You know way more Italian words than you think! Because there are loads of Italian words which are actually English.
You can start adding these to your Italian right away—it's a quick way to learn some extra words.
You’ll also see how to pronounce them the Italian way. (Oh yes, they may be English words, but Italians say them with an Italian accent.)
Italian Words (that are actually English) for Travel
When you plan your next trip to Italy, you can use these travel-related words which are borrowed from English.
| Il taxi | Eel TAK-see |
| L’hotel | Loh-TEL |
| Il tour | Eel TOOR |
| L’info point | LEEN-foh point |
| La location | Lah loh-KAY-shon |
| La reception | Lah reh-SEP-shun |
| Il weekend | Eel wee-KEND |
| Il check-in | Eel chek-EEN |
| Il check-out | Eel chek-OUT |
For example:
La colazione all’hotel è inclusa -Breakfast at the hotel is included
Prenotiamo un taxi alla reception - Let’s book a taxi at reception
A che ora è il check-in? -What time is check-in?
To make sure you’re covered with almost every travel phrase you need, you can also check out this post on travel phrases and how to pronounce them .
Italian Words (that are actually English) for Technology
Loads of Italian words related to technology are the same as English.
| Il computer | Eel kohm-PYOO-tehr |
| Internet | EEN-ter-net |
| Online | On-LINE |
| Il mouse | Eel MAO-ss |
| Il link | Eel leenk |
| Il WiFi | Eel WHY-fye |
| Il bluetooth | Eel BLOO-tooth |
| Lo smartphone | Loh SMART-fohn |
| La foto* | Lah FOH-toh |
| Il video | Eel VEE-deh-oh |
| L’email | Lee-MEHL |
| L’app | LAHpp |
| La password | La PAHS-word |
| I social* | Ee SOH-chahl |
| Il/la follower | Eel/la FOH-loh-wehr |
| Il post | Eel pohst |
* I social is the way Italians say “social media”.
* Foto is the word for “photo”, just with a slightly different spelling
For example:
Hai la password per il WiFi? -Do you have the WiFi password?
Il link per il tour è nell’email -The link for the tour is in the email
Posso fare una foto? -Can I take a picture?
Italian Words (that are actually English) for Business and Work
Italians love to use English words to talk about business. In fact, business itself can be used as an Italian word!
To chat about what you do for a living, or things you have to do for work, these Italian and English words are really useful.
| Il meeting | Eel MEE-ting |
| Il business | Eel BIZ-ness |
| Il team building | Eel TEEM beel-deeng |
| Il marketing | Eel MAHR-keh-teeng |
| La start-up | La stahr-t UP |
| L’influencer | LEEN-floo-en-ser |
| Il budget | Eel BAH-jeht |
For example:
Lavoro in una start-up di tecnologia -I work in a tech start-up
Ho un meeting alle 10 -I have a meeting at 10
Questa influencer ha milioni di follower* -This influencer has millions of followers
💡Good to know
*In Italian, words which come from English stay the same in the singular and plural.
Italian Words (that are actually English) for Activities and Entertainment
You can start talking about your hobbies and interests in Italian by using these words.
| Il film | Eel FEELM |
| Il/La fan | Eel/La FAHN |
| Lo show | Loh SHOW |
| La playlist | Lah play-LIST |
| Lo shopping | Loh SHOP-ping |
| L’hobby | LOH-bee |
| Il catering | Eel KAH-tehr-ing |
| L’happy hour | LAP-pee OW-er |
For example:
Il mio hobby preferito è leggere -My favorite hobby is reading
Guardo sempre un film la sera -I always watch a film in the evening Sono un vero fan della musica italian a -I’m a real fan of Italian music
Italian Words (that are actually English) for Relationships
You can use these words to talk about your or your friends’ relationships.
| Il/La partner | Eel/lah PART-ner |
| Single | SEEN-gull |
| L’ex | L’eks |
For example:
Io e il mio partner adoriamo l’Italia! -My partner and I love Italy!
Sono single e vorrei conoscere nuove persone -I’m single and I’d like to meet new people
How to pronounce Italian words that are actually English
It’s not a big deal at all if you don’t say these words with a perfect Italian accent. They are English words after all!
But if you want to sound really Italian, it’s worth trying to get the pronunciation right.
You can use these pronunciation rules to help. They work for any Italian word, not just the ones borrowed from English.
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Roll the “r” . This might seem easier said than done, but there is a way to get there. You can follow the tips in this blogpost on how to roll your r’s like an Italian .
