When you’re in Italy, knowing how to say “great” is a simple way to sound warm and friendly with Italians.
But there isn’t just one word for “great” in Italian that works in every situation.
In this post, you’ll learn one of the most common ways to say “great”, plus a few other useful options so you can choose the right word depending on the situation.
How to Say Great in Italian
To say “great” in Italian you can say: grande! Pronunciation: GRAHN-deh
You can use this way of saying “great” in Italian if you want to give a friendly reply after an Italian has shared some good news with you or they’ve done something impressive.
For example:
- Faccio un corso di cucina. -I’m doing a cooking course.
-Grande! -Great!
And:
-Vado in Sicilia questa estate. -I’m going to Sicily this summer.
-Grande! -Great!
💡Good to know You might already know grande as the word “big” in Italian. It’s the same word, but when you use it in this way it means “great”.
Other Ways to Say Great in Italian
Grande isn’t always the right choice in Italian. Here are some of the other words for “great” that you’ll need in other situations.
Benissimo
Pronunciation: Beh-NEES-see-moh
Benissimo in Italian literally means “very good” or “really well”. You can usually use it to say that something’s great when:
-
You’re agreeing to plans:
-Andiamo tutti in pizzeria stasera? -Shall we all go to the pizzeria this evening?
-Benissimo! -Great!
-
To say how something is going:
-Come va con la nuova casa? -How’s it going with the new house?
- Benissimo, grazie! -Great, thank you!
Ottimo
Pronunciation: Oht-TEE-moh
You can usually use ottimo in Italian to talk about something that’s great, when:
-
You’re praising someone:
Ottima* idea! -Great idea!
-
To say something is high quality:
Sorbillo è un’ottima pizzeria a Milano. -Sorbillo is a great pizzeria in Milan.
-
If you’re really enjoying food or drink:
Questo vino è ottimo. -This wine is great.
Questa carbonara è ottima. -This carbonara is great.
*We say ottima , with -a, because it goes with idea , which in Italian is a feminine word. In Italian, words like ottimo change depending on the word they describe. The rest of the words for “great” in this list work the same way 👇
Fantastico
Pronunciation: Fan-TAS-tee-koh
You can use fantastico in Italian to say that something is “great”, “amazing” or “wonderful”.
-
You can use it by itself to show you’re happy about something, including showing you’re happy for someone else’s good news:
-Qui puoi mangiare piatti tipici fatti in casa. -Here you can eat typical homemade dishes.
-Fantastico! -Amazing!
And:
-Vado a vedere un’opera alla Scala. -I’m going to see an opera at the Scala.
-Fantastico! -Amazing!
-
You can also use fantastico in a sentence to say that something or someone is particularly good:
Questa guida turistica è fantastica! -This tour guide is great!
If you want to read more about how fantastico works in Italian, you can read our blogpost on how (and when) to say amazing in Italian .
Perfetto
Pronunciation: Per-FET-toh
You can use perfetto in Italian a lot like “perfect” in English to say:
-
That something doesn’t have any faults:
Il tuo italiano è perfetto! -Your Italian is perfect!
-
To say that a plan works well:
- Ordiniamo una pizza? -Shall we order a pizza?
- Perfetto! -Perfect!
Bello
Pronunciation: BEL-loh
You might know the word bello in Italian as “beautiful” and it can mean this too, but it can also mean “great”, “nice” or “lovely”. Here’s how you can use it:
-
You’re describing something that you find enjoyable:
Grazie per la bella serata. -Thank you for the great evening.
-
Or you’re reacting to some good news:
-Compriamo una casa in Toscana. -We’re buying a house in Tuscany.
- Che bello! -How lovely!
If you want to know more about how bello works in Italian, you can read our blogpost on 3 Italian words for beautiful that Italians actually use .
Bravissimo
Pronunciation: Brah-VEES-see-moh
You can use bravissimo to mean “great” in Italian when:
-
You’re saying a person is talented:
Sophie Loren è una bravissima attrice. -Sophie Loren is a great actress.
-
You’re saying someone has lots of nice qualities:
Mia cugina è una bravissima persona. -My cousin is a great person.
Great in Italian: Which Word Should You Use?: Review
-
You can use grande in Italian to say “great” when an Italian has told you some good news or something impressive.
For example:
- Faccio un corso di cucina. -I’m doing a cooking course.
-Grande! -Great!
