Italian has lots of expressions that don’t make sense if you translate them literally. And because you can’t always figure out their meaning, it’s a good idea to know what they mean ahead of time. That way you won’t feel confused the first time you hear them.
These expressions not only come up all the time in everyday conversation, but once you find out what they mean, you’ll also get to learn a bit about Italian culture.
In this blogpost, you’ll learn 9 untranslatable, everyday Italian words that most tourists don’t understand.
Fare un giro - To go for a walk, to go around
Pronunciation: FAH-reh oon JEE-roh
You can use fare un giro to mean “to go for a walk” or “to go around”.
It’s a useful expression to use if you want to talk about exploring a place or going for a walk without a particular goal or purpose in mind.
For example:
Vuoi fare un giro stasera? -Do you want to go for a walk this evening?
Vorrei fare un giro del centro storico. -I’d like to go around the historical centre.
Italians also use the phrases fare un giretto a lot. It literally means “to go for a little walk”. It’s formed from the phrase fare un giro, but with -etto added to the end. You can add -etto to the end of some words in Italian to make the word mean “little”.
For example:
Possiamo fare un giretto dopo cena. -We can go for a little walk after dinner.
💡Good to know : although fare un giretto means “to go for a little walk”, it doesn’t necessarily mean little in the sense that the walk is short. It means more “cute” or “pleasant”, like if you said “a nice little walk” in English.
Boh - I don’t know
Pronunciation: Boh*
Maybe you already know the phrase non lo so (I don’t know) in Italian. For an even shorter way of showing that you’re not sure about something, you can say: boh!
It can also be translated as “no idea” or “no clue”.
Italians use this all the time. It’s not impolite, but it’s informal, so you can use it with friends and people you know well.
For example:
-Perché la gelateria è chiusa oggi? -Why is the ice-cream shop closed today?
-Boh! -I don’t know.
And:
-Quando è la settimana della moda a Milano? -When is Milan fashion week?
-Boh! -I don’t know!
* Boh is almost more of a sound than a word, so it’s written exactly as you’re meant to say it.
Fare la scarpetta - To mop up food with bread (lit. to do the little shoe)
Pronunciation: FAH-reh lah scar-PEHT-tah
In Italy, it’s very common to have bread served with a meal, especially in restaurants. Italians often use this to mop up food, like yummy pasta sauce left on their plate. Using bread to mop up the sauce is such a standard Italian thing to do that they have a special expression for it: fare la scarpetta.
Scarpa is Italian for “shoe”. Like you saw before for giretto , you can add -etta (or - etto for the masculine) to the end of some words in Italian to make them mean “little”. So, scarpetta is “little shoe”.
For example:
Uso il pane per fare la scarpetta. -I use bread to mop up the sauce.
Quando mangio la parmigiana mi piace fare la scarpetta. -When I eat eggplant parmigiana , I like to mop up the sauce with bread.
There are a few different theories about where the phrase fare la scarpetta comes from. One theory says that it’s because you sort of make the shape of a shoe with the bread, but boh! Who knows?
Apericena - Drinks and snacks for dinner (lit. aperitif dinner)
Pronunciation: Ah-peh-ree-CHEH-nah
An apericena is a mixture of the words aperitivo (aperitif) and cena (dinner).
For an aperitivo, you usually have drinks and a few small snacks that are included as part of the price of the drink.
But you might decide to have something more substantial, like a tagliere (food board) with cheese and prosciutto. Because it’s more filling, it can replace dinner and you could call it an apericena. It usually costs a bit more than a normal aperitivo as well.
For example:
Il prezzo dell'apericena è 10 euro -The price of the apericena is 10 euros.
Stasera facciamo un’apericena con i nostri amici. -This evening, we’re having an apericena with our friends.
Stuzzichini - Little snacks
Pronunciation: Stoot-see-KEE-nee
Stuzzichini means “little snacks” or “nibbles”. It comes from the word stuzzicare, which means to poke or pick at. You often have stuzzichini as part of an aperitivo. Or if you’re at an event in Italy, like a birthday party or baptism, there might be different stuzzichini available instead of one main meal.
