After a conversation with an American girl, trying to speak a little Italian while in Florence, and receiving confusing answers, here you have my two cents about it.
These are little tips, the first that come to my mind, feel free to ask and correct if you like!
Italian is a complicated language, with a complicated grammar and many differences from region to region, a lot of dialects and accents and it’s not easy to learn. But I love to hear my language spoken by foreigners, and I will never make fun of someone who tries to do it.
We don’t say “capissch”. Ever. It almost doesn’t make sense.
We pronounce every letter in every word, there are no mute letters. For instance, to say thank you you say “Grazie” and it pronounces grah-tzee-Eh, not grahtzeee
“Al fresco” in Italian doesn’t mean eating outside, but being in prison… I actually heard a conversation with a sassy waiter go like this: “Can we eat al fresco, please?” “Only if you steal something…” If you want to eat in the outside part of a restaurant you ask for the tables “all'aperto” or simply “fuori”.
Buongiorno means “good morning” and it’s used from morning to afternoon. When it’s past 4pm you can start saying “Buonasera”. It’s good both for when you enter a place that when you leave. You can use it to greet someone or to say goodbye, but the correct form to say goodbye is “arrivederci” and it means “See you”. It’s polite and both formal and informal, so it’s very useful. Buongiorno is pronounced Boo-on-jawr-noh. Don’t stress the I too much, all vowels are brief and quick here.
If you order a “Latte” in an Italian café (we call it a bar, btw) you’ll get a glass of plain milk. If you want coffee with a touch of milk you have to order a caffé macchiato. If you want more milk than coffee you ask for a latte macchiato.
Coffee tips: If you order coffee in a café you’ll get an expresso: short, strong and dark. We usually have coffee from morning to evening and it’s normal to “stop for a coffee” even if it’s late afternoon, but we don’t drink cappuccino outside breakfast. Cappuccino is a breakfast/morning drink, and having it at the end of your lunch or as a side drink to gulp down your food( brrrr…), is like ordering a side plate of cornflakes with your pasta.
If you want to show respect and put a title before someone’s name, you’ll better know his or her title exactly before you do it. People are very picky when it comes to titles and you can land on a minefield if you don’t give someone the proper one. Anyway, if you don’t know the person you’re speaking to (or about) and you are therefore excused if you can’t give him/her the proper title, you can go with the standard Signor e Signora. Signor is Mr., it pronounces See-gnòrr, and it’s used before the surname. Signora ( See-gnòrah )is Mrs. , and it’s also used before the surname or alone. We also have Signorina, but is less and less used and you don’t want to trouble yourself with that. Signora can be used for every woman above the age of 20 and you’ll be fine. Note that if you are not sure, you can use Miss while addressing an Italian girl and she’ll be perfectly ok.
Italian and Spanish are two very different languages, even if they can sound similar and, no, most Italians can’t understand or speak Spanish at all.
If you say that you love someone in Italian you mean in a romantic way. The only exception is for family. You can say “Amo i miei genitori” and it means “I love my parents” but if you say “Sai che ti amo” (“You know I love you”) to a friend, you just told him/her that you’re in love with him or her. We have the “Ti voglio bene” expression, that can be translated with something like I care for you. It is complicated, I know, a simple rule to remember is that the love word (amore) is almost never used in a non romantic context.
To sleep with someone in Italian doesn’t mean you had sex, but that you actually slept. On the other hand, “to go to bed with someone” means that you did have sex. “Ho dormito con lui quando eravamo in vacanza” literally means "I slept with him while we were on holiday, but it doesn’t imply sex at all. It means you shared a room or a bed or a tent while camping. “Sono andata a letto con lui quando eravamo in vacanza” literally means “I went to bed with him when we were on holiday” and, yes, no doubt here, it means that you had fun in that tent…
I took the liberty of filling out the 300 Essential Words chart devised by @funwithlanguages for Italian. Enjoy!