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H’s are silent , like in the word hotel (“oh-tel”)
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Open your mouth wide! Italians open their mouths way more than in English and this makes their vowels sound crisp and clear. Like in the word “computer”. In English, the first “o” turns into more of a “u” sound: k u m-pyoo-tur . But in Italian, the “o” stays nice and clear, like “oh,” so it’s k o hm-pyoo-tur . You can click here to find out more tips on how to pronounce vowels the Italian way . (If anything just to have fun trying).
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Italian words (not borrowed from English) usually end in a vowel. If they’re saying an English word that doesn’t end in a vowel, they sometimes add one. For example, location or app sometimes come out more as loh-kay-shon-uh or lahpp-uh .
If you want to practice Italian pronunciation more in depth, you can also see how to pronounce these other common Italian sounds .
52 Common Italian Words That Are Actually English: Review
Let’s review some of the Italian-English words you’ve learned and how to use them!
Travel
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Il taxi: Eel TAK-see
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L’hotel: Loh-TEL
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Il check-in: Eel check-EEN
For example: Prenotiamo un taxi alla reception -Let’s book a taxi at reception.
Technology
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Il computer: Eel kohm-PYOO-tehr
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La password: Lah PAH-sword
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L’app: Lahpp
For example: Hai la password per il WiFi? -Do you have the WiFi password?
Business & Work
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Il meeting: Eel MEE-ting
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Il budget: Eel BAH-jeht
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Il marketing: Eel MAHR-keh-teeng
For example: Ho un meeting alle 10- I have a meeting at 10.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In this episode, we’ll show you lots of English words that are Italian too. Your vocabulary will basically grow automatically - no extra effort needed!
K: Before we get started, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you hit the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so that we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
M: In Italy, it’s actually considered pretty cool to use English words and loads of them have come into Italian.
K: You can use them to talk about all kinds of things, like travel, work or hobbies. They’re actually quite handy for the classic small talk topics that help you connect with Italians.
M: Here’s a conversation Katie and I might have when we've just arrived at our hotel for a trip. She is always trying to get me to do stuff but I normally want a bit of time to relax first!
K: How many English words can you hear? You might need to listen more carefully than you think, because of course, Italians pronounce them the Italian way!
K: Prenotiamo il tour?
M: Mmm, l’app non funziona…
K: Allora usiamo il computer?
M: Eh, ma non ho la password del WiFi…
K: Allora chiediamo alla reception!
M: Ok, prendiamo un taxi?
K: No, l’autobus!
M: Ah che stress!
M: Prenotiamo il tour - shall we book the tour? Literally:
Prenotiamo - we book
Il - the
Tour - tour
K: So the English word in Italian is:
M: Tour
K: Like in English, you can use tour in Italian to talk about an organized trip, like a guided city tour or a museum tour. Or you can use it to talk about a band tour. The only difference is the pronunciation, which can sound quite funny at first!
M: To pronounce it the true Italian way, pout your lips to get a longer “uu” sound. Tuu- Tuu-
K: For the r on the end, kind of tap your tongue up and down really quickly: r, r,
M: Tour (x2)
K: Don’t worry if your pronunciation isn’t spot on, pronunciation is always tricky, and of course, they are English words! But we’ll keep sharing some tips so you can enjoy trying to say them how an Italian would.
K: After I suggested booking the tour, or “tuur” , Matteo replied:
M: Mmm, l’app non funziona … - mmm, the app doesn’t work
L’app - the app (that’s L apostrophe app)
Non - not
Funziona - work
K: So another English word that Italians use is “app” .
In Italian, words almost always end in a vowel. So, if there isn’t a vowel at the end, Italians tend to add one. This happens with “app”. Italians add an “uh” sound to it.
M: App (x2)
K: Since the app, or app(uh), wasn’t working, I suggested:
M: Allora usiamo il computer? - then let’s use the computer? Literally:
Allora - then
Usiamo - we use
Il computer - the computer
K: Italians normally enunciate vowels really clearly. Listen to “computer” a couple of times and see if you notice how the “OH” in particular is said differently to English.
M: Computer (x2)
K: In English, we say cƏmputer, the first O sounds a bit like uh: cƏm, cƏmputer. In Italian it’s COM, COM
M: Computer
K: Matteo’s excuse for not being able to use the computer was:
M: Eh, ma non ho la password del WiFi … - But I don’t have the WiFi password
Ma - But
Non - Not
Ho - I have
La - the
Password - password
Del - of the
WiFi - WiFi
K: There are two English words Matteo used:
M: Password, WiFi
K: To say password the Italian way, the “o” is pronounced like the “o” in a word like “more”.
