If you ever find yourself in a heatwave in Italy, you might want to say “I’m hot”. 

Whatever you do, don’t say sono caldo. This could get you some funny looks because it means “I’m horny”! 

So what should you say instead? 

Italians say ho caldo, which literally means “I have heat”. 

There are quite a few common expressions which follow this pattern in Italian, whether you’re talking about your age, being hungry, or who’s right and wrong. 

That’s what this article is all about: you’ll learn 7 moments where you should say “I have” in Italian, instead of “I am” like you normally would in English. And pick up 4 bonus phrases that will help you sound really native. 

To get them right, you’ll need the verb avere in Italian, which means “to have”. 

But first, when does caldo have a risqué meaning? We’ll start here so you can avoid making Italians blush by accident! 

When is CALDO risqué? How can I avoid using it by accident?

Most of the time caldo means “hot” in Italian, as in: 

Il cibo è caldo = the food is hot

L’acqua è calda = the water is hot

As long as you’re describing an external temperature, something that’s “hot to touch”, you’re on safe ground. It’s unlikely that what you’re saying will be misinterpreted in a sexual way. 

You can even use it to describe skin temperature, for example, when someone has a fever: 

Sei caldo, prendo il termometro = You’re hot, I’ll get the thermometer 

No blushing here, because these sentences sound perfectly innocent to Italian ears. 

Caldo takes on a sexual meaning when we use it to describe internal feelings and sensations. This explains why, if you literally translate the phrase “I’m hot” into Italian, you’ll end up saying: 

sono calda/o = I’m horny

Italians avoid this confusion by using a different verb: avere (to have). So if you’re hot because of the weather, you should say: 

Ho caldo = I’m hot (literally “I have heat”)

This phrase will help you steer clear of any embarrassing mistakes. 

In the next few sections, we’ll look at a few details that will help you use this expression, and others like it, more confidently. 
The first one is a deeper understanding of the verb avere (to have) in Italian.

Conjugations of AVERE in Italian

So far, we’ve been using ho, which means “I have”. In Italian, the verb avere (to have) changes when we’re talking about different people. 

In fact, the word “conjugations” in the title of this section is just a fancy way of saying “different forms for different people”. 

Do you know the different forms? Let’s take a look at them now: 

*Psst! In Italian, we don’t pronounce the “h” sound, so remember not to say it at the beginning of these forms. 

Now you know how to say that other people “have heat” too! 

Ho caldo = I’m hot (lit. I have heat)

Hai caldo = You’re hot (lit. you have heat)

Ha caldo = S/he’s hot (lit. s/he has heat) – also you formal 

Abbiamo caldo = We’re hot (lit. we have heat)

Avete caldo = You all/both are hot (lit. you have heat – plural)

Hanno caldo = They’re hot (lit. they have heat)

Keep this table as a reference, because it will come in handy for all the other expressions in this article too. All you need to do is match the form of avere to the person you’re talking about. 

HO FREDDO: I have cold

Great news! We see a very similar pattern with the word freddo (cold): 

Ho freddo = I’m cold (lit. I have cold)

So how would you adapt this expression to talk about different people? You’ll need the different forms of avere again: 

….

Ho freddo = I’m cold (lit. I have cold)

Hai freddo = You’re cold (lit. you have cold)

Ha freddo = S/he’s cold (lit. s/he has cold) – also “you” formal 

Abbiamo freddo = We’re cold (lit. we have cold)

Avete freddo = You all/both are cold (lit. you have cold – plural)

Hanno freddo = They’re cold (lit. they have cold)

….

Attenzione! The expression “I’m cold” or “you’re cold” etc. does exist in Italian, but the meaning is very different. In Italian, it means you have a cold personality: 

Maria è fredda = Maria is a cold/aloof person

Marco è freddo = Marco is a cold/aloof person

That means if you say sono fredda/o, you’re saying that you’re a cold or aloof person, not that you feel cold. To avoid confusion, every time you want to say you’re cold as in “brrrrr”, you’ll need to say “I have” cold: ho freddo. 

So now you know how to talk about “having hot” and “having cold” in Italian, let’s learn some more common phrases which work in the same way!

I have hunger! How to say “I’m hungry” in Italian

Italians love food, but they’re rarely hungry. Is it because they eat a lot of snacks? Nope! It’s because, literally speaking, they “have” hunger. 

Here’s how they say it: 

Ho fame! = I’m hungry (lit. I have hunger)

Turns out, Italians are rarely thirsty either! Instead they “have” thirst.

Ho sete! = I’m thirsty (lit. I have thirst)

Interestingly, we can say it like this in English too, for example, “I have a thirst for knowledge” or “I have a hunger for success”. The only difference is that in English, we tend to use these in a metaphorical way. 

In Italian, this is the normal, everyday way to say it. 

I have 45 years: Talking about age

Have you come across this one before? In Italy, age isn’t something you are, it’s something you have. 

Ho diciotto anni = I’m 18 (lit. I have 18 years)

Ho quarantacinque anni = I’m 45 (lit. I have 45 years)

Ho sessantatre anni = I’m 63 (lit. I have 63 years)

Quanti anni hai? = How old are you? (lit. How many years you have?)

Remember, when talking about age, we always need to include the anni (years) at the end: 

Don’t say: *ho quarantacinque 

Say: ho quarantacinque anni

In English you’re sleepy, but in Italian you “have sleep”

If you didn’t get enough sleep last night, you might be feeling sleepy. But to get it right in Italian, you’ll need to forget about being sleepy and talk about having sleep instead: 

Ho sonno  = I’m sleepy (lit. I have sleep)

Pronunciation Tip: Did you notice the double “nn” in sonno? In Italian, a double letter means you have to pronounce it for longer, so remember to really draw it out: so-N-N-o.

To get it right, you can try imagining many NNNNs, for example soNNNNNNNNNo, or even a little pause between them so-N-N-o. Both techniques work! 

If you’re feeling sleepy, it should be easy to take your time on this word… if you don’t, it could sound like sono, which means “I am” and wouldn’t work at all!

In English you’re afraid, but in Italian you “have fear”

Have no fear! See that? Turns out we can “have” fear in English, too. The main difference is that in English, we’re more likely to say “I’m scared” or “I’m afraid”. 

In Italian, on the other hand, “I have fear”, is the most common and standard way to say it: 

Ho paura = I’m afraid (lit. I have fear)

Time for another pronunciation tip! Did you notice all those tricky vowels in the middle? To pronounce paura like a native, you’ll need to really enunciate the “a” and the “u”: p-AAA-UUU-ra, not powra.

There’s nothing like a good song lyric to hardwire pronunciation into the brain, and happily there are loads of Italian songs that use this word. As a challenge, try listening out for how Lucio Battisti pronounces the word “paura” in his song: “Con il nastro rosa”.

Let’s recap quickly. You’ve learned 7 basic phrases with avere: 

ho caldo = I’m hot (lit. I have hot)

ho freddo = I’m cold (lit. I have cold)

ho fame = I’m hungry (lit. I have hunger)

ho sete = I’m thirsty (lit. I have thirst)

ho 40 anni = I’m 40

ho sonno = I’m sleepy (lit. I have sleep)

ho paura = I’m afraid (lit. I have fear)

Time for a few advanced bonus phrases that follow the same pattern. These ones will help you sound really native! 