First Verbs
be - Essere
there is - C’è
have - Avere
do - Fare
go - Andare
want - Volere
can - Potere // Riuscire
need - Avere bisogno di
think - Pensare
know - Sapere // Conoscere
say - Dire
like - Piacere
speak - Parlare
learn - Imparare
understand - Capire
Conjunctions
that (as in “I think that…” or “the woman that…”) - Che (”Penso che…” o “la donna che…”
and - e
or - o
but - ma
because - perché
though - però
so (meaning “therefore”; e.g. “I wanted it, so I bought it”) - Quindi (”Lo volevo, quindi l’ho comprato)
if - se
Prepositions
of - di
to - a
from - da
in - in
at (a place) - a
at (a time) - a
with - con
about - circa // su
like (meaning “similar to”) - come
for (warning, this one has several meanings that you need to take care of) - per
before (also as a conjunction) - prima
after (also as a conjunction) - dopo
during - durante
Question Words
who - chi
what - (che) cosa
where - dove
when - quando
why - perché
how - come
how much - quanto
which - quale
Adverbs
a lot - molto
a little - un po’
well - beh // insomma
badly - male
only - solo
also - anche
very - molto
too (as in “too tall”) - troppo (”troppo alto”)
too much - troppo
so (as in “so tall”) - tanto // così
so much - tanto
more (know how to say “more … than …”) - più (”più…. che…”)
less (know how to say “less … than …”) - meno (”meno…. che”
as … as … (e.g. “as tall as”) - come (”alto come”)
most - più // la maggior parte (di)
least - minimo
better - meglio // migliore
best - migliore // meglio
worse - peggio // peggiore
worst - peggiore // peggio
now - ora // adesso
then - poi // allora
here - qui // qua
there - lì // là
maybe - forse // magari
always - sempre
usually - di solito
often - spesso
sometimes - a volte
never - (non) mai
today - oggi
yesterday - ieri
tomorrow - domani
soon - presto
almost - quasi
already - già
still - ancora
even - anche
enough - basta // abbastanza
Adjectives
the, a (technically articles) - il, lo, la
this - questo, questa
that - quel, quello, quella
good - buon, buono/a, bene, bello/a, bravo/a
bad - male
all - tutto
some - di // del, dello, della // alcune
no - no
any - qualsiasi
many - molti/molte
few - poche/pochi
most - la maggior parte di
other - altro/altra
same - stesso/a
different - diverso/a
enough - abbastanza/basta
one - uno
two - due
a few - poche/i
first - prima
next - prossimo
last (meaning “past”, e.g. “last Friday”) - scorso/scorsa
last (meaning “final”) - ultimo/a
easy - facile
hard - difficile
early - prima / presto
late - tardi
important - importante
interesting - interessante
fun - divertente
boring - noioso/a
beautiful - bello/a
big - grosso/a ,grande
small - piccolo/a
happy - felice
sad - triste
busy - occupato/a
excited - eccitato/a
tired - stanco/a
ready - pronto/a
favorite - preferito/a
new - nuovo/a
right (meaning “correct”) - giusto/a, vero, proprio
wrong - sbaglioto/a
true - vero
Pronouns
Know them in the subject (“I”), direct object (“me”), indirect object (“to me”), and possessive (“my”) forms.
I - io
you - tu
she - lei
he - lui
it - il, lo
we - noi
you (plural) - voi
they - loro
Nouns
If your language has grammatical gender, then learn each noun as “the [noun]” with “the” in the correct gender. (e.g. in Spanish, instead of learning language = “idioma”, learn language = “el idioma”.) This will help you remember the gender.
