Last summer, we met our student Rick for lunch in Milan.
He was full of energy because he’d just got back from a village in Sicily that he’d wanted to visit for decades. Not just any village…
The very special one where his Italian grandma, or nonna was born.
The Italians he met were curious and asked a lot of questions about his family. These conversations weren’t always easy, because he’d inherited the blood, not the language!
Luckily, Rick had been learning Italian, so, while he didn’t always say everything perfectly, he enjoyed his chats with the locals.
Italians often ask about the people in your life, whether you’ve got Italian origini like Rick, or your family in general.
So in this lesson, you’ll find 32 handy phrases to talk about them.
Italian Family Vocabulary Words
If you have an Italian grandma or grandpa, you might also have Italian aunts, uncles and cousins… let’s start with some essential words to talk about your famiglia.
| I miei nonni | My grandparents | EE MEE–EH NOH–NEE |
| Mia nonna | My grandmother | MEE–AH NOH–NEH |
| Mio nonno | My grandfather | MEE–OH NOH–NOH |
| I miei bisnonni | My great grandparents | EE MEE–EH BEES–NOH–NEE |
| La mia bisnonna | My great grandmother | LAH MEE–AH BEES–NOH–NAH |
| Il mio bisnonno | My great grandfather | EEL MEE–OH BEES–NOH–NOH |
| I miei genitori | My parents | EE MEE–YAY JEN–EE–TOH–REE |
| Mia mamma | My mom | MEE–AH MAH–MAH |
| Mia madre | My mother | MEE–AH MAH–DREH |
| Mio papà | My dad | MEE–OH PAH–PAH |
| Mio padre | My father | MEE–OH PAH–DREH |
| I miei cugini | My cousins | EE MEE–YEY COO–JEE–NEE |
| Mio cugino | My cousin (male) | MEE–OH COO–JEE–NOH |
| Mia cugina | My cousin (female) | MEE–AH COO–JEE–NAH |
| I miei zii | My aunt and uncle | EE MEE–YEY DZEE–EE |
| Mia zia | My aunt | MEE–AH DZEE–AH |
| Mio zio | My uncle | MEE–OH DZEE–OH |
| Il mio cognome è… | My surname is… | EEL MEE–OH CON–YOH–MEH EH |
How to Talk About Your Italian Origins
If you have Italian origins but you can’t speak Italian, don’t worry, it’s common! Back then, Italian immigrants were focused on helping their children integrate, rather than passing on their native language.
But as the Chinese proverb goes, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today! Here are some phrases that will help you tell Italians about your origini.
| Ho origini italiane | I have Italian origins | OH OR–EE–JEE–NEE EE–TAH–LEE–AH–NEH |
| Mio nonno si chiamava… | My grandfather was called… | MEE–OH NOH–NOH SEE KYA–MAH–VAH |
| Sono arrivati negli Stati Uniti nel… | They arrived in the United States in… (+ year) | SOH–NOH AH–REE–VAH–TAH NEY–LEE STAH–TEE OO–NEE–TEE NEL |
| È arrivata nel… | She arrived in… (+ year) | EH AH–REE–VAH–TAH NEL |
| È arrivato nel… | He arrived in… (+ year) | EH AH–REE–VAH–TOH NEL |
| È nata nel… | She was born in… (+ year) | EH NAH–TAH NEL |
| È nato nel… | He was born in… (+ year) | EH NAH–TOH NEL |
| Si sono sposati nel… | They married in… (+ year) | SEE SOH–NOH SPOH–SAH–TEE NEL |
You can mix and match these phrases with the vocabulary in the previous section to say what you want to say, for example:
Mia nonna si chiamava Rosa – My grandmother was called Rosa
È arrivata negli Stati Uniti nel 1946 – She arrived in the US in 1946
I miei nonni si sono sposati nel 1952 – My grandparents married in 1952
To learn how to say when important things happened in your family, check out these episodes on how to say years and how to say dates in Italian .
