport!

This post is the 49th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases” in Italian

are used to talk about
Italian Football, or Calcio.

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

************************************************

Let’s Talk About…

Soccer in Italian

Italy’s thrilling victory over England at the UEFA EURO 2020 soccer championship this past July sparked a week-long, country-wide celebration. Why not try to learn a few words about a sport that is an Italian passion? Calcio, as the Italians call this popular sport, is derived from the verb calciare, which means “to kick.” If you are in a soccer league here in the US or just like to watch soccer at home, knowing a few Italian words and phrases will certainly add to the excitement of being involved in this Italian passion!

Soccer — a brief history of the game

The basic idea behind soccer — a game of skill that involves kicking a ball — is said to date back as far as 2500 B.C., as a form of the game we know today was played by the Greeks, Egyptians and Chinese. The Roman game of Harpastum and the ancient Greek game of Episkyros were ball games that involved two teams kicking a ball but also allowed the use of hands or sticks, similar to today’s rugby.

According to the blog “The Origin, History, and Invention of Soccer”:

“The most relevant of these ancient games to our modern day “Association Football” is the Chinese game of Tsu’Chu (Tsu-Chu or Cuju, meaning “kicking the ball”). Records of the game began during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) and it may have been a training exercise for soldiers.

Tsu’Chu involved kicking a small leather ball into a net strung between two bamboo poles. The use of hands was not permitted, but a player could use his feet and other parts of his body. The main difference between Tsu’Chu and soccer was the height of the goal, which hung about 30 feet from the ground.

From the introduction of Tsu’Chu onwards, soccer-like games spread throughout the world. Many cultures had activities that centered on the use of their feet, including Japan’s Kemari, which is still played today. The Native Americans had Pahsaherman, the Indigenous Australians played Marn Grook, and the Moari’s had Ki-o-rahi, to name a few.”

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“Soccer began to evolve in modern Europe from the medieval period onwards. Various forms of what is now known as “folk football” were played (in England). The codification of soccer began in the public schools of Britain at the beginning of the 19th century. The word soccer was derived from an abbreviation from the word association. The -er suffix was popular slang at the Rugby School and Oxford University and used for all sorts of nouns the young men shortened. The association came from the formation of the Football Association (FA) on October 26, 1863.

Over the years, more clubs joined the FA until the number reached 128 by 1887. (England) finally had a nearly uniform rule structure in place.

Italian Soccer Victories

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) was formed in Paris in 1904 with seven members. This included Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Germany announced its intention to join the same day.

In 1930, the first-ever FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay. There were 41 members of FIFA at the time and it has remained the pinnacle of the soccer world ever since. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.”

Statistics about Italian Soccer Victories from “Wikipedia: Italy at the FIFA World Cup”:

Italy is one of the most successful national teams in the history of the FIFA World Cup,
having won four titles (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), just one fewer than Brazil.

The UEFA, or the Union of European Football Associations dates back to 1927, when the French Football Federation’s administrator Henri Delaunay first proposed a pan-European football tournament. The UEFA Champions League is an annual club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations and holds annual competitions.

Statistics about Italian Soccer Victories from “Sports Adda”:

Prior to their championship win of the EURO 200 in 2021,
the Italy national football team had reached the European Championship final in 1968, 2000 and 2012.
And Italy’s (last) title win in the UEFA Euros came in 1968,
when the Blues had beaten Yugoslavia over two matches (in Rome).

What do Italians call the different games of foot ball played around the world?

Football (UK)	il calcio
Soccer (US)	il calcio
To play soccer	giocare a calcio
To enjoy playing soccer	divertirsi giocando a calcio

Football (AU)	football australiano
Football (US)	il football americano
College football ( US)	il football universiatrio
Rugby	la palla ovale

Juventus – the most well-known soccer team in Italy

Allianz Arena in Turin, Italy. Home of the Juventus soccer team.

From a previous Conversational Italian! blog entitled “Italian Soccer, anyone?”

Juventus was founded in 1897 by a group of male students from an elite school in the city of Turin, the Liceo Classico Massimo d’Azeglio. The Latin word for “youth” is “iuvenis,” and is where the name of this team comes from. For years, I wondered why the letter “J” starts the name of this famous Italian team when “J” doesn’t exist in the Italian language. It turns out that the name was translated from Latin into the dialect spoken in the Piedmont region of northern Italy at the time, which does use the letter “J.”

