Before your next trip to Italy, you’ll definitely want to learn the Italian words for body parts.
Not every single word because you won’t need the whole anatomy textbook. Just the important ones!
These words are perfect for pharmacy visits and pop up in many common Italian expressions. Plus, they make for great small talk. Who doesn’t have a story to share about an ache or pain?
The most important body parts to know in Italian
Here’s a list of the most important body parts that you need to know in Italian:
| La testa | Head | Lah teh-stah |
| I capelli | Hair | Ee kah-pell-ee |
| La faccia / Il viso | Face | Lah fah-cha / eel vee-so |
| La bocca | Mouth | Lah boh-kah |
| Il naso | Nose | Eel nah-zoh |
| La lingua | Tongue | Lah leen-gwah |
| Il collo | Neck | Eel kol-lo |
| La gola | Throat | Lah goh-lah |
| La schiena | Back | Lah skyeh-nah |
| La pancia | Stomach/belly | Lah pan-chah |
| Il corpo | Body | Eel kor-poh |
For example:
Attento alla testa! -Watch your head!
Metti la crema solare, hai la faccia rossa - Put on suncream, you’ve got a red face
Of course, body parts often come in pairs! Here are some common Italian body parts with their plurals.
Psst! If the difference between singular and plural forms seems confusing at first, don’t worry. You’re right to be confused because they follow some strange rules that we’ll explain in a moment.
| L’orecchio / le orecchie | Ear / ears | Loh-rek-kyoh / leh-oh-rek-kyeh |
| L’occhio / gli occhi | Eye / eyes | Loh-kyoh / lyee-oh-kee |
| Il dente / i denti | Tooth / teeth | Eel den-teh / ee den-tee |
| La spalla / le spalle | Shoulder / shoulders | Lah spahl-lah / leh spahl-leh |
| Il braccio / le braccia | Arm / arms | Eel brah-cho / leh brah-chah |
| La mano / le mani | Hand / hands | Lah mah-no / leh mah-nee |
| La gamba / le gambe | Leg / legs | Lah gam-bah / leh gam-beh |
| Il ginocchio / le ginocchia | Knee / Knees | Eel jee-noh-kyo / leh gee-noh-kyeh |
| Il dito / le dita | Finger / fingers | Eel dee-toh / leh dee-tah |
| Il piede / i piedi | Foot / feet | Eel pyeh-deh / ee pyeh-dee |
For example:
Alza la mano -Raise your hand
Devo lavarmi le mani -I need to wash my hands
Phrases you’ll need at the pharmacy
To talk about something hurting there are a few phrases that you can use.
| Mi fa male… | My…hurts | Mee fah mah-leh |
| Mi fanno male… | My…hurt | Mee fah-noh mah-leh |
What’s the difference between mi fa and mi fanno ? Mi fa is used when you’re talking about one thing hurting, mi fanno for two or more, like feet or legs.
For example:
Dopo il tour in bicicletta, mi fanno male le gambe -After the bike tour, my legs hurt
Mi fa male la schiena per colpa di questo zaino -My back hurts because of this backpack
💡 Good to know
Italians also use the expression ho mal di to say something hurts, but only with certain body parts: pancia, testa, gola , denti and schiena .
For example:
Non posso venire, ho mal di testa -I can’t come, I have a headache
What are the common mistakes learners make with body parts in Italian?
Hair is plural
In English, we say our “hair” rather than our “hairs”. But in Italian, you usually talk about hair ( capelli) in the plural.
It makes sense because you don’t just have one strand of hair, you have lots, so why not make it plural?
For example:
Ho i capelli lunghi - I have long hair.
It’s all about me!
In English, we tend to talk about “my hair”, “my teeth”. In Italian, they don’t usually use the “my” (or “your”, “his”, etc.), instead they say “the”.
So not:
❌ Mi fanno male le mie gambe - My legs hurt
But instead:
✅ Mi fanno male le gambe - My legs(lit. “the legs”) hurt
Masculine or feminine? Or both?
In Italian, nouns are either masculine or feminine, and that goes for body parts too. The tricky part? Sometimes the gender shifts when you go from singular to plural.
