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1500 questions
15
votes
4 answers
Does "sfiga" come etymologically from "figa"?
It is somehow a common rule in Italian to find many verbs negated with the s- prefix (e.g. smonta, sparecchia, sposta).
Does sfiga ("bad luck, misfortune") etymologically come from figa (vagina) or is just a coincidence? My impression is that…
symbiotech
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15
votes
1 answer
What form should be used when showing messages to a user on a computer screen in Italian?
Often times, computer programs in English tend to give feedback on what they are and aren't doing in an impersonal form:
Cannot locate the internet server or proxy server
Unable to unlink old file (permission denied)
Crunching the latest data, just…
badp
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14
votes
3 answers
Meaning of "magari"
My dictionary translates 'magari' as 'maybe'. However, I know that it can be used as interjection to mean something like "I wish!". My question is, when it's used in a sentence like this:
Magari ci vediamo stasera
Is does this mean "maybe we'll…
Groky
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14
votes
4 answers
Should one prefer «…», “…” or ‘…’?
Should one prefer «…», “…” or ‘…’?
I.e., suppose one has to write reported speech, which one one should choice or prefer, 1., 2. or 3.?
Qualcuno disse «Eppur si muove!»
Qualcuno disse “Eppur si muove!”
Qualcuno disse ‘Eppur si muove!’
Kyriakos Kyritsis
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14
votes
1 answer
What is the correct way to format currency in Italian?
According to Wikipedia, Euro amounts should be written as:
1.006,28 €
With the currency symbol behind.
However, there are other websites that show it going in front for Italy, but behind for the other countries:
€…
Jason
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14
votes
6 answers
Why is perché sometimes written perchè instead of perché?
If using a grave accent as opposed to an acute accent on top of letters e and o in Italian is used to denote a difference in pronunciation when these appear on the last syllable of the word, and such syllable happens to be stressed, with è being an…
John Sonderson
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14
votes
3 answers
Origini dell'interiezione "Ammàzza!"
Un'interiezione usata in italiano, principalmente in romanesco, è
Ammàzza! o Ammàzzate! (o Ammàzzete!)
o anche
Ammàzza oh! o Ammàzzate oh! (o Ammàzzete oh!)
o altre simili varianti (Ammàzzalo!, Ammàzzelo!, anche al femminile e al plurale).
La…
user193
14
votes
3 answers
How do Italians pronounce the names of programming languages?
Is there a standard form of pronunciation for programming languages in Italy? Is it preferable to pronounce in English or in Italian? In other words, suppose I'm explaining, in Italian, something about software development, will it sound more…
William Barbosa
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14
votes
2 answers
“Avere senso” vs “fare senso”
My girlfriend is Italian and I've been learning Italian for some time now. I've always used "Fa senso" and she never corrected me. Recently I befriended a girl and when she heard me saying "fa senso", she promptly corrected me and said that "fare…
William Barbosa
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14
votes
2 answers
Come mai dal latino "ceresa" si è giunti all'italiano "ciliegia"?
Ecco una domanda stagionale :-)
La parola latina per ciliegia è ceresa, -ae, a sua volta proveniente dal greco kerasa. In molti dialetti italiani il termine mantiene le consonanti iniziali, ma in italiano (a parte la ĕ breve che come succede in…
mau
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14
votes
5 answers
What does "Ma tant'è" mean?
I know that "tant'è che" means "so much that" or "moreover", but this translation doesn't fit in this passage:
"[...]E lei invece si chiama Maria, è mia cugina. Ci andavo d'accordo da piccola, ora la trovo molto antipatica. Ma…
user3501165
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14
votes
6 answers
The origin of "in bocca al lupo" and its usage
I know that "in bocca al lupo" means "good luck", but what's its origin and when is it used?
Vic
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14
votes
2 answers
Are there rules for the positioning of clitic pronouns?
Are there rules for the positioning of clitic pronouns? Is there a preference between “poterlo dire” and “poter dirlo”, apart from how it sounds within a given sentence?
DaG
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14
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3 answers
Who decided the switch from "voi" to "Lei" in the 20th century?
I know from older and southern Italian friends that in their childhood they used the "voi" pronoun (like "vous" in French) as a polite form to address other persons. So how come this switched nowadays to the "Lei" form, a choice I must confess I…
symbiotech
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14
votes
8 answers
Is using "assai" in Italian considered vulgar language?
My conversation manual included the word assai very often as an equivalent for troppo, molto, etc. When I got in Italy one of my friends from there, of Neapolitan origin, said that is a Neapolitan word, not used in Italian and it is considered…
symbiotech
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