Over the years, the Juventus team has been called by many nicknames. Perhaps the most famous is “Vecchia Signora,” which means “Old Lady” in Italian. I’ve heard many explanations for this, but the most plausible seems to be that it is a reference to the history and greatness of the team — the team is like royalty over in Italy, and signora means both “Mrs.” and “royal lady.” Of course, this name can also be taken ironically because the team includes young men.

Juventus, the most successful Italian soccer team of all time, plays in the top Italian football league, which is the Serie A League. The winner of this league is awarded the Scudetto (“little shield” or “coat of arms” of the Italian tricolors worn on the uniform the next season) and the title Campioni d’Italia (Champions of Italy), along with a trophy called the Coppa Campioni d’Italia. In the 2016–2017 season, Juventus made history with their sixth consecutive Scudetto. They went on to play in the European Champions Cup but did not win a European title that season.

The Italian Soccer Team and Soccer Match

Juventus soccer players at Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy

For those who are new to the game of soccer, below is some Italian vocabulary and an explanation of the basic rules.

A soccer tournament is called un torneo di calcio. A soccer commentator is called un critico di calcio or un/un’ opinionista di calcio.

A soccer match, or partita di calcio, is played by two teams. Each soccer team, or soccer club, is called una squadra di calcio.

When playing a soccer game, 11 players can be on the field at any one time, one of whom is a goalkeeper. A soccer match lasts 90 minutes. There is a halftime break, called l’intervallo, after 45 minutes. If the score is tied, the game may go into overtime — as happened just this summer at the exciting conclusion of the EURO 2020.

The object of soccer is for a player to get the ball into the other team’s goal by using
any part of the body except the player’s hands and arms — and then only while he is
located in his own penalty area.

The referee, or l’arbitro, is in charge of the soccer game. The calls the referee makes may be a bit confusing to the new soccer fan. Some penalties are more severe than others. Yellow and red cards are given to players who violate certain basic rules. This will determine the type of penalty imposed for a given infraction. For further explanation of these rules, I suggest the blog “The 17 Basic Rules of Soccer.”

A typical soccer field, or campo da calcio, from “The 17 Basic Rules of Soccer”:

The art of the game:

la palla / il pallone calciare	soccer ball to kick
calcio d’inizio calcio d’angolo calcio di rigore calcio di punizione deviare la palla	kick off corner kick penalty kick free kick deflect the ball
la rete gol fare gol segnare marcare	net used for the goal the goal to make a goal/to score to score to score
l’allenatore	soccer coach
il giocatore	soccer player
il calciatore	soccer player
il portiere	goal keeper/goalie
l’arbitro	referee/umpire
la gara	competition
il fallo di mano	foul for using one’s hands
il fallo di reazione	retaliatory foul
il fallo da ultimo uomo	last man foul
il fallo a gamba tesa	studs-up tackle
la scorrettezza	foul play/rudeness
scorretto(a)	improper/rude
l’insulto	insult
il cartellino giallo	yellow “caution” card is given for improper play, hand foul, or unsportsmanlike or rude behavior
l’espulsione	expulsion from a soccer game occurs if a player receives two yellow cards
il cartellino rosso	red “expulsion” card occurs for a serious foul using violence, a retaliatory foul, a last man foul, insults, or when two yellow cards have been received

The Italian Soccer Fan

The Italian phrases that describe an Italian soccer fan echo the passion that they feel for the sport: appasionato di calcio, fanatico del calcio, and fan del calcio/tifoso di calcio.

A popular exhortation to encourage a team to score is “Rete!” “Score!” / “Into the net!”

When at a Juventus soccer game, the popular chant is Forza Azzuri!, which is a reference to the team’s blue uniforms. The word forza literally means strength but is also used in this case as an exhortation, to mean , “Come on!” The Italians also wear blue uniforms during international competition, so this chant is appropriate at FIFA and European matches as well. (By the way, Italians do not chant “Forza Italia!” as this phrase has been usurped by an Italian political party, which took the name “Forza Italia” when led by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.)

Another popular chant includes the name of a team player:

Solo noi, solo noi, (name of player) ce l’abbiamo solo noi!
Only us, only us, (name of player) only we have him!

Have fun playing soccer!