In English you are right, but in Italian you “have reason”

Did you know? Italians are never right either. Not because they always make mistakes, but because they “have reason” instead. 

Ho ragione = I’m right (lit. I have reason)

Saying sono ragione would sound very strange indeed! “I am reason…”

It’s important to know how to say someone else is right too, of course. In Italian, “you have” is hai. So how would you say “you’re right”?

Hai ragione = You’re right (lit. you have reason)

And of course, although it’s not always easy to admit, we’re wrong sometimes, too. Well, except for Italians. They’re never wrong, because they “have wrong” instead! 

Ho torto = I’m wrong (lit. I have wrong) 

Hai torto = You’re wrong (lit. you have wrong)

Fun fact: the word “tort” also exists in English. We have the law of “tort”, which covers all the wrong doings people do in everyday life. The Italian word for “wrong” just has an extra -o at the end, torto. 

As it turns out, this -o ending is a very important detail to remember. Don’t make it feminine by accident, otherwise you’ll end up saying something very different: 

Ho torta = I have cake

This is one of Katie’s favorite mistakes that she still makes sometimes. 

In English you’re in a rush, but in Italian you “have rush”

Italians are famous for their relaxed way of living. And while it’s true that Italians are never in a rush, they do get busy sometimes! And when they do, you’ll hear them say that they “have rush”: 

Ho fretta = I’m in a rush (lit. I have rush)

Just remember that even if you are in a fretta, you should take your time with the double letter: fre-T-T-a

Italians are never hungover (but they can “have” a hangover)

Ho i postumi = I’m hungover (lit. I have the remains)

Our last phrase is one that Italians rarely need, given their restraint and moderation *ahem* when it comes to alcohol.

Ho i postumi is in fact a shortened form of the phrase:

Ho i postumi della sbornia

Which literally means: “I have the remains of drunkenness”. Thinking about the literal meaning, it’s a rather accurate description of what a hangover is!

One last mistake to avoid in expressions with AVERE

Did you notice that we haven’t talked much about masculine and feminine endings in this lesson? 

In Italian, we usually change the ending of adjectives (describing words) to agree with the person they describe. For example: 

Marzia è italiana = Marzia is Italian

Matteo è italiano = Matteo is Italian

But you don’t need to worry about that in this lesson, because they don’t change! For example: 

Katie ha caldo = Katie is hot (lit. Katie “has” heat)

Matteo ha caldo = Matteo is hot (lit. Matteo “has” heat)

In this case, caldo always ends in -o! Why is that? 

Because in expressions with avere, we’re not describing you. We’re talking about something you have. This means, we treat these words just like any other object! 

For example: 

Ho un biglietto = I have a ticket

Ho un libro = I have a book

Ho caldo = I’m cold (lit. I “have” cold)

In Italian, objects are either masculine or feminine (caldo happens to be masculine), but their gender always stays the same. It doesn’t change depending on who has it. 

Some words happen to be feminine, like paura. In this case, it always ends in -a: 

Matteo ha paura = Matteo is afraid (lit. Matteo “has” fear)

Katie ha paura = Katie is afraid (lit. Katie “has” fear)

Don’t stress too much about trying to remember whether caldo is masculine and paura is feminine. Just start learning the phrases as they are…

ho caldo  

ho paura 

…and you’ll be using them confidently in no time! 

Common expressions with AVERE in Italian: Review

You’ve now seen the main phrases where we use “I have” in Italian (even though we use “I am” in English). Let’s take another quick look at them: 

ho caldo = I’m hot (lit. I have hot)

ho freddo = I’m cold (lit. I have cold)

ho fame = I’m hungry (lit. I have hunger)

ho sete = I’m thirsty (lit. I have thirst)

ho 40 anni = I’m 40

ho sonno = I’m sleepy (lit. I have sleep)

ho paura = I’m afraid (lit. I have fear)

ho ragione = I’m right (lit. I have reason)

ho torto = I’m wrong (lit. I have wrong)

ho fretta = I’m in a rush (lit. I have rush)

ho i postumi = I’m hungover (lit. I have the remains)

You also learned how to adapt these phrases to talk about different people, for example: 

Hai ragione! = You’re right! (lit. you have reason)

Hai paura? = Are you afraid? (lit. you have fear)

Ha fame = S/he is hungry (lit. s/he has hunger)

Hanno torto = They’re wrong (lit. they have wrong)

Abbiamo i postumi = We’re hungover (lit. we have hangover)

All you need to do is change the form of avere. Here are all the different forms again so you have them handy: 

Finally, you learned that in expressions with avere, words like caldo and paura DON’T agree with the person who feels hot, afraid etc. 

Matteo ha caldo = Matteo is hot (lit. Matteo “has” heat)

Katie ha caldo = Katie is hot (lit. Katie “has” heat)

Matteo ha paura = Matteo is afraid (lit. Matteo “has” fear)

Katie ha paura = Katie is afraid (lit. Katie “has” fear)

These objects have their own gender: caldo is masculine, while paura is feminine. The last letter always agrees with the object, the thing we “have”, and not the person who has it. 

Phew, that was a lot to take in. But don’t worry, help is here! Head down to our quiz and vocabulary cards below. 

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Vocabulary: I have hot! Common expressions with AVERE in Italian

Ho caldo = I’m hot
Ho freddo = I’m cold
Ho 40 anni = I’m 40
Ho sete = I’m thirsty
Ho fame = I’m hungry
Ho sonno = I’m sleepy
Ho paura = I’m scared

Quiz: I have hot! Common expressions with AVERE in Italian

How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!

Click here to take the quiz for this episode: I have hot! 7 common expressions with AVERE in Italian

Flashcards: I have hot! Common expressions with AVERE in Italian

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Transcript: I have hot! Common expressions with AVERE in Italian

Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.

K – There are lots of situations where Italians use “I have” – ho – but in English we say “I am”. Another example is age. 

M – Yes it’s true, in fact Italians often make this mistake the other way around, for example, we say “I have forty years”

K – Yes… because in Italian, we “have” our age, so we say – ho quarant’anni

M – It’s a topic that’s tricky for everyone. 

K – In fact, we already covered this topic back in episode 74. But it’s one that keeps coming up, and there are a few more common ones that are worth learning, so we thought we’d revisit it! 

M – What other ones are there? 

K – Hmm… well how about we listen to a typical conversation with a few examples?

M – OK!

K – As you’re listening, pay special attention to when you hear ho – “I have”, or hai – “you have”. 

K – Uff! Ho caldo.

M – Allora apro la finestra.

K – In realtà, ho sete.

M – Ecco, un bicchiere d’acqua.

K – Mmm… ma forse ho fame. 

M – Okay… cuciniamo qualcosa?

K – No. Ho sonno.

M – Hai caldo, hai sete, hai fame, hai sonno, altro?

K – … 

M – No, no, no, non dire niente, ho paura.

K – OK, so breaking that down line by line, I said: 

M – Uff! Ho caldo.

