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1500 questions
44
votes
15 answers
Can I say bravo to a female performer?
Everywhere in the world after a successful performance like a live music show or theater play, you can hear audience yelling "Bravo!" to the performers regardless of their gender or number. Is this also true in Italy? Given the existence of the…
Vado a fare la spesa
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39
votes
7 answers
Is there an Italian equivalent word for "cool"?
I always had trouble translating "cool" in Italian.
It's tempting to translate the English term "cool" with "figo"; this seems to convey the wide meaning of cool well enough (surely better than other common translations like "fantastico" or…
Matteo Italia
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36
votes
2 answers
What is the rule for adjective order?
Some adjectives seem to change meaning depending on the position (before of after the noun), e.g.
un bambino piccolo - a young child
un piccolo bambino - a small child
Other simply don't "sound good" in a given position, e.g.
un lungo treno blu -…
user68
31
votes
4 answers
What are the rules for using an article with the name of a football team?
What is the rule for using articles with the soccer team names?
Why do you say la Inter (l'Inter), la Juventus, la Lazio, la Roma, but also il Milan, il Bologna, il Genoa, il Manchester United, and il Chelsea?
Qual è la regola per l'uso degli…
I.M.
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28
votes
2 answers
When can 'ci' be used to mean 'it'
I know that 'ci' can mean 'us' and 'there', but it appears it can also mean 'it'. For example:
ci penso su - I'll think about it
I've heard that it means kind of "it, in general" but I find the rules for it confusing. Are there any hard and fast…
Groky
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26
votes
5 answers
Why do Italian road signs use the infinitive tense and not the imperative?
Why do Italian road signs use the infinitive tense in their warning, while, for example, those in English use the imperative?
Turn off lights
Spegnere le luci (and not "Spegnete le luci" or "Spegni le luci")
Or, maybe, is there a rule that says…
Kyriakos Kyritsis
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24
votes
4 answers
Past participle and changing endings with auxiliary verb "avere"
I have read many times that the endings of the past participle doesn't change when used in conjunction with the auxiliary verb "avere". However I am increasingly noticing that is is not the case. For example I recently came across:
Li ho messi in…
Groky
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23
votes
4 answers
Perché "vendesi" e non "si vende"?
Gli annunci immobiliari italiani mi sono sempre sembrati molto curiosi. Perché si scrive "vendesi" o "affittasi" e non "si vende" o "si affitta"?
Charo
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23
votes
9 answers
How do you say "Good job!" in Italian?
I believe it is NOT “Buon lavoro” because an Italian person online expressed that this was to wish someone a good day at work.
So - what do teachers say to students to let them know they've done something well?
Chris
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22
votes
7 answers
Why translate cities and person names?
I come from a language that preserves the original names of cities and especially personality names, so I was very surprised to find in Italian translation of this particular substantive types. I even once had an argument with one Italian friend…
symbiotech
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22
votes
2 answers
Why do Italians respond to 'grazie' with 'di niente'?
Why do Italians respond to 'grazie' with 'di niente'?
Kyriakos Kyritsis
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21
votes
5 answers
How do English words change when plural in Italian?
When an English word is used as a singular term in Italian, it is normal to use the English singular form, for example:
un film
un computer
un marine spaziale
un cowboy
When the words are used as plural terms, we can find different versions:
due…
Sklivvz
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21
votes
7 answers
What does "figurati" mean?
I understand that one meaning of "figurati" is something like "don't mention it", i.e. in response to "grazie".
But I've seen it is used in many more contexts than that, as an expression of surprise, something like "you don't say". It's difficult…
blah
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21
votes
1 answer
Are "che", "che cosa" and "cosa" interchangeable in simple "what questions"?
When I want to ask "what do you have for breakfast?", can I use any of the three, "che", "che cosa", or "cosa", to ask the question?
I'm not referring to specific structures like "che ore sono?".
Vic
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21
votes
5 answers
What is the difference between 'mucca' and 'vacca'?
A textbook of mine translates 'cow' with 'vacca', Duolingo has 'mucca'.
Is there a difference?
pesche
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