For anyone inspired to play soccer by Italy’s recent win at the EURO 2020, below are a few Italian terms to urge on your teammates!

I’ve got him!	Mio! Quello è mio!
One on one	uno contro uno

I’m marking that man (I have him)	Ce l’ho!
Try to avoid the marking of an opponent	Smarcati! /Liberati!

Go on wing	Vai sulla fasica! / Allargati!
Pass the ball to the wingman right/left	apri a destra/sinestra

From one side of the field to the other	da porta a porta
Pass it through the defenders!	In mezzo!

Corner!	Calcio d’angolo
Leave it!	Lasciala!

If you are a fan of Italian soccer, leave a comment about your favorite Italian team
or the most exciting game you’ve watched.
I’d love to hear from you!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently by the end of 2021?

Then one verb you will need to learn how to use is mancare (to miss). This is the verb Italians use when they have not been able to visit a loved one. Of course it is important to be able to tell those we care about that we miss them!

In this blog, we will discuss how to use the verb Italian mancare, which part of a group of Italian verbs that always take an indirect object pronoun and therefore “work” differently from your typical Italian verb.

Previously, we have spoken about piacere (to like), the prototype for this unique group of Italian verbs in our blog “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day: Piacere, How Italians Say, “I like it!.” We have also covered another verb of this type, servire (to need) in our blog “How to Say, “I need…” in Italian: Mi serve…”

After this blog, we can add mancare to our list of important Italian verbs discussed that only take indirect object pronouns. Piacere, servire, and mancare all work in the same way, but we will go over once again how to conjugate and translate a verb of this type.

Note: in our very last blog, we made a list of verbs of communication and giving that take an indirect object pronoun when referring to a person. These verbs are in a different group than piacere, servire, and mancare, since they take a direct object pronoun when referring to things, but are a very important group to understand as well!

As I’ve said before, I believe that “commonly used phrases” are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time.

If we learn how to incorporate “commonly used phrases” when use the Italian verb mancare, we will be able to communicate just as we do in our native language!

This post is the 48th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases” in conversation

use the Italian verb
Mancare

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

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Overview of Italian Verbs

that take

Indirect Object Pronouns

A short review of Italian verbs that take indirect object pronouns:

In our very last blog, we made a list of verbs of communication and giving that take indirect object pronouns when referring to a person.

Previously, we have spoken about piacere (to like), the prototype for verbs that always take indirect object pronouns, in our blog “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day: Piacere, How Italians Say, “I like it!” We have also talked about another Italian verb that uses only indirect object pronouns, the verb servire (to need), in our blog “How to Say, “I need…” in Italian: Mi serve…”

After this blog, we can add mancare to our list of important verbs that only take indirect object pronouns. All three of these verbs work in the same way, but we will go over once again how to conjugate and translate a verb of this type with mancare. Full disclosure: there are other Italian verbs that only take indefinite articles, along with the three already mentioned! Below is a short list of the most important Italian verbs that only take indefinite articles.

Piacere	to like
Servire	to need
Mancare	to miss
Mancare	to miss
Mancare	to miss
Mancare	to miss

A short review of the Italian indirect object pronouns and their meanings:*

mi	to me
ti	to you (familiar)
Le	to you (polite)
le	to her
gli	to him

ci	to us
vi	to you all
gli	to them

*Of course, mi, ti, ci, and vi do double duty as direct object pronouns. Also, with reflexive verbs mi stands for “myself” and ti stands for “yourself, etc.“

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How to Say, “I miss you!”

with Mancare

The Italian verb mancare has many meanings: to miss/to lose/to lack/to be lacking/to omit/to fail. Perhaps the most common way mancare is used is to convey the idea of “to miss someone,” so it is important to learn the conjugation and sentence structure for this verb for everyday conversation.

To start off, you should know that the sentence structure used for mancare is the same as for the verb piacere, the prototype for Italian verbs that only take an indirect object pronoun. You should also realize that this group of Italian verbs works differently from its English counterparts. Therefore, the English translation will not match the Italian word for word. The idea will remain the same, however.

In English, we say the subject of the sentence misses someone using the person who is missed as a direct object. Example: I (subject) miss (verb) John (direct object).