K – Urg! I’m hot. Literally: 

M – 

Ho = I have

Caldo = Heat

K – Here’s another example of the phrase we heard at the beginning of the episode. To say “I’m hot” in Italian, we literally say “I have heat”

M – Ho caldo. 

K – This expression works the same way for cold. Cold is freddo. In Italian, we “have” it. So how would you say “I’m cold”, literally “I have cold”? 

M – Ho freddo.

K – Next, Matteo said: 

M – Allora apro la finestra.

K –  Well I’ll open the window. Literally: 

M –

Allora = well

Apro = I open 

La finestra = the window

K – Then I said: 

M – In realtà, ho sete.

K – Actually, I’m thirsty. Literally: 

M – 

In realtà = in reality

Ho = I have

Sete = thirst

K – And here’s another thing we have in Italian! We don’t say “I’m thirsty”, we say “I have thirst”. 

M – Ho sete.

K – Luckily, Matteo’s an attentive partner and he brought me over a glass of water: 

M – Ecco, un bicchiere d’acqua.

K – Here, a glass of water. Literally: 

M – 

Ecco – here

Un bicchiere = a glass

Di = of

Acqua = water

K – So before you heard ho sete. Literally “I have thirst”. There’s a similar expression that you might already know. I said it in the next phrase: 

M – Mmm… ma forse ho fame. 

K – Mmm… but maybe I’m hungry. Literally: 

M – 

Ma = But

Forse = Maybe

Ho = I have

Fame = Hunger

K – So the takeaway here, to think like an Italian, is to imagine that every time you want to say “I’m thirsty” or “I’m hungry”, you’re really going to say “I have thirst” and “I have hunger”. Interestingly, we can say it like that in English too sometimes, for example: 

“to have a real thirst for something”

 or “to have insatiable hunger”. 

The only difference is that in Italian, this is the normal, everyday way to say it. 

K – So ho fame, I’m hungry. Matteo’s tries to solve this problem too, by suggesting we cook: 

M – Okay… cuciniamo qualcosa?

K – Okay… shall we cook something? Literally: 

M – 

Cuciniamo = we cook 

Qualcosa = something

K – But then I said: 

M – No. Ho sonno.

K – No. I’m sleepy. Literally: 

M – 

Ho = I have 

Sonno = sleep 

K – Here’s another expression with “have” in Italian. We don’t say “I am sleepy”, instead, we say “I have sleep”. 

M – Ho sonno. 

K – Notice the double NN in soN-No. S – O – N – N – O. Double letters in Italian are nice and long. To draw them out like Italians do, you almost have to imagine a little pause in the middle. Try to say son-no, kind of pausing between the two N-Ns. Son-no.

M: SON-NO. SON-NO. SON-NO.

K – Next, Matteo says: 

M – Hai caldo, hai sete, hai fame, hai sonno, altro?

K – You’re hot, you’re thirsty, you’re hungry, you’re sleepy, anything else? Literally: 

M – 

Hai = you have

Caldo = heat

Hai = you have

Sete = thirst

Hai = you have

Fame = hunger

Hai = you have 

Sonno = sleep 

Altro? = other?

K – Here we’ve got the “you have” form, hai. 

M – Hai. 

K – You’ll most often hear this in questions, for example, are you hungry? Literally “you have hunger”? 

M – Hai fame? 

K – Coming back to our dialogue, Matteo’s losing patience, so after saying Altro? Anything else? He decides it’s best not to wait for an answer: 

M – No, no, no, non dire niente, ho paura.

K – No, no, no, don’t say anything, I’m scared. Literally: 

M – 

Non = not

Dire = to say 

Niente = nothing

Ho = I have 

Paura = fear 

K – So when you’re afraid or scared in Italian, you’re really saying you have fear.

M – Yeah, exactly. Also really important, all the vowel sounds of P-A-U-RA

K – Yeah, not “powra” but really emphasising the vowels.

M – pAAAUUUrA. 

K – So let’s review our phrases with “have”. Remember how to say “I’m forty”, literally “I have forty years?”

…

M: Ho quarant’anni.

…

K: I’m hot, “I have hot”? 

…

M: Ho caldo.

…

K: I’m cold, “I have cold”? 

…

M: Ho freddo.

…

K: I’m hungry, “I have hunger”? 

…

M: Ho fame.

…

K: I’m thirsty, “I have thirst”?

…

M: Ho sete.

…

K: I’m sleepy, literally, “I have sleep”? 

…

M: Ho sonno.

…

K: I’m afraid, “I have fear”? 

…

M: Ho paura.

…

K – Perfetto! Let’s listen to the whole dialogue one more time: 

K – Uff! Ho caldo.

M – Allora apro la finestra.

K – In realtà, ho sete.

M – Ecco, un bicchiere d’acqua.

K – Mmm… ma forse ho fame. 

M – Okay… cuciniamo qualcosa?

K – No. Ho sonno.

M – Hai caldo, hai sete, hai fame, hai sonno, altro?

K – … 

M – No, no, no, non dire niente, ho paura.

K: So whether you “have” 18 years or 80 years, we hope you’re feeling more confident about using these phrases with “have” in Italian. To learn more expressions which follow this pattern and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz, head over to our website by clicking the link in the description. 

M: Or you can go to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and search for episode 90. 

K: See you next time. Or as we say in Italian.

K, M: Alla prossima!

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So you’re ready to have a go at speaking some Italian. 

You’ve learned the basic phrases and, even if you’re a bit nervous (that’s normal!), you’re looking forward to trying them out. 

But when you begin the conversation, things don’t feel smooth. 

Perhaps you’re making a mistake when answering come stai? – something that almost every Italian learner does at some point!

By the end of this post, you’ll be able to answer this conversation opener like a native and avoid some common errors that trip up most learners. 

First though… what does come stai really mean?

What does COME STAI mean in Italian? 

In a nutshell, come stai? means “how are you?”. 

Come means “how”. So far so good. 

Stai comes from the word stare, which is the Italian word for “to stay”. So the phrase come stai literally means: 

Come = how

Stai = you stay

Why do we use the word “stay” to talk about how we are? Interestingly, Italians use stare in quite a few situations where we normally use “to be” in English, for example:

Stai zitto! = Be quiet! (lit. “You stay quiet”)

But let’s not get lost in these details. Right now, all you need to know is that to master this Italian conversation opener, you’ll need the verb stare. 

Use STARE to ask and understand how everyone is

So far, you know that: 

• To ask “how are you”, we say come stai? 
• Stai literally means “you stay”. 

But what if we want to talk about how other people are, like “he”, “she” or “they”? Here’s how we use the verb stare to talk about other people in Italian: 

Now you can work out how to ask how everyone else is, too!

Come sto? = How am I?

Come stai? = How are you?

Come sta? = How is s/he? 

Come stiamo? = How are we?

Come state? = How are you all/both? (plural, when speaking to two or more people)

Come stanno? = How are they?

Got the logic behind the phrase come stai? Great! Let’s move onto some more important details so you can use it like a native. 

Come stai vs. come sta

When speaking to someone older or a professional acquaintance in Italian, we use the third person: come sta? 

