“But” is one of those words that you use all the time, no matter the language. In this post, you’ll learn how to use “but” in Italian with ma , però , and more.
There are just a few differences between the ways you use “but” in Italian and English. Once you get the hang of these, your sentences will sound more fluent and natural.
The Most Common Way to Say But in Italian: Ma
You can translate “but” in Italian with one very common word: ma.
Like in English, you can use ma to link two sentences together and show contrast.
| Ma | Mah |
For example:
Mi piace la pizza, ma preferisco la pasta -I like pizza, but I prefer pasta
È una bella giornata, ma fa molto caldo -It’s a beautiful day, but it’s very hot
Questo ristorante è buono, ma un po’ caro -This restaurant is good, but a bit expensive
How to Say But in Italian Using Però
Another way you can say “but” in Italian is with the word però. It’s still a very common word for “but”, but not as common as ma.
| Però | Peh-ROH |
One tricky thing about però is the pronunciation. The stress falls on the last syllable, so it’s not PER-oh, but peh-ROH.
That’s also why the ò is written with an accent, to show you it’s where the stress should fall.
For example:
Mi piace questa città, però è un po’ caotica -I like this city, but it’s a bit chaotic
Il supermercato è vicino, però è chiuso oggi - The supermarket is nearby, but it’s closed today
Vorrei andare al museo, però non ho tempo -I’d like to go the museum, but I don’t have time
“But” in Italian: what’s the difference between ma and però
You can use ma and però to say “but” in Italian. So what’s the difference?
Short answer: there is none!
Most of the time, you can use either ma or però and it has the same meaning. For example you could say:
Mi piace la pizza, ma preferisco la pasta -I like pizza, but I prefer pastaOr: Mi piace la pizza, però preferisco la pasta -I like pizza, but I prefer pasta
However, you can put però at the end of the sentence in Italian to say “though”. (This can’t be done with ma, it can only go at the start or middle).
For example:
Mi piace la pizza, preferisco la pasta però -I like pizza, I prefer pasta though
Italians also start their sentences with ma to show surprise or disbelief.
For example:
Andiamo al cinema? -Shall we go to the cinema?
Ma non è chiuso? -But isn’t it closed?
Here are also some key informal Italian expressions with ma . They’re really useful because Italians use them a lot in conversation, but you probably won’t find these in a textbook.
| Ma come? | But how? | Mah koh-meh? |
| Ma perché? | But why? | Mah pehr-keh? |
| Ma dai! | Come on! / No way! | Mah dye! |
| Ma va! | No way! / You’re kidding! | Mah vah! |
For example:
Non parlo bene l’italiano -I don’t speak Italian well
Ma va! Cosa dici! - No way! What are you talking about?
Non mi piace il gelato -I don’t like ice-cream
Ma perché? -But why?
3 Other Words for “but” in Italian
-
Solo che
Solo che is a great way to add a little detail or exception to what you're saying. It's like
saying “only that” or “it’s just that…”
| Solo che | Only that | SOH-loh keh |
For example:
Voglio visitare il Vaticano, solo che non ho i biglietti -I want to visit the Vatican, only I don’t have tickets
-
Tranne
If you mean “but” in the sense of “except for” or “apart from”, you can use tranne.
| Tranne | Except for | TRAHN-neh |
For example:
Abbiamo visitato tutte le città italiane, tranne una -We visited all the Italian cities but one
-
Invece
Invece can be used to mean “but” in Italian. You can sometimes translate it by “instead”, “rather” or “on the other hand”, although there’s not always a direct translation.
If you’re able to get the hang of invece , it shows you’re well on your way to speaking really natural Italian. It’s a word used by Italians all the time.
| Invece | Instead | Een-VEH-cheh |
For example:
Vado a Firenze. Invece loro vanno a Pisa -I’m going to Florence. But they’re going to Pisa.
But in Italian: When to Use Ma, Però, and More: Review
Let's recap the main ways to say "but" in Italian:
-
To say “but” in Italian, you can say ma or però .
-
Però can go at the end of the sentence to mean “though” .
-
Ma can be used at the beginning of the sentence to show surprise or disbelief. It’s also used in lots of common expressions like:
Ma come? - But how?
Ma perché? - But why?
Ma dai! - Come on! / No way!
Ma va! - No way! / You’re kidding!
-
Other words for “but” in Italian are:
Solo che -Only that
Tranne -Except for
Invece -Instead
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: If you’re not sure which words to learn first in Italian, “but” should definitely be on your list.
K: Without it, your sentences won’t flow as smoothly. Learning it helps you sound more fluent, especially once you get used to how Italians use "but" a bit differently compared to in English.
