Waking up, having un caffè, eating breakfast…
You can’t speak Italian for long without talking about the things you often do (or don’t do!)
To talk about your routine, you’ll need those ‘how often’ words - the ones that tell you how often something happens, like “often”, “always” and “never”.
So here you’ll pick up all the tips you need to make these phrases part of your everyday Italian.
Speaking of everyday Italian phrases, how would you say “every day”?
How to say: “Every Day” in Italian
A 7am wake up? A shot of espresso? Learning Italian with Joy of Languages?
Whatever you do “every day”, in Italian, the phrase you’ll need is:
Ogni giorno
Ogni = every / each
Giorno = day
With these “how often” words we’re going to pay close attention to the position in the sentence. Typically, ogni giorno will go at the beginning or at the end (a bit like in English!).
Here’s how it looks:
Ogni giorno mi sveglio alle sette. - Every day I wake up at 7.
Ogni giorno studio l’italiano - Every day I study Italian (bravo!)
Leggo il giornale ogni giorno. - I read the paper every day.
Notice the gn in ogni? This letter combo actually sounds like ‘ny’, and you might recognise it from another Italian word - lasagne! (sounds like ‘lasanye’). To learn more, check out this post on how to pronounce -gn- in Italian.
Once you’ve mastered ogni giorno, it’s worth learning another way to say “every day”:
Tutti i giorni
Literally, “all the days”, it also goes at the beginning of the sentence:
Tutti = all
i = the
giorni = days
Tutti i giorni, mi sveglio alle sette. - Every day I wake up at 7.
Italians use both ogni giorno and tutti i giorni, well, every day. They’re equally common.
Of course, you can always use “always” instead…
How to say “Always”
To say “always” Italians use the word sempre.
What do you always do in the evening?
Mangio sempre la pasta per cena - I always have pasta for dinner
Vado sempre a dormire alla stessa ora - I always go to sleep at the same time
Prendo* sempre un caffè. - I always have a coffee (lit. ‘take’ coffee)
*In Italian, we say ‘prendo’ (I take) to talk about coffee. So we don’t have coffee, we take it!
Notice anything different about the position of sempre? It usually goes just after the main verb:
Mangio sempre - I always eat…
Vado sempre - I always go…
That’s kind of different from the normal English word order. And it’s probably the thing that Italian learners find hardest about this topic.
But tranquillo! Don’t worry, the more you listen to Italian, the more you’ll get a natural feel for where to put these words.
What if you’re not doing something every day, exactly, but just most of the time? How would you say ‘usually’ in Italian?
How to say: “usually” in Italian
Here’s a bit of a weird one… Italians usually use two words to say ‘usually’!
Di solito - Usually
This can take a bit of getting used to at first, but you’ll hear it so often that it’ll come to you naturally over time.
Have a look at those breakfast phrases again, this time with di solito. Notice anything different about the sentence structure?
Di solito prendo un cappuccino. - I usually have a cappuccino.
Di solito mangio i cereali. - I usually eat cereal.
Di solito salto la colazione. - I usually skip breakfast.
That’s right, di solito normally goes at the beginning of the sentence.
It’s worth paying special attention to the pronunciation, because learners tend to get it wrong. The emphasis goes on the SOL part of the word: it’s di SOLito, not di soLITo.
Now you know, you won’t often make mistakes with that.
But you will need to talk about other things you often do!
How to say: “often” in Italian
What do you often have for breakfast?
Prendo spesso un cappuccino. - I often have a cappuccino.
Mangio spesso i cereali. - I often eat cereal.
Salto spesso la colazione. - I often skip breakfast.
Can you spot the Italian word for often?
It’s spesso.
Once again, pay close attention to the position. The word spesso, like sempre, typically goes just after the verb. Italian word order is more flexible than English, however, so don't be surprised if you hear it in other positions of the sentence.
Italian learners can sometimes confuse spesso with other similar sounding words, like stesso (same) or spesa (shopping) - so watch out! Try remembering this little phrase:
Prendo spesso un espresso - I often have an espresso.
If you can remember that spesso rhymes with espresso, it should cause you no trouble!
But it’s ok to make mistakes sometimes. And speaking of sometimes…
How to say “sometimes” in Italian
What do you do after breakfast?
A volte faccio una passeggiata - Sometimes I go for a walk.
Leggo il giornale a volte - I read the newspaper sometimes.
Prendo due caffè a volte - I have two coffees sometimes.
In Italian, the word “sometimes” is:
A volte
Literally, it’s like “at times” - if that helps you remember it.
