#ITALIAN EXPRESSIONS SERIES#

Non importa is another very common phrase meaning a neutral 'it doesn't matter' (literally, 'it's not important').

Basta!īasta!, 'Enough!', is a very common idiom, used when you have had enough, or you want someone to stop doing something. Vattene! and Vai via! are Italian ways of saying 'Get lost!', 'Go away!' Depending how forcefully they are spoken, they can be quite rude.Īs well as proper idioms and slang, Italian has a great many idiomatic phrases (which are probably the most useful thing in this article). Use these phrases with caution, as they are a bit rude. You can also use the verb fregarsene to say Che ti frega? ('None of your business!') and Chi se ne frega? ('Who cares?'). Non me ne frega! means you don't care about something at all, i.e. ('to be besides oneself with.', 'to be mad about.') and diventare matto ('to go mad').

#ITALIAN EXPRESSIONS SERIES#

They can be used as nouns, un matto, un pazzo, meaning 'madman' or 'lunatic', but also in a series of idiomatic phrases, such as essere pazzo di. Pazzo and matto both mean 'mad' and are used in a similar way as their English counterpart. Ragazzo and ragazza also mean 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' respectively. So ragazzo (and tipo, a synomym) translates as 'boy', 'guy' or 'dude' ( ragazzi, the plural, is 'guys') and ragazza is 'girl' or even 'chick'. Ragazzo ('boy') and ragazza ('girl') are used in a similar way in Italian as 'boy' and 'girl' are used in English, as colloquial ways of talking about (young) adults. Ma va? (literally, 'But it's going?') is an equivalent to Dai! in in its third sense as 'Seriously?'.Īnother word that means 'Seriously?' is davvero, which is also a word for 'really'. Ma dai! can be used to convey this meaning. 'Come on!' in the sense of 'Don't do that!' or 'That's not cool!'.Dai! Siamo in ritardo! ('Come on! We're late!'). The essential Dai! (literally, 'Give!', the imperative of dare) means 'Come on!', in three senses: This article does not cover Italian swear words, but here are some of the most common Italian slang phrases: 8. Italian has a lot of slang, some of which varies by region and dialect. Veloce come un razzo is the Italian equivalent of 'fast as lightning' and literally translates as 'fast as a race'. Fuori di testaįuori di testa is how Italians say 'out of your mind', except in Italian it is 'outside your head' ( fuori di testa). Non vedo l’ora is the Italian for 'I can't wait for.' and literally means 'I can't see the hour.'.

It translates literally as 'water in mouth', with the idea being that you can't speak if you have water in your mouth. Acqua in bocca!Īcqua in bocca! means 'Mum's the word!' or 'Zip it!'. It's used in the same way as its English equivalent, to avert bad luck before it happens. Tocca ferro! is 'Touch wood!' (though the Italian version literally means 'Touch iron!'). As horns are also the symbol of a cuckold, fare le corna can also mean 'to put the horns on someone' (i.e.

It literally means 'to do the horns' and refers to the mano cornuta, a hand gesture made in the shape of horns to ward off evil (a vague equivalent to 'fingers crossed' in English). Fare le cornaįare le corna is an idiom with a great deal of Italian culture mixed up in it. The idiom is the Italian equivalent of 'Break a leg!' (with the same idea that it's bad luck to wish someone good luck) and is used in the same way as 'Break a leg!' in Italian theatre circles, though the idiom originally came from hunting. The very common idiom In bocca al lupo! literally means 'Into the mouth of the wolf!' and has the customary response Crepi il lupo! ('May the wolf die!') or just Crepi! ('May it die!'). Italian is no exception, so here are some of the most common and useful Italian idioms: 1. In any language, idioms are a very useful way of putting some colour into your speech. For some of the more basic Italian expressions, be sure to check out our article on Italian for Travel. sayings), idiomatic phrases and slang so I've tried to include a mixture of all three to give you an overview of how Italians actually speak. Idioms are a wide category that includes proper idioms (i.e. The key to speaking Italian is knowledge of Italian idioms and phrases that Italians use in everyday life.