So if you’re making conversation in a café with an older barista, or saying hello to your doctor at the beginning of your appointment, it’s better to say come sta rather than come stai.

It’s the same as the form we use when talking about someone else, he or she: 

E Matteo? Come sta? – And Matteo? How is he?

Using the he or she form to talk to someone directly creates a bit of formal distance between you and them, but isn’t at all unfriendly. Rather, it conveys respect. 

To summarise:

Come stai? = How are you? (informal)

Come sta? = How are you (formal)

How to answer COME STAI in Italian?

Now you understand the question more deeply, what about the answer? Here are the 7 most common answers to come stai:

1. The thoughtful:

Bene… bene = well… well

Say this while staring absentmindedly into the distance… this has the added advantage of giving you lots of time to think of what to say next! Joking aside, Italians really do often say bene twice, perhaps because saying bene just once sounds a little too abrupt. 

2. The business-like:

Bene, grazie = Fine, thank you

Say this before swiftly moving on to greater things.

3. The neutral: 

Tutto bene = Everything’s fine (lit. all fine)

Another quick and easy answer for polite conversation.

4. The enthusiastic: 

Benissimo! = Really great! 

Then bounce into your next phrase to tell them all about it.

5. The detail-oriented:

Tutto a posto = Everything’s fine (lit. “all at place”)

You’re sure everything’s well. You’ve checked. And double checked.

6. The playful:

Benone = Very well

Why use a boring word like bene (well) when you could use this informal and playful way to say “reaallllly well”?

7. The stoic:

Non c’è male = Not bad

Things could be worse. It’s all relative anyway…

Bonus tips to sound like a native

1. Don’t say sto bene

Sto bene means “I’m fine”. You can say the whole phrase, but native speakers usually omit the sto. It’s similar to how in English, if someone asks how you are, you’d normally reply “fine, thanks”. It sounds a bit stilted to say “I’m fine, thanks”. 

2. Don’t use the pronoun (io)

Remember that Italians hardly ever use pronouns like “I” (io), unless they’re really emphasising who they’re talking about. 

In short, don’t say io sto bene. Instead, say bene, grazie or bene, bene. It sounds more natural. 

So now you know how the natives answer come stai, what are the mistakes you should avoid? 

Three mistakes to avoid when answering COME STAI

1. Bien

This mistake should really speak for itself, because it’s not Italian. Many people do answer bien though because they might already know some French or Spanish. The Italian way to say “well” is always bene. 

2. Buono

This means “good” in Italian. Why can’t we use it as a reply to come stai? 

This requires a bit of school-style grammar, so we’ll take it step by step.

Buono (good) is an adjective. This means we use it to describe things, like wine or ideas:  

• Un buon vino = a good wine
• Una buona idea = a good idea

Bene (well) is an adverb. This means we use it to describe a verb (an action), like speaking or cooking: 

• Matteo cucina bene = Matteo cooks well
• Parli bene l’italiano! = You speak Italian well! (lit. you speak well Italian)

In Italian, stare (to stay) is a verb, so to describe it, we use bene. 

3. Va bene

This is probably the most common mistake when answering come stai. 

It’s easy to do because va bene is one of those expressions you’ll hear all the time if you’re around Italians. 

You might have heard the question Come va? How’s it going? And you might know that va bene means “it’s going well”, literally:  

Va – it goes

Bene – well

But it sounds weird as an answer to the question come stai? Come to think of it, it would sound odd in English, too! 

– How are you? – *It’s going well

Here’s another reason it sounds unnatural: in Italian va bene is used as a way to agree to something, like “sure, OK”, or “no problem”. 

Vuoi mangiare fuori? Do you want to eat out?

Va bene! Sure, OK!

Since that’s the most common usage, if someone asks you “come stai” and you reply “va bene”, it can sound a bit like you’re answering the question “how are you” with “sure!” 

Just remember that when you’re answering questions about your health and wellbeing, like come stai, it’s best to avoid va bene because it doesn’t sound very natural. 

How to Answer COME STAI in Italian: Review

Molto bene! You made it to the end of this guide on how to answer come stai? in Italian. Soon, you’ll do a mini quiz to see how much you’ve learned, but first, here’s a quick review: 

To ask someone how they are, you can say: 

• Come stai = how are you (informal)
• Come sta = how are you (formal)

Here are a few different ways to answer like a native: 

• Come stai= How are you? 
• Bene, bene= well, well
• Bene, grazie= well, thank you
• Tutto bene= everything’s well
• Tutto a posto= lit. all in place
• Benissimo!= really great! 
• Benone= really well (informal/playful) 
• Non c’è male= not bad (lit. there’s not bad)

To sound natural, remember to leave out io and sto. Instead of io sto bene, it’s better to say bene, bene, or bene, grazie. 

And here are some common mistakes to avoid. DON’T say: 

• Bien (it’s French or Spanish, not Italian)
• Buono (we use it to describe things, like wine)
• Va bene (it means “ok”, but only when agreeing to something)

Now, if everything’s a posto, feel free to dive into the bonus materials and questions below and put your knowledge to the test!

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Vocabulary: How to answer COME STAI in Italian

Come stai= How are you? 
Bene, bene= well, well
Bene, grazie= well, thank you
Tutto bene= everything’s well
Tutto a posto= lit. all in place
Benissimo!= really great! 
Benone= really well (informal/playful) 
Non c’è male= not bad (lit. there’s not bad)

Quiz: How to answer COME STAI in Italian

How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!

Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to answer COME STAI in Italian

Flashcards: How to answer COME STAI in Italian

Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards

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Transcript: How to answer COME STAI in Italian

Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.

K: So Matteo, what other mistakes do students typically make with this question?

M: Well… maybe I’ll let you explain this one!

K: OK, we’ll talk about those mistakes soon, but let’s start by seeing some examples of how natives reply first. Here’s an example of a typical conversation after Matteo just saw a pineapple pizza: 

K: Ciao Matteo! Come stai? 

M: 😓Bene… bene.

K: Bene? Dimmi Matteo, cos’hai?

M: Tutto bene.

K: Matteo, ti conosco. 

M: 😤Sto bene! 

K: He’s not happy, non è contento, about the pineapple pizza. Let’s go through the dialogue step by step. So first I asked Matteo:

M: Come stai?

K: How are you? Literally: 

M: 

Come? = How?

Stai? = You are

K: This is the “you form” of a really important verb in Italian: stare. It sounds a bit like “stay”, which is what it literally means. To ask how you are, Italians literally say “how you stay”:

M: Come stai? 

K: Then Matteo answered: 

M: Bene… bene

K: Fine, fine. Literally “Well… well”. 

K: This is a typical way to respond where Italians will just say “bene” twice. Remember that in Italian, you can’t say “good”, which would be:

M: Buono.

K: You have to say “bene”, which means “well”. You can learn more about the differences between these words in an episode we did a while ago, number 20! Then we had:

M: Bene? Dimmi Matteo, cos’hai?

K: Well? Tell me Matteo, what’s wrong? Word for word:

M: 

Bene? = Well?

Dimmi = Tell me. 

Cos’hai? = What’s wrong? Broken down further that’s:

Cosa = what

Hai = you have

K: This is a very native-sounding expression. To ask what’s wrong, we literally say “What do you have”?. Cosa and hai get squished together:

M: Cos’hai? 