The position of a volte is less fixed: you can put it at the beginning or at the end.
Pay close attention to the last vowel of a volte. Italians enunciate all their vowels really carefully, so it sounds like a strong ‘-e’. Try saying ‘ten’ without the ‘n’... ‘te!’ Now you’re close to the Italian pronunciation.
That last vowel is also important to distinguish a volte from its variation:
Qualche volta - Sometimes
In this expression, the last letter is ‘a’. Both words mean exactly the same thing: you can use them interchangeably.
If this variation feels a bit confusing (as it does to most people!) we’d suggest picking the one you like most. You can always learn the other one later.
You’ll be fine, so long as you never underestimate those vowel sounds! Speaking of never…
How to say “never” in Italian
What do you never do as part of your routine?
Non cucino mai. - I never cook.
Non mangio mai fuori. - I never eat out.
Non prendo mai un caffè dopo le cinque. - I never have a coffee after five.
Once you know this one, you’ll never forget it:
Mai
The pronunciation is easy, it sounds like “my” in English. The slightly complicated part with “never” in Italian is the sentence structure.
Italian uses a double negative to say never. Let’s break down our first example:
Non cucino mai - I never cook.
Literally, that’s:
Non - Not
Cucino - I cook
Mai - never
At first that can seem strange - but to Italians the phrase without non at the beginning would not sound complete. It's a negative sandwich, with the verb as the filling.
Let’s try another example. How would you say: “I never read the newspaper”?
Non leggo mai il giornale
And what about: “I never have coffee”?
Non prendo mai il caffè
Getting the hang of the pattern? Here’s another handy variation on this word…
How to say “hardly ever”
Once you know how to say ‘never’ in Italian (mai), saying “hardly ever” is easy!
Quasi mai
Literally, that’s:
Quasi = almost
Mai = never
And you use it just like mai - with a negative sandwich.
Non cucino quasi mai. - I hardly ever cook.
Non mangio quasi mai fuori. - I hardly ever eat out.
So, there you go! You’ve learned all the most important “how often” words and other everyday Italian phrases to describe your routine.
Now before our quiz to test your knowledge, it’s time for a quick review.
Everyday Italian Phrases to Describe Your Routine: Review
Here are all the “how often” words you’ve learned in this lesson, in order of most to least often:
Ogni giorno - Every day
Tutti i giorni - Every day (another way to say it)
Sempre - Always
Spesso - Often
Di solito - Usually
Qualche volta - Sometimes
A volte - Sometimes (another way to say it)
Quasi mai - Hardly ever
Mai - Never
Now it’s time for our quiz!
Vocabulary: Everyday Italian Phrases to Describe Your Routine
Ogni giorno = Every day
Ogni giorno mi sveglio presto = Every day I wake up early
Tutti i giorni = Every day (lit. all the days)
Sempre = Always
Mangio sempre i cereali = I always eat cereal
Spesso = Often
Mi sveglio spesso alle sette = I often wake up at seven
Di solito = Usually
Di solito salto la colazione = I usually skip breakfast
A volte = Sometimes
A volte faccio una passeggiata = Sometimes I go for a walk
Quasi mai = Hardly ever
Non cucino quasi mai = I hardly ever cook
Mai = Never
Non cucino mai = I never cook
Fare colazione = To have breakfast
Alle nove = At nine
Quiz: Everyday Italian Phrases to Describe Your Routine
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Everyday Italian Phrases to Describe Your Routine
Flashcards: Everyday Italian Phrases to Describe Your Routine
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Transcript: Everyday Italian Phrases to Describe Your Routine
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
M: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
K: Matteo, what are you doing? I usually say that bit!
M: Well, maybe sometimes I could do the introduction, you know, for a change.
K: Yeah but, why change a good routine? Anyway, speaking of routines, today we’re talking about all those useful words like “sometimes”, “usually” and “never”, in Italian. You’ll hear a conversation about something Matteo is often disappointed about at breakfast time. As you listen, see if you can recognise any of those “how often” words in Italian:
M: Buongiorno [triste]
K: Tutto bene?
M: Ogni giorno mi sveglio presto perché mi piace fare colazione al bar. Ma arrivo sempre troppo tardi. Non c’è mai il croissant vegano.
K: Presto?! Alle nove. A volte alle dieci.
M: No, di solito alle otto, spesso alle sette!
K: Hmmm. Che ore sono adesso?
M: Le nove e mezza.