-
There are other words for “great” that work better depending on the situation. For example perfetto when you’re agreeing to plans that work well, or bravo/a to describe a good person.
| Ottimo | Great | Oht-TEE-moh |
| Fantastico | Fantastic / Amazing | Fan-TAS-tee-koh |
| Perfetto | Perfect | Per-FET-toh |
| Bello | Beautiful / Great / Lovely | BEL-loh |
| Benissimo | Very well / Great | Beh-NEES-see-moh |
| Bravissimo | Great / Kind | Brah-VEES-see-moh |
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to Learn Italian with Joy of Languages.
M: In today’s episode, you’ll learn the natural ways Italians say “great”.
K: It might seem like a simple topic, but even advanced learners can get it wrong because they don’t always use the word for “great” the way Italians do.
M: But before we get started on how to say “great” in Italian, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you click 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 we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
K: So, starting with one simple word for “great” that you can use in Italian.
M: Grande! (x2)
K: You can use this way of saying “great” to compliment someone if they tell you good news or did something well, or even just show you’re pleasantly surprised about something. It’s a word for “great” that you would use in informal situations. So, for example, if an Italian tells you they’re trying to learn your language, or they come from the same small town your grandparents are from, you could say:
M: Grande!
K: You might already know this word as meaning “big” in Italian. It’s the same word, but when you use it on its own like this, an Italian would usually think you meant “great”.
M: But you can’t use grande to mean “great” all the time. For example, if an Italian suggests a plan to you, like “I’ll see you tomorrow at 2”, you wouldn’t say grande to confirm. We would understand you, but it doesn’t sound natural.
There are a couple of words you can use instead to show that a plan works for you. One is perfetto. Literally “perfect”. Perfetto.
K: So if I said to Matteo, ordiniamo una pizza?, shall we order a pizza, he would probably say:
M: Perfetto!
K: Another word you can use to show that a plan works well for you is benissimo .
M: Benissimo (x2) . You can add -issimo to the end of certain words in Italian and it makes them mean “very”. Here we have bene, good, and we add -issimo to it to make it mean “very good”. Benissimo.
K: So, again with the example of the pizza, if I asked Matteo ordiniamo una pizza? he could reply:
M: Benissimo!
K: And if you wanted to describe something as “great” in Italian to sound really positive, like a great restaurant, you wouldn’t say grande either.
M: Usually to describe something as “great” in Italian we’d say ottimo (x2). Like è un ottimo ristorante. It’s a great restaurant. È un ottimo ristorante .
K: We say “ottimo” with an o at the end because ristorante is a masculine word. If we had a feminine word, like the word “idea” idea we’d say ottima (x2). For example, ottima idea Great idea. Ottima idea.
You’ve heard a few different words for “great” in Italian. Let’s see if you can remember what they are and when you’d use them.
What’s a way of saying “great” as a friendly reply if an Italian tells you good news, something impressive or something that is a nice surprise, like saying they’re from the same place as your grandparents.
M: Grande! (x2)
K: What two words could we use to say that a plan works well for us. One literally means “perfect” and the other “very good”.
M: Perfetto (x2). And benissimo (x2).
K: And what’s the word that I could use to describe something as great, like in the phrase “it’s a great restaurant”.
M: Ottimo (x2). For example, è un ottimo ristorante .
K: And what about the feminine version for this one, like if I said “great idea”.
M: Ottima (x2) . For example, Ottima idea.
K: You heard some of the main ways to say “great” in Italian, but there are more.
M: Like the words for “great” we’d use to say “thank you for a great evening”, or “I had a great trip” or “she’s a great person”. Here we wouldn’t use the words you’ve heard in this episode.
K: To see the common words for “great” in one place, and how to say them in everyday phrases you can use in Italy, just click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 226.
K: See you next time.
M: 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: Great in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Great in Italian
Vocabulary
Grazie per la bella serata = Thank you for the great evening
Sorbillo è un’ottima pizzeria a Milano = Sorbillo is a great pizzeria in Milan.
Andiamo tutti in pizzeria stasera? Benissimo! = Shall we all go to the pizzeria this evening? Great!
Questa guida turistica è fantastica! = This tour guide is great!
Che bello! = How lovely!
Ottima idea! = Great idea!
È un ottimo ristorante = It’s a great restaurant
Ordiniamo una pizza? Perfetto! = Shall we order a pizza? Perfect!
Mia cugina è una bravissima persona = My cousin is a great person
Flashcards: Great in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