everything - tutto
something - qualcosa
nothing - niente // nulla
everyone - tutto
someone - qualcuno
no one - nessuno
(L’)Italiano
English - (L’)Inglese
thing - (una) cosa
person - (una) persona
place - (un) posto
time (as in “a long time”) - (un) tempo (”molto tempo fa)
time (as in “I did it 3 times”) - (una) volta (”l’ho fatto 3 volte)
friend - (un/a) amico/a
woman - (una) donna
man - (un) uomo
money - (i) soldi
country - (un) paese
(L’)Italia
city - (una) città
language - (una) lingua
word - (una) parola
food - (il) cibo
house -
(una) casa
store
- (un) negozio
office
- (un) ufficio
company
- (una) società
manager - (un) gestore
coworker
- (una) collega
job - (un) lavoro
work (as in “I have a lot of work to do”) - lavoro (”ho un sacco di lavoro da fare”)
problem - (un) problema
question - (una) domanda
idea - (un’)idea
life - (la) vita
world - (il) mondo
day
- (un) giorno
year
- (un) anno
week
- (una) settimana
month
- (un) mese
hour
- (un’)ora
mother, father, parent - mamma, papà, genitore
daughter, son, child - figlia, figlio, bambino/a
wife, husband - moglie, marito
girlfriend, boyfriend - ragazza/o, fidanzato/a
More Verbs
work (as in a person working) - lavorare (la donna lavora)
work (meaning “to function”, e.g. “the TV works”) - funzionare (”la tv funziona”)
see- vedere
use - usare
should - dovere (dovere also means “to have to”, i.e. “Devo andare, ciao!” – “I have to go, bye!)
believe - credere
practice - praticare
seem - sembrare
come - venire
leave - lasciare
return - tornare
give - dare
take - prendere
bring - portare
look for - cercare
find - trovare
get (meaning “obtain”) - ottenere
receive - ricevere
buy - comprare
try - provare
start - cominciare // iniziare
stop (doing something) - fermare // smettare
finish - finire
continue - continuare
wake up - svegliarsi
get up - alzarsi
eat - mangiare
eat breakfast (in several languages, this is a verb) - mangare la colazione
eat lunch - pranzare
eat dinner - cenare
happen - succedere
feel - sentire
create (aka “make”) - creare
cause (aka “make”) - causare
meet (meeting someone for the first time) - incontrare//conoscere
Swearing in Italian is simple, but not quite. Italy has 20 different regions and 101 provinces. That means that swearing may significantly vary from region to region according to each vernacular spoken in each city. For this reason, I’ve paid particular attention in avoiding those swearwords that aren’t commonly used in Standard Italian. Thus words like cazzimma, guallera, latrina, chiavica, madò etc, used, in this case, in my vernacular (Neapolitan) are not listed.
cazzo: fuck(literally: dick, cock) - cazzo can be used in combination with chi (who), che (what), dove (where), quando (when), perché (why), e.g. chi cazzo sei tu? (who the fuck are you?); che cazzo fai? (what the fuck are you doing?); dove cazzo vai? (where the fuck are you going?); quando cazzo torni? (when the fuck are you coming back?); perché cazzo non mi rispondi? (why the fuck are you not replying?).
cavolo: frick (literally: cauliflower, used instead of cazzo)
“Gatta ci cova !” ► “Y’a anguille sous roche !” _ there’s a problem hiding, someone is hiding something.
“Sono nel pallone !” ► “J’suis largué !” ; “J’en perds mon latin !” _ when you don’t know what is going on, you’re lost in a conversation, you discover something and can’t understand it…
“Peggio per te !” ► “Tant pis pour toi !” _ when someone deserve something.
“Piantala !” ► “Arrête !” _ to stop somebody who’s really annoying you. you can put a swear word after in french, like “arrête putain !”
“Vacci piano !” ► “Tout doux, tout doux !” _ to calm down somebody who’s getting too much excited. In france we use it for our pets too, like to slow down your dog who’s pulling you hard on the walk.
“Salute !” ► “A tes souhaits!” _ to someone who sneeze ; “Santé !” _ to celebrate something with a drink.
“Acqua in bocca !” ► “Motus et bouche cousue !” _ to stop someone from talking, when you tell a secret and don’t want the person to tell it.
“In bocca al lupo !” “Crepi !” ► “Merde” ; Bonne chance !” _ to wish good luck to someone. in italian, you have to reply with “crepi (il lupo)”. In french, don’t answer to “merde”, only answer “merci” to “bonne chance”.
Learnt in the book “Italien pour les Nuls” (Italian for the dummies), for my 7th Day of Productivity at my uni’s library !