K: Then Matteo says: 

M: Tutto bene!

K: All ok! Literally

M: 

Tutto = All, or everything

Bene = well

M: Matteo, ti conosco.

K: Matteo, I know you. Word for word: 

M: 

Ti = you 

Conosco = I know

K: Then Matteo replied: 

M: Sto bene!

K: I’m fine! Word for word: 

M: 

Sto = literally “I stay” – the verb stare but this time in the “I” form. 

Bene = Well. 

K: Attenzione! Be careful, because although this is the way you typically learn in your first Italian lesson, it actually sounds unnatural. It’s similar to English. If someone says “how are you” and you say “I’m fine”, it sounds a bit stilted. Most of the time, we skip the “I’m” part and just say “fine, thanks”. 

In natural speech, most Italians just say bene, bene or bene, grazie, without sto. 

Matteo used sto in this case to give a lot of emphasis, because he’s really trying to drive his point home: I’M FINE, STO BENE. 

M: I had to force it because I’m not really fine, it’s just so hard to see a good pizza ruined with pineapple. 

K: Tutto bene Matteo, tutto bene. Everything’s ok. 

So to recap, three simple and native-sounding ways to respond to come stai are: 

M: 

Bene, bene

Bene, grazie

Tutto bene

K: Now let’s talk about another mistake to avoid! You’ve already heard bien which is Spanish or French, it doesn’t exist in Italian. And buono which means good rather than well. Another common mistake is va bene.

M: Yes, in Italian, if someone asks you come stai, you can’t reply with va bene. 

K: I think there are a couple of reasons people might make this mistake. The first is because we have the question Come va?, which means “how’s it going?”. We might assume we can answer va bene, which literally means “it goes well” or “it’s going well”. 

M: But it sounds weird as an answer to come stai. 

K: Come to think of it, it would sound a bit odd in English, too, if someone asks “how are you”, and you reply “it’s going well”. 

M: Sì! 

K: It could also be because in Italian, va bene has another, more common meaning, which is “OK”. We use it when we want to accept something or agree with someone, for example: 

M: Vuoi mangiare fuori?

K: Va bene! (Do you want to eat out? OK!)

K: Because va bene means “ok” when we accept or agree, we might assume it means “ok” when talking about our health and wellbeing, as in “I’m ok, thanks”. 

M: Ah! That makes sense. But yeah, in Italian, you can’t use va bene to mean “ok” when you’re talking about how you are. 

K: To talk about health and wellbeing, we always use the verb stare with bene. For example, are you ok? Literally, you stay well? The “you form” of stare is stai. 

M: Stai bene? 

K: To say “I’m ok thanks”, we say “I stay well thanks”. The “I form” of stare is sto. 

M: Sto bene, grazie

K: And as we know, if we’re using it as part of a casual conversation starter, we normally omit the sto. 

M: Bene, grazie. 

K: Let’s listen to the conversation one more time: 

K: Ciao Matteo! Come stai? 

M: 😓Bene… bene.

K: Bene? Dimmi Matteo, cos’hai?

M: Tutto bene.

K: Matteo, ti conosco. 

M: 😤Sto bene! 

K: So we’ve learned a lot today. Aside from the fact that Matteo doesn’t like pineapple pizza, you also learned that if someone asks you come stai?, you should avoid saying bien, buono, or va bene. 

M: Insead, to sound like a native Italian, you should say: bene, bene, tutto bene or bene, grazie. 

K: To see everything written down, learn more native ways to answer come stai?, and test yourself with a quiz and vocabulary cards to help it all sink in, head over to our website by clicking the link in the description. 

M: Or you can go to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and search for episode 89. 

K: See you next time. Or as we say in Italian.

K, M: Alla prossima!

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Should I use essere or stare? 

If you’ve been learning Italian for a little while, you might have come across these two important verbs and found yourself wondering which one to use. 

That’s because in English, they can both be translated as “to be”, but be careful, because they’re not always interchangeable! 

So, what’s the difference? 

In this blog post, you’ll find everything you need to know about essere vs. stare, including a handy trick that will make learning the difference a lot easier. 

Before you learn the secret to telling them apart, it helps to understand each one, so we’ll look at them separately first.

What does ESSERE mean? 

Essere literally means “to be”. We use it to talk about emotions, nationality, appearance, jobs, locations, descriptions… pretty much the same as in English! 

Sono stanca/o = I’m tired

Sono americana/o = I’m American

Sono alta/o = I’m tall

Sono in pensione = I’m retired

È cuoca/o = S/he’s a chef

Dove sei? = Where are you? 

L’albero è verde = The tree is green

Sono, è, sei… notice how the verb essere changed a lot in these sentences? Let’s quickly review the different forms. 

ESSERE conjugation: io sono, tu sei…

Essere is the base form of the verb “to be”. When we want to talk about specific people, the form changes. Here’s how: 

*Psst! Notice how those little words like “io” (I) and “tu” (you) are in brackets? In Italian, we normally leave ‘em out, because the verb already tells us who’s doing the action. 

What does STARE mean? 

Stare literally means “to stay”, in the sense of “to remain in a place”. For example: 

Oggi sto a casa = Today I’m staying at home 

Stai fermo! = Stay still! 

Stai con me = Stay with me

So far so good! The most basic difference between “essere” and “stare” is very simple: 

Essere = to be

Stare = to stay

So what’s all the confusion about? The problem is that a lot of the time, we use “stare” when in English, we would use “to be”. We’ll look at these in detail soon, but first, let’s quickly review the different forms of “stare”. 

STARE conjugation: io sto, tu stai… 

“Stare” is the base form of the verb “to stay”. When we want to talk about specific people, the form changes. Here’s how:

*Pronunciation tip! Stare is a regular “-are” verb, except for ‘stanno’, which has a double nn. Remember to make the “nn” sound nice and long when you say it. 

ESSERE vs. STARE: Why the Difference is Easier than you Think 

When you start to learn the difference between essere and stare, you might hear explanations like this:  

“We use ‘essere’ to talk about permanent states and ‘stare’ to talk about temporary situations”. 

This works sometimes. 

For example: 

Sono italiano = I’m Italian (essere = permanent state)

Sto male = I’m ill (stare = temporary situation) 

But this explanation doesn’t make a lot of sense in other situations, for example: 

Sono stanco = I’m tired (essere = temporary situation)

Sono in ritardo = I’m late (essere = temporary situation) 

Approaching the difference in this way can cause more confusion than it resolves. Luckily, there’s a better way. Ready to learn the difference between “essere” and “stare” the easypeasy way? 

Cominciamo! Let’s start: 

When in doubt, use ESSERE

As a rule of thumb, most of the time it’s correct to use essere. You can think of essere as the default word for “to be”, so when you’re not sure, go with essere and you’ll probably be right.

Now you know that you can use essere most of the time, to master the essere vs. stare difference, all you need to do is gradually learn the exceptions, in other words, when to use stare. 

When do we use STARE? 

Here are the main situations when you should use “stare” in Italian: 

Come stai? Use STARE to talk about health and how you are

Probably the most common and important use of stare is in this exchange: 

– Come stai? – Sto bene, grazie! 