In Italian, however, there are two significant differences from the English way of thinking. Below are English and Italian sentence structures with examples that have identical meanings. We will change the Italian sentences into the most commonly used Italian structure with an indirect object pronoun step by step, in order to aid in understanding how both languages can say the same thing in a different way. For these examples, the English translation is given in the Italian way of thinking, and is in parentheses. Notice the color coding that follows throughout the examples: subject in brown, verb in green, direct object pronoun in blue, and indirect and stressed object pronouns in red.

First, let’s look at the English way of thinking. The subject is the person talking and the direct object is who they miss:

English: [subject: person missing someone+ mancare conjugated to reflect subject + direct object: person missed]

I + miss + John.

Now, let’s turn this English idea around to make an Italian sentence. To Italians, the person who is being missed is the subject of the sentence. With this logic in mind, the person missing someone must be expressed by a stressed object pronoun or an indirect object pronoun. The sentence with a stressed object pronoun:

Italian: [subject: person missed + mancare conjugated to reflect subject + stressed object pronoun: person missing someone]

Giovanni + manca + a me.
(John is missing to me.)

Although our Italian example above is grammatically correct, those conversing in Italian most commonly use an indirect object pronoun instead of the stressed pronoun,* and place the indirect object pronoun pronoun before the verb.

Italian: [indirect object pronoun: person missing someone + mancare conjugated to reflect subject + subject: person missed]

Mi + manca + Giovanni.
(To me is missing John).

To make matters more confusing to the English speaker, the subject of the sentence — which in this case is Giovanni — can be left out entirely as long as the person who is being discussed is known from the context. But, in most cases the subject is then added to the end of the sentence for clarification.

*The stressed pronoun is handy to use for emphasis, as its name suggests.

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Below is the present tense conjugation of mancare. Notice that the tu and noi forms have irregular spelling to keep the hard “c” sound that we hear when we pronounce the infinitive verb. These are marked with an asterisk.

Mancare = To Be Missing (To)

io	manco	I am missing (to…)
tu	manchi*	you (fam.) are missing (to…)
Lei lei/lui	manca	you (polite) are missing (to…) she/he/it is missing (to…)

noi	manchiamo*	we are missing (to…)
voi	mancate	you all are missing (to…)
loro	mancano	they are missing (to…)

The sentences below give some common examples of how to use the verb mancare in the present tense. To aid the English speaker in understanding this Italian way of thinking, the Italian subject pronouns are included in parentheses. But remember that Italian subject pronouns are usually left out of a sentence, unless needed for clarification. Also, the word-for-word Italian to English translation is given in parentheses, with the correct English translation in the third column in bold black.

If the idea behind how to use mancare seems too complicated at first, just memorize the first four examples, as you will likely use these the most!

Example Sentences with Mancare

(Tu) Mi manchi.	(You are missing to me.)	I miss you.
(Lei/Lui) Mi manca.	(She/he is missing to me.)	I miss her/him.

(Io) Ti manco?	(Am I missing to you?)	(Do you) miss me?
(Lei/Lui) Ti manca?	(Is she/he missing to you?)	(Do you) miss her/him?

(Io) Gli manco.	(I am missing to him.)	He misses me.
(Io) Le manco.	(I am missing to her.)	She misses me.
(Tu) Gli manchi.	(You are missing to him.)	He misses you.
(Tu) Le manchi.	(You are missing to her.)	She misses you.
Gli manca (Maria).	(Maria is missing to him.)	He misses Maria.
Le manca (Maria).	(Maria is missing to her.)	She misses Maria.
Gli manca (Paolo).	(Paul is missing to him.)	He misses Paul.
Le manca (Paolo).	(Paul is missing to her.)	She misses Paul.

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Mancare is often used in the past tense. Consider the phrase “I missed you!” This implies that a definite period of absence has passed, and now the individuals are finally together and are able to talk about their feelings. The past tense of mancare is regular in the passato prossimo and takes essere. This is the past tense form for mancare that is most commonly used during conversation.

See below for the passato prossimo conjugation of mancare:

Singular forms: sono sei, è, + mancato(a)

Plural forms: siamo, siete sono + mancati(e)

The imperfetto form of mancare is regular as well, and is used most often for narration. Remember when telling a story about something that has happened without mentioning a specific period of time to use the imperfetto past tense. If you need a refresher on when to use the passato prossimo and imperfetto, refer to our previous blogs about the Italian past tense. In the case of mancare, the reference is often to a nonspecific amount of time that people missed each other in the past.