For example:
Al locale servono stuzzichini con il vino. -At the bar, they serve little snacks with the wine.
Ci sono olive e pizzette come stuzzichini -There are olives and mini-pizzas for (lit. “as”) little snacks.
Buon lavoro - Have a good day at work (lit. good work)
Pronunciation: Bwohn lah-VOH-roh
In Italian, you can often put “good” in front of a word to give someone well wishes. Like buon viaggio (“have a good trip”) or buon weekend (“have a good weekend”).
Buon lavoro is hard to translate into English. While we might say “have a good day at work”, Italians use this expression in many other situations, like wishing colleagues that the rest of their workday goes well or that they enjoy the tasks they need to get done.
For example:
-Devo andare perché ho una riunione. -I have to go because I have a meeting. .
- Ok, buon lavoro! -Ok, hope work goes well! (lit. good work)
If you want to read more about how buon works to mean “have a good…” in Italian, you can see our blogpost on what’s Italian for “bon voyage? ”
Mamma mia - My goodness (lit. my mother)
Pronunciation: MAHM-mah MEE-ah
You use mamma mia as an exclamation in Italian to show a strong feeling, like surprise or shock.
It’s not just a stereotipo (stereotype). Italians actually use this expression a lot.
But because it’s become well-known, some tourists like to say it without really knowing when to use it. They might say things like mamma mia, l’Italia or mamma mia, la pizza. It doesn’t really make sense to use it in this way.
So only use mamma mia if you’re showing a strong feeling about something.
For example:
Mamma mia, che caldo! -My goodness, it’s so hot! (lit. how hot!)
Mamma mia, questa pizza è enorme! -My goodness, this pizza is huge!
Magari - Maybe, if only
Pronunciation: Mah-GAH-ree
Magari confuses lots of Italian learners because it has a few different translations. It can mean “maybe”, “if only”, or “I wish”.
For example:
-Vai in Italia quest’estate? -Are you going to Italy this summer?
-Magari! -I wish!
And:
Magari il museo apre più tardi. -Maybe the museum opens later.
Vabbè - Whatever, fine
Pronunciation: Vahb-BEH
Vabbè is a tricky word in Italian because there’s not one way to translate it. Some of its meanings include “fine”, “ok then”, “never mind” and “oh well”, but there are lots more. In general, it gives a sense of giving up or not caring.
The best way to get a sense of how vabbè is used is to hear Italians use it in different situations.
For example:
-Domani piove tutto il giorno. -Tomorrow it’s raining all day.
-Vabbè, rimaniamo a casa. -Oh well, we’ll stay at home.
To learn more informal words like vabbè, you can read our blogpost on 52 Italian Slang Words You’ll Actually Hear in Italy
9 Everyday Italian Words Most Tourists Don’t Understand: Review
-
Fare un giro - To go for a walk, to go around
Use fare un giro to say you’re going for a walk or exploring a place, usually aimlessly.
For example:
Vorrei fare un giro del centro storico . -I’d like to go around the historical centre.
-
Boh - I don’t know
Boh is a short, informal way to show you don’t know
For example:
-Perché la gelateria è chiusa oggi? -Why is the ice-cream shop closed
today?
-Boh! -I don’t know.
-
Fare la scarpetta - Mop up food with bread
You use this phrase when you talk about mopping up food, like pasta sauce or oil, with bread.
For example:
Quando mangio la parmigiana mi piace fare la scarpetta . -When I eat eggplant parmigiana, I like to mop up the sauce with bread.
-
Apericena - Drinks and snacks for dinner
Apericena is a mixture of aperitivo (apertif) and cena (dinner). It’s like an aperitivo, but with enough food to replace dinner.
For example:
Stasera facciamo un’apericena con i nostri amici. -This evening, we’re having an apericena with our friends.
-
Stuzzichini - Little snacks
Stuzzichini are small snacks. You might eat them as part of an aperitivo or at an event, like a birthday party.
Ci sono olive e pizzette come stuzzichini. - There are olives and mini-pizzas for (lit. “as”) little snacks.