For example:
il braccio (the arm) → le braccia (the arms)
il dito (the finger) → le dita (the fingers)
il ginocchio (the knee) → le ginocchia (the knees)
You might have noticed that sometimes they have strange endings, too! A very irregular, but very common plural is:
La mano (the hand) → le mani (the hands)
What are some common expressions with body parts in Italian?
There are lots of expressions that Italians use all the time with body parts. They’re not just quirky phrases, but ones that are used in everyday conversation.
| Incrociamo le dita! | Let’s cross our fingers! | Een-kroo-chah-moh leh dee-tah |
| Dare una mano | To give a hand | Dah-reh oo-nah mah-noh |
| Essere in gamba | To be on the ball (lit. to be on your legs) | Eh-seh-reh een gam-bah |
| Faccia a faccia | Face to face | Fah-cha ah fah-cha |
| Occhio! | Watch out! (Lit. eye) | Ok-kyoh |
For example:
Occhio, c’è una macchina! -Watch out, there’s a car!
Posso darti una mano? -Can I give you a hand?
Body parts in Italian: here’s what you need to know: Review
Knowing the key vocabulary for body parts in Italian is super important to make your trip around Italy headache free (literally). Let’s review some body parts you really need to know:
La testa -Head
La faccia - Face
Il naso - Nose
La bocca -Mouth
I capelli - Hair
La schiena -Back
La pancia -Stomach/belly
La mano / le mani - Hand / hands
Il dito / le dita - Finger / fingers
Il piede / i piedi - Foot / feet
Il braccio / le braccia -Arm / arms
La gamba / le gambe- Leg/legs
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Today’s topic is something that I really wanted to lend a hand with. But I realized it couldn’t be done in the blink of an eye. It takes some time to get your head around it..
K: Wow Matteo, these puns are really getting out of hand.
M: Terrible…
K: Matteo’s just shown us how lots of everyday expressions contain body parts. This is true for Italian, too.
M: Yes, and they’re also really practical to know. They’re useful if you need to visit a pharmacy or you aren’t feeling well.
K: And they’re a great way to make small talk, because we all have a story about a bit of pain that we like to vent about.
M: Italians loooove doing this!
K: Speaking of which, in a second, you’ll hear Matteo and I using some of the body parts that are causing us the most grief. But before we get going, we have a little favour to ask. Could you hit the subscribe or follow button in your podcast app? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
M: OK, so here’s a typical conversation we might have in the car. How many body parts can you hear?
M: Occhio… stai dritta con le spalle!
K: Io? E tu? Guarda come sei seduto
M: Ma… (gets interrupted)
K: Ora capisco perché hai sempre mal di schiena quando guidi.
M: Calma… voglio solo darti una mano con la postura!
K: Matteo said to me:
M: Occhio…stai dritta con le spalle! - Careful…keep your shoulders straight!
Occhio - eye
Stai - you stay
Dritta - straight
Con - with
Le - the
Spalle - shoulders
K: You just heard the first body part, le spalle. It means shoulders.
M: Le spalle (x2)
K: Matteo’s always accusing me of having bad posture, usually when I’m working and I don’t have my computer at the right height.
M: Good posture is very important for Italians. You’ll often hear parents telling their children to stand and sit properly.
K: You might have noticed that Matteo said le spalle for your shoulders, which as we’ve seen literally translates to “the shoulders”. In Italian, when talking about body parts, we use “the” rather than “my, your” and so on.
M: Yes, I didn’t say your shoulders, I just said: le spalle
Le - the
Spalle - shoulders
K: It’s nearly always clear whose body part we’re talking about from the context of the conversation, so it works! Your shoulders, or “the shoulders:
M: Le spalle (x2)
K: At the beginning, Matteo used another body part:
M: Occhio - eye
K: It’s an expression that you can use all the time to mean “watch out”. It makes a lot of sense to use the body part “eye”. It’s one word, simple, and really emphasizes the body part you need to use in that moment.
M: For example, if you were crossing the street and wanted someone to watch out for a car coming, you could say occhio! Or if you wanted to point out something that someone could stand on or trip over, you might say occhio !
K: But I’m not the only one with aches and pains. That’s why I said to Matteo:
M: Io? E tu? - Me? And you?
Io - I?
E - and
Tu - you?