M: word (x2) .
K: So putting it together, it’s:
M: Password (x2)
K: To say WiFi the Italian way, imagine you’re saying the question “why” in English, but with an exaggerated “y” at the end (“why”). Keep that “ai” sound when you’re saying the “i”s in this word.
M: Wi…Fi (slowly)
WiFi (x2)
K: Since we didn’t have the WiFi password, I said:
M: Allora chiediamo alla reception! - Then let’s ask at reception
Allora - then
Chediamo - let’s ask
Alla - at the
Reception - reception
K: So like in English, reception can be used in Italian to talk about the front desk. The main difference in pronunciation between the English and Italian is the rolled “r”. So in English it’s “reception” and in Italian it’s:
M: Reception (x2)
K: Don’t worry if you can’t roll your “r” yet for this word, it’s one of the hard parts about Italian pronunciation and it takes practice. If you want some more help, you can go to episode 16 on “how to roll your rs in Italian”.
Since Matteo was still trying to find the least-effort needed plan for the day, he said:
M: Ok, prendiamo un taxi? - Ok, shall we take a taxi? Literally:
Ok - ok
Prendiamo - we take
Un - a
Taxi - taxi
K: The main difference in pronunciation with the word “taxi” is with the “a”. In Italian, it’s longer:
M: Taxi (x2)
K: I tend to be more careful with money, so I suggested:
M: No, l’autobus! - No, the bus!
No - no
L’autobus - the bus
K: If you hadn’t noticed already, Matteo wasn’t feeling very enthusiastic about this big day out. So he said:
M: Ah che stress! - Ah, how stressful!
Che - what
Stress - stress
K: Italians use the word “stress” like we do, only sometimes they might use it to say “stressful” as well, like we saw here. The pronunciation is similar in English and Italian, it’s just the “r” that’s different as usual.
M: Stress (x2)
M: By the way, there are loads more words in Italian that you already know. Next we’re going to do a quick quiz to see how many you can recognise. But but first, let’s hear the conversation again:
K: Prenotiamo il tour?
M: Mmm, l’app non funziona…
K: Allora usiamo il computer?
M: Eh, ma non ho la password del WiFi…
K: Allora chiediamo alla reception!
M: Ok, prendiamo un taxi?
K: No, l’autobus!
M: Ah che stress!
K: OK so now Matteo will say the English word with the Italian pronunciation. See if you can guess which word he’s saying.
M: Check-in (x2)
[...]
K: Check-in, as in, hotel check in. In Italian though, we stress the “in” part. Check–IN (x2). You can say: Check-in is at 11
M: Il check-in è alle 11 (x2)
K: Our next word is:
M:
Hobby (x2)
[...]
K: Hobby. The h sound doesn’t exist in Italian, so it becomes obbi. For example: My hobby is reading
M: Il mio hobby è leggere (x2)
K: You do read sometimes, but your real hobby, or ob-bee, is video games!
M: Video! Another word that’s the same in Italian and in English. Video (x2).
K: Our last word is:
M: Partner (x2)
[...]
K: Partner. It’s used to talk about a romantic partner, like a long-term boyfriend or girlfriend. So I could say: my partner is Italian.
M: Il mio partner è italiano (x2)
Il mio partner è italiano.
K: There really are so many English words in Italian, we haven’t even covered half of them. They’re worth learning because they’ll help you say a lot more in your Italian conversations, with hardly any extra effort!
M: If you head over to our blogpost, you can see a list of more English words and how to pronounce them the Italian way.
K: There’s also a little thing to watch out for when you’re using them in the plural, so we’ll help you get it right. To find out more, click the link in the description or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 168.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: 52 Common Italian Words That Are Actually English
Vocabulary
Ho un meeting alle 10 = I have a meeting at 10
Hai la password per il WiFi? = Do you have the WiFi password?
Il link è nell’email = The link is in the email
Io e il mio partner adoriamo l’Italia! = My partner and I love Italy!
Prenotiamo il tour? = Shall we book the tour?
Prendiamo un taxi? = Shall we take a taxi?
Usiamo il computer? = Shall we use the computer?
L’app non funziona = The app doesn’t work
Non ho la password del WiFi = I don’t have the WiFi password
Che stress! = How stressful!
Flashcards: 52 Common Italian Words That Are Actually English
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