– How are you? – I’m fine, thanks! 

We use stare to talk about how we are, when referring to our health and wellbeing in a very general way (usually with bene or male)

Sto bene = I’m well

Sto male = I’m ill, I’m not well

Sto meglio = I’m better

If you only learn one thing from this article, remember this one and you’ll already get essere vs. stare right most of the time!

Use STARE to talk about spending time with people 

We also use “stare” to talk about being with people, in the sense of spending time with them. 

For example: 

Mi piace stare con la famiglia. 

I like spending time with family. 

Stai sempre con i tuoi amici! 

You’re always with your friends! 

Preferisco stare in compagnia 

I prefer to have some company (lit. to stay in company)

Per me la cosa più importante è stare insieme

For me the most important thing is spending time together

You can also use it to talk about spending time alone: 

Voglio stare solo/a

I want to be alone

And to talk about being in a couple:

Jennifer Lopez e Ben Affleck stanno insieme di nuovo! 

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are together again! 

Spending time in places and situations

By the same logic, we use stare to talk about spending time in certain places or situations: 

Adoro stare al parco!

I love being at the park!  

Non mi piace stare in ufficio, preferisco lavorare a casa.
I don’t like being in the office, I prefer working at home. 

È bello stare in barca al tramonto.

It’s nice to be in a boat at sunset.

Non stare troppo al sole.

Don’t spend too much time in the sun.

Fixed Italian expressions with STARE

You’ll also find “stare” in quite a few expressions. In these cases, it’s best to learn the whole phrase without worrying too much about the logic behind it.

Here are a few examples:

Lascia stare = let it go, leave it be, forget about it

Ti sta bene = it suits you 

Mi sta a cuore = it’s important to me (lit. it stays at my heart)

Stammi bene = take care of yourself

Some fixed expressions are related to remaining in a certain state or position: 

Stare zitta/o = to shut up, to be quiet

Stare calma/o = to stay calm

Stare attenta/o = to be careful

Stare ferma/o = to sit/stand/be still* 

Stare in piedi = to be standing (lit. stay in feet)

Stare seduti = to be sitting (lit. to be sitting) 

*Good to know! The word “stand” doesn’t really exist in Italian, so we normally just use ‘stare’. For example “stand in front of everyone” would be ‘stare davanti a tutti’.

You can use a lot of these phrases with essere too, but sometimes the meaning changes slightly. For example, we nearly always use stare with instructions:

Stai calmo! = stay calm! 

Stai attento! = be careful! 

Stai ferma/o! = stay still! 

Stai zitto! = shut up! be quiet! 

Stai seduto = stay seated

STO PER… when you’re about to do something

Here’s another fixed expression, but it’s so common and important we thought it deserved its own section! Use stare per to explain that you’re about to do something: 

– Cosa fai? – Sto per mangiare. 

– What are you doing? – I’m about to eat. 

– Hai un minuto? – No, scusami, sto per uscire.
– Do you have a minute? – No, sorry, I’m about to go out. 

Shhhh, il film sta per iniziare. 

Shhh, the film’s about to start.  

Lavati le mani, stiamo per mangiare. 

Wash your hands, we’re about to eat. 

Use STARE for the “-ing” form

We also use stare with the “gerund”, which is just a fancy grammatical term for the “-ing” form (for example ‘eating’). We use this to talk about things we’re doing right now at this moment. For example: 

Sto mangiando = I’m eating

Sto leggendo = I’m reading

Sta camminando = S/he’s walking

Stiamo ballando = We’re dancing 

Sta dormendo = S/he’s sleeping

The verb that follows stare ends in -ando (-ARE verbs) or -endo (-IRE and -ERE verbs).

ESSERE vs. STARE PASSATO PROSSIMO (Italian Past Tense)

Now you’ve done all the hard work to understand “essere” vs. “stare”, we’ve got some good news for you! The past is really easy, because it’s exactly the same 🥳.

That’s right, no need to worry about telling them apart, because they share the same forms: 

*When we make the past with ‘essere’, the last letter agrees with the number and gender of the people we’re talking about. 

The Southern STARE

Finally, no article on essere vs. stare would be complete without a quick note about regional variants! In more southern parts of Italy, you’ll hear stare used in situations where we would normally use essere in standard Italian. 

For example: 

Sto stanco = I’m tired (standard = sono stanco)

Dove stai? = Where are you? (standard = dove sei?)

I bicchieri stanno sul tavolo = The glasses are on the table (standard = sono sul tavolo)

When to Use ESSERE vs. STARE: Review

Molto bene! You made it to the end of this guide on the differences between essere and stare. Time for a quick review. 

Remember, most of the time it’s correct to use essere, so when you’re not sure, try that one and you’ll probably be right. 

There are some exceptions when we use STARE

1. To talk about health and how we are: Come stai? Sto bene! 
2. To talk about spending time with people: Stare con la famiglia 
3. In fixed expressions: Stai calmo! 
4. To be about to do something: Sto per uscire 
5. The “-ing” form: Sto mangiando 

If that feels like quite a lot to remember, non c’è problema, no problem! You don’t need to remember them all in one go. Start with our rule of thumb – when in doubt use essere – then layer on the uses of stare one by one. 

Stai calmo, take it step by step and you’ll get there! 😎 

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Vocabulary: ESSERE vs. STARE

Sono felice = I’m happy
Sono italiano = I’m Italian (m)
Sono alto = I’m tall (m)
Sono qui = I’m here
Sto bene = I’m well
Sto male = I’m not well, literally “I’m bad”
Sto meglio = I’m better
Stare con le persone = to spend time with people, literally “to stay with people”
Stare con la famiglia = to spend time with the family, literally “to stay with the family”
Stare zitto = to be quiet, to shut up
Stare fermo = to stay still
Stare attento = to pay attention, literally “to stay attentive”
Stare calmo = to stay calm

Quiz: ESSERE vs. STARE

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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: ESSERE vs. STARE

Flashcards: ESSERE vs. STARE

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Transcript: ESSERE vs. STARE

Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.

K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to Learn Italian with Joy of Languages! I’m Katie.

M: And I’m Matteo, ciao! 

K: To be or not to be? Or in today’s case, maybe the question should be “to be” or “to stay”? We’re talking about the difference between essere, which means “to be” and stare which literally means to stay. 

But it’s not quite that simple, because in practice, they’re both used when we would normally use “be” in English. 

M: So how do we know when to use which one? 

K: Luckily, there’s a secret to make things a lot simpler and that is… when in doubt, use essere! It’s the verb that breaks down into different forms like “I am”: 

M: Sono

K: And “you are”

M: Sei 

K: She/he/it is

M: È

K: This is the same for the formal “you are”

M: È

K: We are

M: Siamo 

K. You are, the plural when speaking to two or more people

M: Siete

K: They are

M: Sono

K: And it’s the default one that we use most of the time. 

M: We use it to talk about emotions, nationality, appearance, jobs, locations, descriptions… 

M: Pretty much the same as in English! Let’s look at some examples. I’m happy

M: Sono felice

K: I’m Italian

M: Sono italiano

K: I’m tall 

M: Sono alto

K: I’m here

M: Sono qui! 