See below for the imperfetto conjugation of mancare:

Singular forms: mancavo, mancavi, mancava

Plural forms: mancavamo, mancavate, mancavano

Find four common examples below of how to use the verb mancare, in past tense, with the passato prossimo. As in the examples for the present tense, the subject pronouns are included in parentheses, but remember that they are usually often left out of a sentence unless needed for clarification. Also, the direct Italian to English translation is given in parentheses, with the correct English translation in the third column in bold black. How many more examples can you think of?

(Tu) Mi sei mancato(a).	(You were missing to me.)	I missed you.
(Lei/Lui) Mi è mancato(a).	(She/he was missing to me.)	I missed her/him.

(Io) Ti sono mancto(a)?	(Was I missing to you?)	(Did you) miss me?
(Lei/Lui) Ti è mancato(a)?	(Was she/he missing to her/him?)	(Did you) miss her/him?

Remember how to use the Italian verb
mancare in Italian
when missing someone dear to you!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books: Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone from www.learntravelitalian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently by the end of 2021?

Two of the most popular every day phrases are, “He said to me… ” or “She said to me…” In fact, the equivalent phrase in Italian, “Mi ha detto.” is used so often that it usually comes out in quickly, in one breath!

In this blog, we will discuss the popular phrase “Mi ha detto,” and use it as a springboard into a discussion of indirect object pronouns that can be used with the verb dire and many other Italian verbs as well.

As I’ve said before, I believe that “commonly used phrases” are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time.

If we learn how to incorporate “commonly used phrases” when use the Italian verb dire, we will be able to communicate just as we do in our native language!

This post is the 47th in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group. If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases” in conversation

use the Italian past tense verb + indirect object pronoun
Mi ha detto…

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar

found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

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What He Said… What She Said…

in Italian with Object Pronouns

Let’s begin by looking at the verb dire — to say — in our important phrases “he said” and “she said” for discussion in this blog. The past tense for “he said” and “she said” in Italian, a one-time event, uses the passato prossimo, and is “ lui/lei ha detto.” This Italian past tense verb also translates into the less commonly used English past tense, “he has said” and “she has said.”

Since the subject pronoun is generally left out of an Italian sentence, we are left with “ha detto” to describe both what he said and what she said. The subject pronouns lui (he) or lei (she) may be added before the verb for emphasis in this case, but generally those having a conversation know who they are talking about.

Because the phrases “he said” and “she said” are used frequently in everyday conversation, we should commit the Italian passato prossimo verb “ha detto” to memory.

To make a complete sentence using the verb dire to describe what was said, use either “di” or “che” to link the subject and verb to the topic that was discussed. Di is used as the conjunction in the examples in the table below to answer a question in the affirmative or negative. Of course, even though our focus in this blog is on how to use the verb ha detto, it should be noted that one usually answers “yes,” or “no,” for themselves with ho detto, although they can also relay someone else’s answer using a different conjugation of dire, such as ha detto, abbiamo detto, etc. In all situations, when answering “yes” or “no” in Italian, the conjunction di is required.

Ho detto di si.	I said yes.
Ho detto di no.	I said no.

Ha detto di si.	He/She said no.
Ha detto di no.	He/She said no.

Abbiamo detto di si.	He/She said yes.
Abbiamo detto di no.	He/She said no.

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Adding an indirect object pronoun before the verbs ho detto, abbiamo detto, or ha detto will allow the speaker to describe to whom something was said. For this section, though, our discussion will focus only on “ha detto” and Italian indefinite articles.

Why focus on “ha detto?“ One of the most popular every day phrases is, “He/She said to me,” which is, “Mi ha detto” in Italian. In fact, the phrase “mi ha detto” is used so often that it usually said in one breath! We can build on this simple, easy to remember phrase to describe more complex situations. For instance, we can substitute other indirect object pronouns for mi (to me), such as ti (to you), gli (to him), or le (to her).

In English, when we use the indirect object pronouns “to me,” “to you,” “to him/her,” they are placed after the verb, while in Italian, they are placed before the verb. This may take some time to get used to. In the summary table below, the indirect object pronouns are in red.

Ha detto	He said / She said
Mi ha detto	He said / She said to me
Ti ha detto	He said/ She said to you
Gli ha detto	He said / she said to him
Le ha detto	He said / She said to her

The next table uses our verb ha detto and indirect object pronouns in example sentences. For these examples (and for all other instances in Italian except those given in the table in the previous section regarding a “yes” or “no” answer), “che” is used as the conjunction.