-
Buon lavoro - Have a good day at work
Buon lavoro is a way to wish someone well during their workday.
For example:
-Devo andare perché ho una riunione. -I have to go because I have a meeting.
-Ok, buon lavoro! -Ok, hope work goes well! (lit. good work)
-
Mamma mia - My goodness
You can use mamma mia as an exclamation when you want to show strong feelings about something.
For example:
Mamma mia, questa pizza è enorme! -My goodness, this pizza is huge!
-
Magari - Maybe, if only
You can use magari to say “maybe”, “I wish” or “if only”.
For example:
-Vai in Italia quest’estate? -Are you going to Italy this summer?
Magari! -I wish!
-
Vabbè - Whatever, fine
Vabbè gives a sense of giving up or not caring about something.
For example:
-Domani piove tutto il giorno. -Tomorrow it’s raining all day.
-Vabbè, rimaniamo a casa. -Oh well, we’ll stay at home.
If you want to hear some of these untranslatable words used in context, Matteo and Katie explain them (and some words you haven’t seen here) in this video.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In today’s episode, we’ll share 7 common phrases that Italians use all the time, but English doesn’t have an exact match for.
K: The nice thing about these phrases is that not only do they come up all the time in everyday conversation, but when you find out what they mean, they also tell you a bit about Italian culture.
To see if you can figure out what these expressions mean, we’re going to do a quiz, but before we get started, 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 !
M: As we do the quiz, we’re going to take you through a typical day in Italy. Cominciamo! Let’s get started!
K: One of the first things you might do, understandably, is ask the people you’re travelling with where you should all go for lunch.
M: But there are so many good restaurants in Italy, it’s hard to know which one to choose.
K: So your friends are undecided about where to eat. If one of them wanted to tell you “I don’t know”, what could they say?
M:
A) Uffa!
B) Boh!
C) Evviva!
D) Beh!
K: The correct answer is…
M: B! Boh! (x2)
K: Boh is a nice, short way of saying “I don’t know” or “I’m really not sure” in Italian.
M: It’s not rude, but it’s informal, so it’s one to use with friends or people you know well.
K: In this episode, there might be a lot of words and expressions that you haven't come across before, so don’t worry if you get them wrong the first time. The quiz format should also help you to remember them.
M: In fact, there’s research that shows that getting a question wrong can help you remember the right answer in future.
K: Eventually your friends decide on a place to eat. When lunchtime comes around, you order a tagliatelle al ragù, which is basically a type of pasta ( tagliatelle ) with a meat sauce ( ragù ).
You don’t want all that good sauce to go to waste, so you use your bread to mop up what’s left on your plate. There’s a name for this in Italian, what is it?
M:
A) Fare la scarpetta
B) Fare il piatto
C) Fare la pagnotta
D) Fare la bruschetta
K: The correct answer is…
M: A! Fare la scarpetta (x2) . Literally:
Fare - to do
La - the
Scarpetta - little shoe
K: Scarpa is Italian for “shoe”. You can add -etta (or -etto for the masculine) to the end of some words in Italian to make them mean “little”.
M: So scarpa is shoe, scarpetta is “little shoe”.
K: I tried to find where this expression might have come from and no one seems to really know. Do you have any idea Matteo?
M: [...]
K: One of the theories is that you kind of make the shape of a shoe with your bread when you’re mopping the sauce up, but who knows.
M: It makes sense that Italian has a special expression for mopping up oil or pasta sauce because this is a very Italian thing to do.
K: In other countries, like the UK, they sometimes serve you olive oil or olive oil and vinegar for you to dip your bread in as a starter and they’ll try and pass it off as something Italian. But in Italy, they’d rarely do this. Bread is mainly meant to accompany your meal. Waiters often bring a basket of bread to the table, which Italians usually eat with their meal and, or at the end, to fare la scarpetta.
M: Though some Italians find it hard to wait, too. I always end up digging into the bread basket before my food arrives!
Back to your virtual trip in Italy…One of your friends has to leave after lunch because they have some work calls.
K: What could you say to wish them a good day at work?