K: So as a rule of thumb, when you want to say “to be”, use essere and you’ll probably get it right. 

M: Now all we need to do is learn the exceptions. So when do we need to use stare? 

K: Well, remember when we had to take Brody to the vets because she ate a stick, got it stuck in her cheek and the whole side of her face swelled up? 

M: Sì! 

K: I went back to Inghilterra, England, just after, and when I called you to find out how she was, we used the verb stare quite a lot! 

M: First, listen to the mini-conversation, then we’ll break it down step by step: 

K: Come stai? 

M: Bene, grazie. 

K: E Brody, come sta? 

M: Sta meglio. Ma è un po’ triste perché deve stare a casa. 

K: Povera. 

M: Vuole stare con gli altri cani, vuole stare al parco. 

K: È iperattiva, immagino. 

M: Sì, non sta zitta e non sta ferma! 

K: So first, I asked: 

M: Come stai? 

K: How are you? Literally: 

M: 

Come = how
Stai = you stay

K: This is the most common and important use of stare, which is in this essential conversation opener to talk about how we, or other people are. Matteo answered: 

M: Bene, grazie
K: Good, thanks

K: Then I asked Matteo:

M: E Brody, come sta? 

K: And Brody, how’s she? Literally: 

M: 

E Brody = And Brody
Come = How
Sta = She stays

K: So we’ve seen two forms of stare: stai (literally “you stay”) and sta (literally he or she stays). Let’s review them all. I stay: 

M: Sto 

K: You stay

M: Stai 

K: She, he or it stays

M: Sta

K: This is the same for the formal “you”

M: Sta

K: We stay

M: Stiamo 

K: You stay (plural, speaking to two or more people)

M: State

K: They stay

M: Stanno

K: It’s nearly a regular verb, but watch out for the double nn in the last one. Make it nice and long: 

M: Stanno 

K: Luckily, Matteo answered “she’s better”

M: Sta meglio

K: So whenever you’re asking and answering questions about how you or other people are, we always use stare. And here’s a quick common mistake alert. Often people learning Italian translate directly from English and say things like “sono bene” or “è bene”, but in Italian, we always use stare in these situations. Honestly, if you only learn this difference, that we use stare to talk about how we are, you’re already nearly there when it comes to using it like an Italian! 

M: We normally use it with words like: 

Bene = good
Male = bad
Meglio = better

K: How would you say… I’m well?

M: Sto bene

K: You’re well

M: Stai bene 

K: She or he is well? Or you formal are well?

M: Sta bene

K: We’re well 

M: Stiamo bene 

K: You plural are well 

M: State bene 

K: They are well

M: Stanno bene 

K: Next, Matteo said: 

M: Ma è un po’ triste 

K: But she’s a bit sad

M: 

Ma = but
È = she is
Un po’ = a bit
Triste = sad 

K: Why? 

M: Perché deve stare a casa. 

K: Because she has to stay at home. Literally: 

M: 

Perché = because
Deve = she must
Stare = stay
A = at
Casa = home

K: Here we see how we often use “stare” to talk about being or staying at home. 

M: Stare a casa

K: Then I said: 

M: Povera

K: Poor, when talking about people, a bit like saying “poor thing”. PoverA, with an -a because Brody’s female. 

M: Povera

K: Then Matteo said: 

M: Vuole stare con gli altri cani

K: She wants to be with the other dogs. Literally 

M: 

Vuole = she wants
Stare = to stay
Con = with
Gli altri = the other
Cani = dogs

K: We use “stare” to talk about being around or spending time with people (or dogs in this case!). 

K: To spend time with the family, literally “to stay with the family”: 

M: Stare con la famiglia 

K: Or even, the lack of spending time with people. To be alone: 

M: “Stare solo”. I say “solo” with and O at the end. 

K: I would say…

M: Stare sola. With A. Sola.

K: Next, Matteo said: 

M: Vuole stare al parco. 

K: She wants to be at the park. Literally: 

M: 

Vuole = she wants
Stare = to stay
Al = at the
Parco = park  

Following the same logic as spending time around people, we can also use it to talk about spending time in certain places or situations, for example being, or spending time in the park: 

M: Stare al parco

K: Being or spending time in the office

M: Stare in ufficio

K: Being in, or spending time in the sun

M: Stare al sole

K: Next, I said: 

M: È iperattiva, immagino. 

K: She’s hyperactive, I imagine. 

K: And Matteo replied: 

M: Sì, non sta zitta 

K: Yeah, she won’t shut up. Literally

M: 

Non = not
Sta = she stays
Zitta = silent (for a male, it would be zitto). 

K: Stare zitto or stare zitta, means to stay quiet or shut up. It’s quite harsh, but if Brody’s been barking all day, you might hear one of us shout

M: Stai zitta! 

K: Shut up! 

K: Then Matteo said: 

M: E non sta ferma

K: And she won’t stay still. Literally: 

M: 

E = and
Non = not
Sta = she stays
Ferma = still (for a male, it would be fermo). 

K: Here’s another phrase with “stare”. Stay still: 

M: Stare ferma, or stare fermo. 

K: There are quite a few examples of fixed expressions like this with “stare”. For example: 

M: 

Stare attento = to be careful, literally “to stay attentive”
Stare calmo = to stay calm 

K: In these cases, it’s best to just learn the whole phrase, without worrying too much about the logic behind it. Over on the blog, you’ll find lots more examples of these. 

M: For now, let’s recap essere vs. stare. Remember when we use each one? 

K: As a rule of thumb, we use essere most of the time, so the secret is actually just to learn the exceptions when we use stare.  

M: You heard lots of examples in our conversation, let’s listen again: 

K: Come stai? 

M: Bene, grazie. 

K: E Brody, come sta? 

M: Sta meglio. Ma è un po’ triste perché deve stare a casa. 

K: Povera. 

M: Vuole stare con gli altri cani, vuole stare al parco. 

K: È iperattiva, immagino. 

M: Sì, non sta zitta e non sta ferma! 

K: The first situation is “come stai” to talk about how we are and our health. For example: 

M: 

Sto bene = I’m well 
Sto male = I’m not well, literally “I’m bad” 
Sto meglio = I’m better 

K: Then we used it to talk about spending time with people: 

M: 

Stare con le persone = to spend time with people, literally “to stay with people” .
Stare con la famiglia = to spend time with the family, literally “to stay with the family”.

K: Finally, you’ll find it in lots of fixed expressions, for example: 

M: 

Stare zitto = to be quiet, to shut up
Stare fermo = to stay still
Stare attento = to pay attention, literally “to stay attentive”
Stare calmo = to stay calm

K: To see everything written down, learn more common phrases with stare, and test yourself with a quiz and vocabulary cards to help it all sink in, head over to our website by clicking the link in the description. 

M: Or you can go to joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and search for episode 88. 

K: If you enjoyed this episode, you can get notified about new episodes by subscribing to Learn Italian with Joy of Languages, wherever you listen to podcasts. 

M: And if you have time, don’t forget to leave us a review. It means a lot to us because it helps other learners find the podcast. Grazie mille! 

