Useful holiday phrases in Italian
Wednesday, 24th June 2009
If you’re planning to go to Italy on holiday this year, it would be very useful if you try to learn some Italian phrases. Even if all the people you meet in Italy speak English, using a bit of Italian will certainly make a good impression and be appreciated.
One useful word you might know already is ciao, which means both hello and goodbye. Other greetings include buongiorno (good morning / good day), buona sera (good evening), and buonanotte (good night). Another word for goodbye is arrivederci.
To introduce yourself you could say Mi chiamo … (I’m called…), and to ask for someone’s name you say Come ti chiama? (informal) or Come si chiama? (formal). You could also ask Da dove viene? (Where are you from?), to which the answer is Vengo da … or Sono di … (I’m from), e.g. Sono da Inghilterra (I’m from England).
To ask how someone is you could say come va?, or come stai? if you’re talking to more than one person, or come sta? if you’re talking to strangers. Another phrase you could use when meeting people for the first time is piacere (it’s a pleasure [to meet you]).
To ask where something is the phrase is Dov’è, for example, Dov’è la toilette? or Dov’è il bagno? = Where’s the toilet?, Dov’è il bar? (Where’s the bar?), although the trouble with using a phrase like this is that people are likely to reply in Italian. If your knowledge of Italian is limited you probably won’t understand the directions they give you, but if they point you in a particular direction, you could go that way, and ask other people along the way. Another useful phrase when trying to find your way around is Potrebbe indicare la strada? (Could you point the way?).
If your efforts to speak Italian result in people speaking Italian to you, and you don’t understand what they’re saying, you could say Non capisco (I don’t understand), or Mi dispiace, non parlo italiano (Sorry, I don’t speak Italian) and ask them if they speak English – Parla inglese?
Other useful expressions include sì (yes), no (no), per favore (please), grazie (thank you), Salute or Cin Cin (cheers/good health), and Scusa/Scusi (Excuse me / sorry) – scusa is said to one person, and scusi to more than one.
Recordings of the phrases mentioned here can be found at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/quickfix/basics.shtml
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/italian.php
Tags: holiday phrases, phrases, language, languages, italy, italian, english
Posted by Simon Ager 2009-06 under Vocabulary,
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Posted by Italian Learner on 07/04 at 10:30 AM
Wow great information, I am planning for a trip to Italy for next month and I am very excited, That's why I am learning Italian nowadays, These phrases will help me ... thanks a lot for the post.