M:
A) Lavora tanto
B) Buon lavoro
C) Lavora duro
D) Ottimo lavoro
K: The correct answer is…
M: B! Buon lavoro (x2) .
K: Literally, it means:
M: Buon - good
Lavoro - work
K: In Italian, you can often put “good” in front of a word to give someone well wishes.
M: Like buon viaggio - have a good trip, buon appetito - enjoy your meal or buon weekend - have a good weekend.
K: Although we could translate buon lavoro as “have a good day of work” in English, Italians use the expression more than we would. For example, colleagues might say it to each other to say “I hope the rest of your work goes well today”. It’s a good expression to use to be friendly.
M: Since you didn’t have work to do after lunch, you probably had a primo (first course), secondo (second course) and hopefully you didn’t say no to the tiramisù.
K: So you go for a walk to help you digest. What’s a common way of saying “go for a walk” or “go for a wander” in Italian?
M:
A) Fare una maratona
B) Fare una corsa
C) Fare un giro
D) Fare un passo
K: The correct answer is…
M: C! Fare un giro (x2)
K: This literally means
M: Fare - to do
Un - a
Giro - turn
K: Again, don’t worry if you didn’t get the answer right. Because these sentences are a bit untranslatable, they can be hard to figure out without an explanation. Giro literally means turn, so you can use this expression to talk about going for a walk in a loop, in the sense of coming back to where you started. That’s probably where it comes from.
M: But actually, we use it for any kind of walk or wander, it doesn’t have to be a loop, even though that’s the original meaning.
K: You can also say fare un giretto in Italian.
M: Fare un giretto (x2)
K: Fare un giretto literally means going for a little walk.
M: Like you saw with the phrase fare la scarpetta, to do the little shoe, we’re adding - etto to the end of the word giro to make it mean “little walk”.
K: But although giretto means a “little walk” it doesn’t necessarily mean “little” in the sense that the walk is a small or short one. It’s a bit like saying in English “a nice little walk”, you’re saying “little” in the sense of “cute” or “pleasant”.
M: Back to the quiz. Walking around has made you realize how hot it is.
K: What expression could you use to really emphasize how much you’re feeling the heat? Just so you know, in Italian to say “how hot” or it’s so hot, it’s che caldo!
M:
A) Nonno mio, che caldo!
B) Sorella mia, che caldo!
C) Cugino mio, che caldo!
D) Mamma mia, che caldo!
K: The correct answer is…
M: D! Mamma mia, che caldo (x2)
K: This literally means:
M: Mamma - mum or mom depending on which version of English you speak!
Mia - mine
Che - how
Caldo - hot
K: You use mamma mia as an exclamation in Italian to show a strong feeling, like surprise, shock or frustration.
M: Like if you were eating out and they served you with an enormous portion of pasta, you could say mamma mia, è enorme! - my goodness, it’s huge! Mamma mia, è enorme.
K: If you’re wondering if Italians actually say mamma mia or if it’s just a stereotype, it really is an expression that Italians use a lot. But because it’s become well-known, lots of tourists like to say it without really knowing when you’re meant to use it.
M: They might say things like mamma mia, l’Italia or mamma mia, la pizza . It doesn’t really make sense to use it in this way.
K: Some tourists also use hand gestures when they use mamma mia. For example, you know the famous Italian gesture where you pinch your thumb and your first two fingers together with your hand moving up and down (I think there is now an emoji for it) but Italians wouldn’t use this with mamma mia.
M: Making this gesture is actually saying something more along the lines of “what are you doing?” or “what are you saying?”, so it doesn’t usually fit with the meaning of mamma mia.
K: So overall you can use mamma mia , and you’ll hear Italians say it too, but only use it when you want to express a strong feeling of frustration, like with the heat, or surprise, like with the gigantic pasta portion.
M: Now that you’ve walked off lunch, you’re getting peckish again.
K: You want to have a meal that mixes a few drinks with some more filling snacks, like a cheese board. What’s the Italian word for this type of meal? M:
A) Apericena
B) Antipasto
C) Contorno
D) Pranzo
K: The correct answer is…
M: A! Apericena (x2) . It’s a combination of the words aperitivo (aperitif) and cena (dinner). Apericena.
