![]() ![]() Pronunciation: Literal translation: It’s dog cold Meaning: It’s freezing cold Pronunciation: Literal translation: Pigs misery Meaning: Damn it! Pronunciation: Literal translation: To be at the fruit Meaning: To hit rock-bottom Pronunciation: Literal translation: To have arse Meaning: To be very lucky, to fall on one’s feet Pronunciation: Literal translation: to break boxes Meaning: to get on someone’s nerves Pronunciation: Literal translation: to hold the candle Meaning: To be the third wheel Pronunciation: Literal translation: to be at the green Meaning: To be flat broke Pronunciation: Literal translation: To climb on mirrors Meaning: To clutch at straws Pronunciation: Literal translation: To discover little altars Meaning: To let the cat out of the bag Pronunciation: Literal translation: Can’t see the time Meaning: I can’t wait (from excitement) Pronunciation: Literal translation: to take for a spin Meaning: to tease or take the mickey out of someone Pronunciation: Literal translation: to not have hairs on the tongue Meaning: speaks plainly, say it like it is ![]() Pronunciation: Literal translation: To have a full bottle of wine and a drunk wife Meaning: to have your cake and eat it too Pronunciation: Literal translation: The drop that made the vase overflow Meaning: The straw the broke the camel’s backĥ. La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso ![]() Pronunciation: Literal translation: Drunk like a monkey Meaning: To be wastedĤ. Pronunciation: Literal translation: To rain wash basins Meaning: To rain like cats and dogs Pronunciation: Literal translation: In the mouth of the wolf Meaning: Good luck! Break a leg! I’ve compiled a list of my favourite everyday Italian idiomatic expressions that will induce a bit of a giggle when you read their literal translations. Want to know more? Find out how I learned Italian and the best way to learn Italian. It also impresses and surprises the locals when a foreigner has both learnt them and knows when to apply them correctly. ![]() Using expressions in any language makes you feel more at ease and comfortable with using the language. I bought un sacco of books that I would study and then put into practice. Since I started studying Italianand during my 3 years in Rome, I was always drawn to learning Italian idiomatic expressions. Take the exclamation and insult “You’re a bore!”, the Italians, famous for their pizza would say “ Sei una pizza!”, meaning “ You’re a pizza”.Ī personal favourite of mine (because it mentions my family name) is when Italians want to call someone a butterfingers, ‘A vere le mani di pasta Frolla’ which literally translates ‘ To have pastry hands’. Not surprisingly a lot of idiomatic expressions have the same translation in other foreign languages, but the most interesting and telling part is when they are totally different because they offer an insight into the cultural aspect of the people who speak it. This is one of the most common Italian expressions out there. These are usually found in idiomatic expressions. For example, to say colloquially in Italian, ‘ I like you a lot’ translates to ‘ Mi piaci un sacco’ or ‘ I like you a sack’. One of the best parts of learning a foreign language is laughing at literal translations. 91.4K Mamma mia! Speak like a real Italian with these hilarious Italian expressions and idioms that you’ll hear on the “strada” and in the “piazza”. ![]()
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