K: OK - let’s break that down. We had:
Buongiorno - Hello, literally ‘good day’
Tutto bene - Is everything ok? Literally:
Tutto - All
Bene - Good
K: Then:
Ogni giorno mi sveglio presto - Every day I wake up early
Ogni giorno - every day
Mi sveglio - I wake up
Presto - early
K: Ogni giorno, our first “how often” word, means every day.
M:
Ogni - every
Giorno - day
Ogni, is spelt o-g-n-i.
K: But we don’t say “og-ni”. Here we’ve got the ‘gn’ sound combo which is pronounced like ny. Like in the ’ny’ in lasagne.
M: Ogni (slow)
Every day:
M: Ogni giorno (x3).
K: Ogni giorno can go at the beginning: ‘Every day, I wake up early’.
M: Ogni giorno mi sveglio presto
K: Or at the end, just like in English
M: Mi sveglio presto ogni giorno
K: Next up we had:
Perché mi piace fare colazione al bar - because I like having breakfast at the café
Perché - because
Mi piace - I like
Fare colazione - ‘doing’ breakfast. Italians “do breakfast”, rather than have it
Al bar - at the café. In Italian, rather confusingly, we say ‘bar’ to refer to a café or coffee shop.
K: Then:
Ma arrivo sempre troppo tardi - But I always arrive too late
Ma - but
Arrivo - I arrive
Sempre - always
Troppo - too
Tardi - late
K: Here’s our second “how often” word: sempre, which means “always”.
M: Sempre (x 3)
K: This word goes just after the verb, which in this case is ‘arrivo’, I arrive.
M: Arrivo sempre
K: So literally it’s, “I arrive always” - I think the position of these words is one of the trickiest things to get right in Italian, so listen carefully to where you hear them being used in the sentence. Over time, you’ll start to feel it sounds “right” in a certain place.
We then had:
Non c’è mai il croissant vegano. - there are never any vegan croissants
Non - not
C’è - there is
Mai - never
Il croissant - the croissant
Vegano - vegan
M: I’m not actually vegan, but I am lactose intolerant, so I often go for vegan alternatives!
K: Our next “how often word” was mai.
M: Non c’è mai - There is never.
K: Here we see the Italian double negative. Literally:
Non - not
C’è - there is
Mai - never
K: When we use ‘mai’, we also need to put ‘non’ before the verb. So it’s ‘non’, plus ‘the thing that never happens’, then ‘mai’. For example, I forget is dimentico. ‘I never forget’ would literally be ‘not, I forget, never’.
M:
Non dimentico mai
K: ‘There is never’, literally ‘not, there is, never’
M: Non c’è mai.
K: Then I said:
Presto!?
Early!?
Alle nove - At nine
A volte alle dieci - Sometimes at ten.
K: A volte, literally “at times”:
A - At
Volte - Times
A volte (x3)
Matteo then said:
No, di solito alle otto - No, usually at eight!
No - No
Di solito - usually
Alle otto - at eight
K: Di solito means ‘usually’. It’s two words: di and solito. And there’s a pronunciation mistake learners usually make. It’s not di soLIto, it’s di SOLito
M: Di SOLito (x3)
K: Matteo then says:
Spesso alle sette! - Often at seven!
K: Spesso - often.
M: Spesso (x3)
K: Then we had:
Che ore sono adesso? - What time is it now? For a refresher on how to tell the time in Italian, have a listen to episode 31.
K: Finally:
Le nove e mezza - Half past nine / nine thirty. Maybe that’s why there are no croissants left!
M: Let’s quickly review those “how often” words.
K: We had “every day”
M: Ogni giorno
K: Always
M: Sempre
K: Never
M: Mai
K: Remember the non. “There is never” literally ‘not, there is, never’:
M: Non c’è mai.
K: Sometimes, literally “at times”
M: A volte
K: Usually
M: Di solito
K: Often
M: Spesso
K: Let’s listen to the dialogue again
M: Buongiorno [triste]
K: Tutto bene?
M: Ogni giorno mi sveglio presto perché mi piace fare colazione al bar. Ma arrivo sempre troppo tardi. Non c’è mai il croissant vegano.
K: Presto?! Alle nove. A volte alle dieci.
M: No, di solito alle otto, spesso alle sette!
K: Hmmm. Che ore sono adesso?
M: Le nove e mezza.
K: Now, we’ve covered the must-know “how-often” words, but over on the blog you’ll find a few more, together with details like where to put them in the sentence. You can also see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz. Head over by clicking on the link in the description.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
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