How to Say Where Your Family is From
Here’s some handy words to talk about different kinds of places, so you can share more details about where your family originates from.
| Un paese | A town/the country | OON PAH–EH–SEH |
| Un paesino | A village | OON PAH–EH–SEE–NOH |
| Una città | A city | OO–NAH CHEE–TAH |
| Una regione | A region | OO–NAH REH–JOH–NEH |
| Era di… | S/he was from… (+ town) | EH–RAH DEE |
| Erano di… | They were from… (+ town) | EH–RAH–NOH DEE |
| È nato a… | He was born in… (+ town) | EH NAH–TOH AH |
| È nata a… | She was born in… (+ town) | EH NAH–TAH AH |
Talking about locations can get a little tricky in Italian, so here are some rules that will help. You can start with:
Era… – S/he was…
Erano… – They were…
To talk about the town or village your family members come from, you can say di. For example:
Era di Roma – S/he was from Rome
Erano di Palermo – They were from Palermo
To talk about the region, we usually use words which are similar to nationalities. For example, from Italy, we say italiano (masculine) or italiana (feminine). From Sicily, we say siciliano (m) or siciliana (f).
Here are some examples:
Lombardo/a – From Lombardy (m/f)
Veneto/a – From Venice (m/f)
Toscano/a – From Tuscany (m/f)
Umbro/a – From Umbria (m/f)
Abruzzese – From Abruzzo
Calabrese – From Calabria
Pugliese – From Puglia
Good to know
Italian Origins: Avoid These Common Mistakes
You know how, in America, you can say “I’m Italian” to talk about your Italian origins? In Italy, it sounds a bit weird! In fact, if you translate the phrase directly and say…
Sono italiano – I’m Italian
… this usually means you were born and grew up in Italy, so the locals might feel confused as to why you don’t speak the language. It sounds more natural to say:
Ho origini italiane – I have Italian origins
Here are another couple of common mistakes to watch out for:
| Il villaggio | This often means “tourist resort”. To talk about a village, it’s more natural to say paese or paesino. | EEL VEE–LAD–JOH |
| I miei parenti | This means “my relatives”. Use it for grandparents, cousins etc. For “my parents”, say i miei genitori. | EE MEE–YEY PAH–REN–TEE |
Talk About Italian Origins: Review
You just learned lots of handy words to talk about your Italian origini or family in general. We started with some important vocabulary, such as:
I miei nonni – My grandparents
Mia nonna – My grandmother
Mio nonno – My grandfather
I miei genitori – My parents
Mia mamma – My mom
Mio papà – My dad
I miei cugini – My cousins
Mia cugina – My cousin (f)
Mio cugino – My cousin (m)
I miei zii – My aunts and uncles
Mia zia – My aunt
Mio zio – My uncle
And you learned some handy expressions to share more details about your family history, for example:
Si chiamava Rosa – She was called Rosa È arrivata negli Stati Uniti nel 1946 – She arrived in the US in 1946
I miei nonni si sono sposati nel 1952 – My grandparents married in 1952
Era di Roma – S/he was from Rome
Era pugliese – S/he was from Puglia
You’re nearly ready to go forth and talk about your famiglia! First… check out our quiz and vocabulary cards to help you remember what you learned in this lesson.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: If you’re listening to this on your podcast app could you do us un favore and 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 we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
K: Today we’re talking about origini italiane, Italian origins. Did you know that the Italian diaspora is around 60 to 80 million people?
M: That’s larger than the population of Italians in Italy!
K: This means lots of people have origini italiane, including many students in our Italian learning community. In fact, John sent us a message wondering if his family origini might be similar to Matteo’s.
M: Listen to the conversation. Can you hear any useful phrases for talking about Italian origins?
K: Sai che il nonno di John, un nostro studente, era di Caserta?
M: Vicino a Napoli.
K: Anche tu hai parenti lì?
M: No, i miei nonni erano di Napoli città
K: Non erano calabresi?
M: No, ma mio nonno ha vissuto in Calabria.
K: Ah!
M: E adesso ho cugini dappertutto!
K: I said:
M: Sai che il nonno di John – You know that John’s grandfather... Literally:
Sai – You know
Che – That
Il nonno – The grandfather
Di – Of
John – John
K: Italians often speak in a way that feels a bit like old English. John’s grandfather, the grandfather of John. Il nonno di John.
M: un nostro studente – one of our students
Un – one
Nostro – our
Studente – student
M: era di Caserta? – Was from Caserta?
Era – He was
Di – From
Caserta – Caserta
K: Caserta is a Municipality close to Naples. And here’s a useful phrase to say the town or village that someone in your family was from. Era di. He or she was from. So “my grandmother” is mia nonna. How would you say My grandmother was from Rome?