The subject pronoun is included in some of the examples in the table below for clarity. Again, the Italian and English indirect object pronouns are in red. In all cases except the first, when the subject is directly quoting what someone else has said to them, English uses a direct object pronoun, and this is given in green. Notice how many permutations of the same sentence are possible with only the singular indirect object pronouns!

Lui ha detto che il film era bello. Lei ha detto che il film era bello. Mi ha detto: “Il film era bello.”	He said that the film was good. She said that the film was good. He/She said to me: “The film was good.”
Mi ha detto che il film era bello.	He/She told me that the film was good.
Ti ha detto che il film era bello?	Has he/she told you that the film was good?

Giovanni gli ha detto che il film era bello.	John told him that the film was good.
Anna gli ha detto che il flim era bello.	Ann told him that the film was good.

Giovanni le ha detto che il film era bello.	John told her that the film was good.
Anna le ha detto che il film era bello.	Ann told her that the film was good.

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Our example sentence, “Mi ha detto che il film era bello,” and its translation, “He/She told me that the film was good,” brings up an important difference between Italian and English verbs and object pronouns; not all Italian verbs that take indirect object pronouns do so in English!

We have just seen the the Italian verb dire takes an indirect object pronoun that goes before the verb, whereas its English counterpart “to say,” in general conversation usually takes a direct object pronoun that goes after the verb. We would not say, “He told to me that the film was good,” although this is correct in Italian!

This adds to the difficulty in choosing when to use an Italian indirect object pronoun, since the correct English translation will not always reflect the indirect object pronoun choice in Italian.

The difference in the Italian and English [object pronoun-verb] combination may not be immediately apparent in the phrase “mi ha detto,” since the Italian pronoun mi plays double duty as both an indirect and direct object pronoun! The Italian pronoun mi can be translated as both “me” (direct object pronoun) and “to/for me” (indirect object pronoun).*

The same goes for the Italian pronoun ti, which is translated as “you”(direct object pronoun) as well as “to you“ (indirect object pronoun).*

Choosing between an indirect and direct Italian object pronoun when conversing about others in Italian becomes important in the masculine third person, as one must decide between lo (him) and gli (to him). For females, the choice is between la (her) and le (to her).

So how does an English speaker know when to choose an indirect object pronoun in Italian?

Italian verbs of communication and giving
take indirect object pronouns
when referring to a person.

The table below is a short list of the verbs of communication that take Italian indirect object pronouns when referring to other people in conversation. You will recognize the example verb in this blog, dire, at the top of the list.

Note that if one of these verbs is followed by a person’s name, the Italian pattern to follow is [verb + a + name]. The Italian indirect object pronoun can be though of as substituting for the “a“ placed before a person’s name.

In some cases, both Italian and English verbs take an indirect object pronoun but in other cases the English translation uses a direct object pronoun, as we’ve already mentioned. Unfortunately, there is no rule that connects the Italian way of speaking to the English way, so the Italian verbs that take [a + name] or indirect object pronouns just need to be memorized. In short, in order to speak Italian, we must think in Italian!

*And, of course with reflexive verbs mi stands for “myself” and ti stands for “yourself.”

Some Italian verbs of communication that take indirect object pronouns:

Dire	to say
Parlare	to talk
Telefonare	to call
Scrivere	to write

Domandare	to ask
Chiedere	to ask

Insegnare	to teach
Spiegare	to explain
Consigliare	to give advice

Examples that use Italian verbs of communication with indirect object pronouns are given below. The indirect object pronouns are in red, the direct object pronouns are in green, and the person to whom the object pronoun refers to is underlined. Of course, there are a infinite number of combinations! Try to create your own sentences, taking situations from your own life!

Ho detto a Maria che… I told Maria that…
Le ho detto che… I told her that…

Ho domandato a Franco se… I asked Frank if…
Gli ho domandato se… I asked him if…

La Signora Rossi ha spiegato a me che… Mrs. Rossi explained to me that…
La Signora Rossi mi ha spiegato che… Mrs. Rossi explained to me that…

Some Italian verbs of giving that take indirect object pronouns:

Dare	to give
Offrire	to offer
Regalare	to gift
Mandare	to send
Portare	to bring/deliver

Examples that use Italian verbs of giving with indirect object pronouns are given below. The indirect object pronouns are in red, the direct object pronouns are in green, and the person to whom the object pronoun refers to is underlined. Of course, there are a infinite number of combinations! Try to create your own sentences, taking situations from your own life!

