EVERYDAY ITALIAN EXPRESSIONS YOU SHOULD USE

Speak like a true Italian with these everyday Italian expressions and idioms that you are bound to hear on the “strada’s” and in the “piazza’s” of Italy.

I’ve compiled a list of my favourite Italian idiomatic expressions, learning some of these are bound to help you navigate better whilst in Italy.

1. Alea iacta est

Alea iacta est (“The die is cast”) is attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Senate and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. The phrase, either in the original Latin or in translation, is used in many languages to indicate that events have passed a point of no return. It is now most commonly cited with the word order changed (“Alea iacta est”) rather than in the original phrasing. The same event inspired another idiom with the same meaning, “crossing the Rubicon”.

The phrase crossing the Rubicon is an idiom that means that one is passing a point of no return. Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the Rubicon by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC.

2. Veni, vidi, vici

Veni, vidi, vici “I came; I saw; I conquered”) is a Latin phrase popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who, according to Appian, used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela. The phrase is used to refer to a swift, conclusive victory.

The phrase is attributed in Plutarch’s Life of Caesar and Suetonius’s Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Julius. Plutarch writes that Caesar used it in a report to Amantius, a friend of his in Rome. Suetonius states that Caesar displayed the three words as an inscription during his Pontic triumph.

4. Mi piaci un sacco

I like you a sack

I like you a lot

5. Sei una pizza! 

“You’re a pizza”

You’re a bore!

6. ‘Avere le mani di pasta Frolla’

literally translates ‘To have pastry hands’.

to call someone a butterfingers ( a person who frequently drops things; clumsy person.)

7. In bocca al lupo

Pronunciation: [In bok-kah al loo-poh]
Literal translation: In the mouth of the wolf
Meaning: Good luck! Break a leg!

8. Piovere a catinelle

Pronunciation: [Pee-yoh-ver-reh ah ka-ti-nel-leh]
Literal translation: To rain wash basins
Meaning: To rain like cats and dogs

9. Ubriaco come una scimmia

Pronunciation: [u-bri-ah-koh koh-meh u-nah shim-mee-yah]
Literal translation: Drunk like a monkey
Meaning: To be wasted

10. La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso

Pronunciation: [Lah goh-chah keh ah faht-toh tra-bok-kah-reh eel va-zoh]
Literal translation: The drop that made the vase overflow
Meaning: The straw that broke the camel’s back

11. Avere la Botte Piena e la Moglie Ubriaca

Pronunciation:[Ah-veh-reh lah bot-teh pee-eh-nah eh lah mol-yeh u-bri-ah-kah]
Literal translation: To have a full bottle of wine and a drunk wife
Meaning: To have your cake and eat it too