[...]
M: Mia nonna era di Roma (x2)
[...]
K: My grandfather is mio nonno. My grandfather was from Palermo.
[...]
M: Mio nonno era di Palermo (x2)
K: So we’ve just talked about Caserta. Matteo then says…
M: Vicino a Napoli – Close to Naples
Vicino – close
A – to
Napoli – Naples
K: Then I asked:
M: Anche tu hai parenti lì?
Anche – also
Tu – you
Hai – you have
Parenti – relatives
Lì – there
K: And here we have a false friend! Parenti means relatives, so you can use it to talk about any family members. Relatives in Italian is:
M: Parenti (x2)
K: If you want to say parents, it’s…
[...]
M: Genitori (x2)
K: Then Matteo says:
M: No, i miei nonni – No, my grandparents
I – the
Miei – my
Nonni – grandparents
K: Here’s a very useful phrase. My grandparents again, literally “the my grandparents”:
M: I miei nonni (x2)
K: Then Matteo said:
M: erano di Napoli città – were from Naples city
Erano – they were
Di – from
Napoli – Naples
Città – City
K: Did you hear that? Before you heard he or she was: era. This time, they were: erano
M: Erano (x2)
K: Then I asked:
K: Non erano calabresi? – Weren’t they Calabrian?
Non – not
Erano – they were
Calabresi – Calabrian? (From Calabria)
K: And Matteo said:
M: No, ma mio nonno – No, but my grandfather
No – no
Ma – but
Mio – my
Nonno – grandfather
K: Here there’s a very strange little rule in Italian. To say “my” in Italian, we usually say “the my”. So for example, to say “my friend”, I would say il mio amico. Il (the) mio (my) amico (friend). To talk about a family member, we normally drop the il or la. So my grandfather is just mio nonno. Not il mio nonno.
M: Mio nonno (x2)
K: But remember how to say “my grandparents?” I miei nonni. With “i”. Something even stranger happens. If we have a plural, like in this case, we add “the” back. I miei nonni
M:
I – the, for a plural
Miei – my, plural
Nonni – grandparents
K: If this all feels too complicated, don’t worry, it kind of is! I would suggest just learning the phrases for now, this way you can use them without worrying about crazy rules. So “my grandfather” is mio nonno while my grandparents is i miei nonni. Then Matteo continues:
M: Ha vissuto in Calabria – lived in Calabria
Ha – has
Vissuto – lived
In – in
Calabria – Calabria
K: Here, you heard about how to talk about where someone in your family lived: ha vissuto
M: Ha vissuto (x2) If you’re talking about a region or a country, we use in. For example, in Calabria. Ha vissuto IN Calabria. Or in Sicilia. Or in Italia.
K: To talk about a village, town or city, we use a. For example a Roma. Ha vissuto A Roma. Or A Milano. Finally Matteo said:
M: E adesso ho cugini dappertutto! – And now I have cousins everywhere!
E – and
Adesso – now
Ho – I have
Cugini – cousins
Dappertutto – everywhere
K: Let’s listen to the conversation one more time:
K: Sai che il nonno di John, un nostro studente, era di Caserta?
M: Vicino a Napoli.
K: Anche tu hai parenti lì?
M: No, i miei nonni erano di Napoli città
K: Non erano calabresi?
M: No, ma mio nonno ha vissuto in Calabria.
K: Ah!
M: E adesso ho cugini dappertutto!
K: I hope some of the vocabulary from this mini lesson will be useful to talk about your origini italiane if you have them and the people in your life in general.
M: On the blog we have more useful vocabulary, in particular, more details on how to talk about the towns and regions your family is from, different family members, when people got married, when they arrived in your country… lots of useful things to have a really good chat with Italians!
K: To see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz, 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 140.
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: How to Talk About Your Origins in Italian
Vocabulary
Mia nonna era di… = My grandmother was from… (+ town)
Mio nonno era di… = My grandfather was from… (+ town)
I miei nonni erano di… = My grandparents were from (+ town)
Era di Roma = S/he was from Rome
Erano di Napoli = They were from Naples
Erano calabresi = They were Calabrian
I miei parenti = My relatives
I miei genitori = My parents
I miei cugini = My cousins
Flashcards: How to Talk About Your Origins in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