Ho dato a Maria il vino. I gave Maria the wine.
Le ho dato il vino. I gave her the wine.

Ho offerto a Franco un lavoro. I offered Frank a job.
Gli ho offerto un lavoro. I offered him a job.

La Signora Rossi ha mandato a me… Mrs. Rossi gave me…
La Signora Rossi mi ha mandato… Mrs. Rossi gave me…

*And, of course with reflexive verbs mi stands for “myself” and ti stands for “yourself.”

Remember how to use the phrase
“mi ha detto” in Italian and I guarantee
you will use this phrase every day!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar” and “Just the Verbs” books: Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” book downloaded onto a cell phone from www.learntravelitalian.com

Источник

Useful idioms:

A tavola non si invecchia.

Dalla terra alla tavola.

La buona tavola

Far saltare il tavolo

Mangerei anche le gambe del tavolo.

The Italian Verb Potere

How to Conjugate Potere

Use Può to Ask for What You Need!

1. Use può if you are having difficulty understanding fluent Italian.

2. Use può at the service station to ask for assistance with your car

3. Use “Mi può… ” for every day, simple interactions

4. Use [Mi può + dire…] to ask for assistance with directions

5. Use [Mi può + dire…] to ask about Italian schedules

6. Use [Mi può + portare] or [Ci può + portare] at the restaurant

7. Use [Posso + infinitive verb] or [Possiamo + infinitive verb] at the restaurant

Use “Di” to Compare Italian Nouns and for Comparisons with Piacere

Use “Che” to Compare Italian Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs

Use “Di” withIrregular Adverbs

Use “Di” withIrregular Adjectives

The Best and the Worst in Italian:

The Most in Italian:

The Least in Italian:

Let’s Talk About…

The Many Uses of the Italian Verb

Mettere

1. Use mettere to describe the simple act of moving an object from one place and “putting” or “placing” it in another place.

2. Use mettere su to describe “putting” food “on” the stove, to “put on” something in figurative sense, or to “put up a post on” the Internet

3. Use mettersi a, mettersi in the third person, or mettere in moto to describe initiating an action

4. Use mettere in and mettere a/di to describe negative or positive emotional states or figurative positions you have been “put into.”

5. Use mettersi to describe the act of getting dressed

6. More figurative uses for mettersi and mettere

7. Use the pronominal verb phrase “mettercela tutta” as an informal way to describe that you have “put in your best effort.”

8. Common Italian sayings that use mettere

Use “Di” to SayWhere You are From

Expressing Possession with “Di”

General Uses for “Di”

Common Expressions with “Di”Avere and Essere

When to Use “Di”to Link Italian Verbs

Let’s Talk About… Dating in Italian

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Italian Reflexive Verbs

How to Make Impersonal Statements Italian Reflexive Pronouns

How to Describe Movement with Italian Reflexive Verbs

How to Describe Nature and Life with Italian Reflexive Verbs

Christmas in Italy

An Italian Holiday Party Conversation

Introductions:

Responses:

Let’s Talk About…

Soccer in Italian

Soccer — a brief history of the game

Italian Soccer Victories

What do Italians call the different games of foot ball played around the world?

Juventus – the most well-known soccer team in Italy

The Italian Soccer Team and Soccer Match

The art of the game:

The Italian Soccer Fan

Have fun playing soccer!

Overview of Italian Verbs

that take

Indirect Object Pronouns

How to Say, “I miss you!”

with Mancare

What He Said… What She Said…

in Italian with Object Pronouns

Use “Di” to Compare Italian Nouns
and for Comparisons with Piacere

Use “Che” to Compare
Italian Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs

Use “Di” with
Irregular Adverbs

Use “Di” with
Irregular Adjectives

Use “Di” to Say
Where You are From

Common Expressions with “Di”
Avere and Essere

When to Use “Di”
to Link Italian Verbs

How to Make Impersonal Statements
Italian Reflexive Pronouns

How to Describe Movement with
Italian Reflexive Verbs

How to Describe Nature and Life with
Italian Reflexive Verbs