K: An apericena is a mix of an aperitivo , where you’d just have a few small snacks and drinks, and a cena (or dinner), where you’d have something more substantial. For example, at a regular aperitivo , if you go to a bar in the evening, they’ll often bring out a few little snacks, like crisps, or potato chips as they’re called in the US, or olives. If they do it without asking you, it usually doesn’t cost extra.
M: But if the waiter asks you “vuoi fare l’aperitivo?” (Do you want to do the aperitivo), and you say “sì”, (“yes”), they usually bring something more filling, like a food board with some Italian specialties, like pizza, prosciutto (ham) or cheese.
K: That’s when it becomes more of an apericena , even if they don’t call it that, because the food is more substantial, so it can replace your dinner. It usually costs a bit more than a normal aperitivo as well.
There’s also a special Italian word for these little snacks, like olives, peanuts and focaccia, that you would get as part of an aperitivo. What is it?
M:
A) Zucchine
B) Biscotti
C) Panini
D) Stuzzichini
K: The correct answer is…
M: D! Stuzzichini (x2). It comes from the word stuzzicare, which means to poke or pick at.
K: If you feel like it would be nice to have some snacks with your drink in Italy, then you can ask for them using this word.
M: For example, you could say avete degli stuzzichini? - do you have any little snacks? Literally:
Avete - do you have
Degli - some
Stuzzichini - little snacks
Avete degli stuzzichini?
K: It’s quite common for Italians to have snacks with their drinks, so I often hear Italians asking waiters this question.
M: A very useful phrase! Avete degli stuzzichini?
K: Now that you’ve heard 7 everyday Italian words that are hard to understand, let’s see what you can remember. Can you remember what this word means?
M: Boh! (x2)
[...]
K: It’s the simple, short word for “I don’t know”. And what about this phrase?
M: Fare la scarpetta (x2)
[...]
K: That’s the phrase you use when you talk about mopping up the pasta sauce. It literally means “to do the little shoe.
[...]
K: And what about this next phrase?
M: Buon lavoro! (x2)
[...]
K: That’s the one you use when you wish someone a good day of work. It literally means “good work”. What does this phrase mean?
M: Fare un giro (x2)
[...]
K: It means “to go for a walk” or a wander. Can you remember what this next very Italian expression means?
M: Mamma mia (x2) , like in mamma mia, che caldo!
K: It’s one we use to show strong emotions. Here it means something like “my goodness, how hot!” And what does this word mean?
M: Apericena (x2)
[...]
K: It’s the word for when your drinks and nibbles replace your main evening meal. It combines the Italian for “aperitif” and “dinner”.
K: And lastly, what does this word mean?
M: Stuzzichini (x2)
[...]
K: That’s the word for little snacks, like the ones you’d get as part of an aperitivo .
M: There are a couple of other words we didn’t mention here that you’ll hear all the time in Italy, often several times a day, but they’re hard to translate.
K: If you want to find out what they are, and see them along with today’s words in some useful example sentences, click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 202.
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: 9 Everyday Italian Words Most Tourists Don’t Understand
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: 9 Everyday Italian Words Most Tourists Don't Understand
Vocabulary
Vorrei fare un giro del centro storico = I’d like to go around the historical centre
Quando mangio la parmigiana mi piace fare la scarpetta = When I eat eggplant parmigiana, I like to mop up the sauce with bread
Ci sono olive e pizzette come stuzzichini. = There are olives and mini-pizzas for (lit. “as”) little snacks
Mamma mia, questa pizza è enorme! – My goodness, this pizza is huge!
Fare un giro = To go for a walk
Apericena = Drinks and snacks for dinner (lit. apertif dinner)
Stuzzichini = Little snacks
Fare la scarpetta = To mop up food with bread (lit. to do the little shoe)
Boh = I don’t know
Buon lavoro = Have a good day at work (lit. good work)
Mamma mia, che caldo! = My goodness (lit. my mother), how hot!