M: Guarda come sei seduto - Look at how you’re sat
Guarda - look
Come - how
Sei - you are
Seduto - sat
K: Matteo tried to defend himself so he said
M: Ma… - but
K: And then I interrupted him to say
M: Ora capisco perché - now I understand why
Ora - now
Capisco - I understand
Perché - why
hai sempre mal di schiena quando guidi - you always have backache when you drive:
Hai - you have
Sempre - always
Mal - bad
Di - of
Schiena - back
Quando - when
Guidi - you drive
K: The next body part you heard was schiena - back.
M: Schiena (x2)
K: I should mention that Matteo always has very good posture. He even uses a standing desk at home. But when he’s sat down for ages when he drives, his back starts to hurt.
M: If only there were a standing car…
K: Here, you heard a phrase that’s really useful to use when you have a pain, which literally means “bad of”
M: mal di (x2)
K: A bad back, or backache is:
M: Mal di schiena (x2)
K: How would you say “headache”? Head is testa (x2). Headache, literally “bad of head”:
M: Mal di testa (x2)
K: And we use “have” with this expression. “I have” is ho (x2). I have a headache?
M: Ho mal di testa (x2)
K: This expression works with the main ones, such as headache, backache, toothache, stomach ache etc. just like in English: it can sound a little off to say “ankle ache”.
M: If you want to learn simple ways to talk about many different body parts and pains, you’ll find out how over on our blog, by following the link in the description.
K: I hate it when Matteo corrects my posture, and my reaction was a bit defensive, so Matteo replied:
M: Calma… voglio solo darti una mano con la postura! - calm down…I only want to give you a hand with your posture
Calma - calm
Voglio - I want
Solo - only
Darti - give you
Una - a
mano - hand
Con - with
La postura - the posture
K: Here we have another expression with body parts. Darti una mano (x2), to give you a hand. Or simply, to give a hand, without the “ti”:
M: Dare una mano (x2)
K: You can use this in loads of contexts, like if you go to an Italian’s house for dinner and you want to offer your help in the kitchen or setting the table.
M: For example, you might go into the kitchen and say, posso dare una mano - can I give a hand?
Posso - I can
Dare - give
Una mano - a hand
K: Or if a nice Italian is noticing that you might need some help with something, like getting a train ticket or figuring out directions, they might ask you:
M: Vuole una mano - Do you want a hand
Vuole - you want (formal)
Una - a
Mano - hand
K: But there is something a bit unusual about la mano. It ends in an “o”. In Italian, words ending in “o” are usually masculine.
M: Not so in this case! Mano is actually a feminine word, that’s why we have to say LA mano - the hand or UNA mano - a hand.
K: Some Italian body parts can be quite irregular like this, so to help you get them right, you’ll find a full guide by following the link in the description. For now, let’s see if you can remember the body parts we used in our conversation. What’s the word used in the expression that means “watch out”? It literally means “eye”
[...]
M: Occhio (x2)
K: And how do we say “shoulders” in Italian?
[...]
M: Le spalle (x2)
K: The one that’s causing Matteo grief, what about the Italian for “back”?
[...]
M: La schiena (x2)
K: What’s the expression we can use to offer help? To give a hand?
[...]
M: Dare una mano (x2)
K: Let’s listen to the whole conversation again.
M: Occhio… stai dritta con le spalle!
K: Io? E tu? Guarda come sei seduto
M: Ma… (gets interrupted)
K: Ora capisco perché hai sempre mal di schiena quando guidi.
M: Calma… voglio solo darti una mano con la postura!
M: Now you’ve heard a few body parts in Italian, but you’ll probably want to know more, which you’ll find in the accompanying lesson over on our website.
K: You’ll also find more everyday expressions using body parts and some common mistakes to avoid. For example, do you know what happens with certain body parts when you say them in the plural? Click the link in the description to find the answer!
K: See you next time 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: Body parts in Italian
Vocabulary
La testa = Head
Il ginocchio = Knee
La bocca = Mouth
Il naso = Nose
Mi fa male… = My…hurts
Faccia a faccia = Face to face
Le spalle = Shoulders
La schiena = Back
Dare una mano = To give a hand
Occhio = Watch out
Flashcards: Body parts in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