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: One word that you can use to say “but” is ma (x2)
K: You can use this word exactly like the English, to show a kind of contrast between two sentences. For example if I wanted to say: Rome is nice, but it’s too big. In Italian this would be:
M: Roma è bella, ma è troppo grande. Literally:
Roma - Rome
è – is
Bella – beautiful
Ma – but
È – it’s
Troppo – too
Grande – big
K: Or,
M: Questo ristorante è buono, ma un po’ caro - This restaurant is good, but a bit expensive.
Questo - this
Ristorante - restaurant
È - is
Buono - good
Ma - but
Un - a
Po’ - bit
Caro - expensive
K: But there’s another word for “but” in Italian:
M: Però
K: The difficult thing about però is the pronunciation. The stress on the word falls on the last part, the ò. So it’s not PEro, but perÒ.
M: Però (x2)
K: If you’re wondering, how do I know whether I should use però or ma to say “but” in Italian: good news. You can pick either one. They’re usually interchangeable.
M: For example, if you wanted to say “Rome is nice, but it’s too big” you could also say Roma è bella però è troppo grande:
Roma - Rome
è – is
Bella – beautiful
Però – but
È – it’s
Troppo – too
Grande – big
K: Però and ma mean exactly the same thing, but però is more flexible in the word order. You can also use it at the end of the sentence. Like if I told Matteo he plays lots of video games, he might say:
M: I read a lot, though.
K: Which in Italian would be…
M: Leggo molto, però.
Leggo - I read
Molto - a lot
Però - though
K: OK, so you’ve learned that ma and però both mean “but”, and that usually they’re interchangeable. And that the main difference is that però can also go at the end of the sentence.
Now let’s come back to “ma” for a moment, because it has another usage that’s really common in Italian. It can go at the beginning of a sentence in Italian, often to show surprise or disbelief. For example, if I told Matteo, “let’s go out!” and we hadn’t had lunch yet, he’d probably say:
M: Ma non vuoi mangiare prima - But don’t you want to eat first?
Ma - but
Non - not
Vuoi - you want
Mangiare - to eat
Prima - first
K: Sometimes we can translate this ma at the beginning with "but" in English, but other times it doesn't really have a direct translation, it just adds a sense of surprise.
There are also lots of common Italian expressions with ma at the beginning.
M: Like Ma come? - How? As a question to show surprise. Literally:
Ma - but
Come - how
K: For example, if someone said to you, I’ve been to Italy, but I’ve never eaten pizza, you could say:
M: Ma come? (x2). It’s like saying “but how is that possible?”
K: Or there’s also the expression ma dai in Italian, which is like “come on” or “no way”. You can use it to show you don’t really believe what someone is saying. Like if I said to Matteo that “food in Italy isn’t as good as people think”, he would say:
M: Ma dai (x2)
K: Another example, did you know that tourists leave up to 3000 euros per day in the trevi fountain in Rome?
M: Ma dai (x2)
K: It’s true!
[...]
K: Let’s see what you can remember about how to say “but” in Italian. First of all, what are the two important words that you can use interchangeably to mean “but” in Italian?
[...]
M: Ma and però .
K: Rome is nice but it’s too big, with “ma”
M: Rome è bella ma è troppo grande (x2)
K: Now let’s try with “però”:
M: Rome è bella però è troppo grande (x2)
K: But which is the one that you should use at the end of the sentence, to mean “though”?
[...]
M: Però
K: Matteo, said “I read a lot, though”:
M: Leggo molto, però (x2)
K: And what’s the expression with ma at the start that means “how” or “how is that possible”? For example, if I say I’ve been to Italy but never eaten pizza?
[...]
M: Ma come? (x2)
K: And if I say that Italian food isn’t that great, what’s the expression Matteo can say, which is a bit like “come on” or “no way” to show he doesn’t believe me:
M: Ma dai! (x2)
K: There are three other common Italian expressions related to “but” that we haven’t mentioned.
M: They’re really useful to know because they help you speak in full sentences so that your Italian can flow more.
K: To find out what they are, head over to our website by clicking on the link in the description. Or you can go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 173.
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: But in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: But in Italian
Vocabulary
Mi piace la pizza, preferisco la pasta però = I like pizza, I prefer pasta though
È una bella giornata, ma fa molto caldo = It’s a beautiful day, but it’s very hot
Questo ristorante è buono, ma un po’ caro = This restaurant is good, but a bit expensive
Mi piace questa città, però è un po’ caotica = I like this city, but it’s a bit chaotic
Il supermercato è vicino, però è chiuso oggi = The supermarket is nearby, but it’s closed today
Abbiamo visitato tutte le città, tranne una = We visited all the cities but one
Voglio visitare il Vaticano, solo che non ho i biglietti = I want to visit the Vatican, only I don’t have tickets
Roma è bella ma è troppo grande = Rome is beautiful but it’s too big
Leggo molto, però = I read a lot, though
Flashcards: But in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