K: See you next time, or as we say in Italian 

K, M: Alla prossima! 

—————————

M: Ehi, Katie, they’re still here, so let’s talk about a quick bonus one! What about how we use stare in Naples? 

K: Oh yeah, the southern stare! 

M: People from the South of Italy tend to use stare a lot in situations where we normally use essere in standard Italian. For example, in Naples, to say where something is, like “the glasses are on the table” we might say “i bicchieri stanno sul tavolo”. 

K: Can you guess what the standard Italian version would be? We would use essere, so we’d say: 

M: I bicchieri sono sul tavolo. 

K: I live with Matteo and have a lot of friends from the south of Italy, so I’ve picked this habit up too, and sometimes Italians from the North laugh at me. 

M: That’s because it’s a bit strange hearing a foreigner using a regional variant in that way, but it’s nice! In the South of Italy, you might also hear it for any kind of temporary situation, for example “sto felice” (I’m happy) or “sto in ritardo” (I’m late). That’s a very regional use. 

K: How would you say these sentences in standard Italian? We’d use essere. I’m happy: 

M: Sono felice

K: I’m late

M: Sono in ritardo

K: That’s really it from us now, see you soon!

M: A presto!

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Ever noticed how Italians tend to sing a little when they speak?

Mamma mia, Milano, amore….

If you want to have an Italian accent, the fastest and easiest way is to learn how to speak with that same sing-songy quality.

But how? Find out in this post!

The secret is in the vowels. 

There’s an enormous difference between the way we pronounce vowels in English and the way Italians pronounce them, that most people don’t know about. 

And once you learn the difference, you’ll sound more Italian straight away, even before you’ve finished reading this blog post! 

How to have an Italian accent? Open your mouth more

Seriously, it’s that stupidly simple. 

In English, we tend to mumble our vowels and smush them all together. Italians on the other hand, move their mouths around a lot, carefully enunciating each sound. 

When Matteo first moved to London and was learning English, he was surprised to notice that English people hardly moved their mouths at all when they spoke, compared to when he spoke. This explains the classic Italian accent: think of an Italian speaking English, and you’ll probably imagine a voice that’s really exaggerating each vowel. 

So if you’re a native English speaker learning the Italian accent, you probably have the opposite problem: you’re not opening your mouth enough when you speak Italian. 

An Italian friend once told me that when he hears foreigners speaking Italian, he wishes he could shout “open your mouth more!”, because it would help them have an Italian accent. 

So, if you want to sound more native when you speak, it’s time to open your mouth and carefully enunciate each vowel sound. 

Pronti? Let’s practise! 

Learn the Italian accent by practising these words

Take for example the Italian word for “break”. Do you know how to say that? Here’s a clue… it sounds a lot like the word “pause”. 

In Italian, we say pausa. 

Nice and easy to remember, given the resemblance to the English word! But be careful, because the pronunciation of the vowels is actually very different. 

To hear how it sounds, let’s pretend you’re admiring something. Say OOH, AAH! 

Perfetto. Now switch them around: 

AAH, OOH! 

And there you have it, now you know how to pronounce the au in pausa! 

Pausa 

Next, how would you pronounce this list of words? Remember, open your mouth and enunciate all the vowels really carefully: 

Auto

Opera

Pizza

Panini 

Responsabile 

If it feels a bit strange at the beginning, that probably means you’re doing it right! You might be moving your mouth muscles in ways you’ve never done before, and that takes a bit of getting used to at first. 

That being said, it’s something you can start doing immediatamente, immediately. Now you know the difference between English and Italian vowels, you already know the most important step in having an Italian accent.
So next time you’re speaking italiano, just remember to pronounce those vowels really carefully and you’ll feel instantly more Italian!

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Vocabulary: How to Have an Italian Accent

Pausa = break
Auto = car
Opera = opera
Pizza = pizza
Panini = sandwiches
Responsabile = responsible

Quiz: How to Have an Italian Accent

How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!

Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to Have an Italian Accent

Flashcards: How to Have an Italian Accent

Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards

Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial

Transcript: How to Have an Italian Accent

Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.

K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to Learn Italian with Joy of Languages! You might notice things are a little different around here, we’ve been away for a while and given the podcast a makeover. 

If you’re missing the old 5 minute Italian episodes, non ti preoccupare, don’t worry, the format is staying the same. We’ll keep focusing on how Italians actually speak, so you can learn the stuff that will be useful to you when you’re out here. And we’ll keep breaking everything down into little chunks so you can learn it one small bite at a time. As we’ve been away for a while, we thought we’d spruce things up a little! 

M: Yes, sorry we’ve been away for so long, we’re excited to be back with you after our very long pausa. 

K: Speaking of which, do you know the word “pausa”? Listen carefully… can you guess what it means? 

M: Pausa

K: Sounds a lot like pause, doesn’t it? That’s actually how we say “break” in Italian. So that makes it nice and easy to remember. To say “break” in Italian, we say “pause”. But attenzione, be careful, because the pronunciation is actually quite different. Let’s listen again: 

M: Pausa. 

K: Notice anything interesting about the vowels there? 

M: Pausa. 

K: Matteo pronounces every single one very carefully. A – U – A. Pausa. 

M: A – U – A. Pausa. A – U – A. Pausa. 

K: And this is an important lesson about Italian vowels, because the pronunciation is quite different compared to Italian and English. In English, we tend to mumble our vowels and mush them all together. 

M: That’s right. That reminds me of my special theory. 

K: Ah yeah! [mumbles] Your special “English people don’t move their mouth” theory. Tell us about it. 

M: When I lived in England for a year and I was learning English, I noticed how, compared to Italians, English people hardly move their mouth at all when they speak. Wiiiii spiiiiiiiiik laaaaaiiiiik thiiiiiis, we really enunciate our vowels, almost as if we’re singing. In English, [mumbles] you can speak without moving your mouth, like this. 

K: This means that when you’re learning Italian, to sound more native it’s important to really open your mouth and sing the vowels. I had a friend once who said that when he heard native English speakers speak a foreign language, he always wanted to tell them to open their mouth more, because it’s an easy way to improve your pronunciation quickly and quite drastically.

Let’s practice with some more examples. We’ll use words that are similar in English and Italian so you can really see the difference. Remember, if you want to see these words written down and get bonus materials and quizzes, you’ll find lots of extra materials for this episode on the blog too. 

M: So let’s listen to some words in Italian, I bet you can guess what they mean! 

• Auto 
• Opera
• Panini 
• Mozzarella 
• Responsabile 

K: So we had: 

M: Auto

K: Auto, which is one way of saying “car”. Can you hear how Matteo pronounces all the vowels? 

M: A – U – TO.  Auto. A – U – TO.  Auto 

K: Next: 

M: Opera

K: Which means “opera”, listen to how carefully Italians say all the vowels: 

M: O – PE – RA. Opera. O – PE – RA. Opera. 

K: Then we had: 

M: PA – NI – NI. Panini. PA – NI – NI. Panini. 

K: Interesting fact, “panino” just means “sandwich” in Italian. Panini, ending in the letter i, is the plural, so the way we use it to talk about a long grilled sandwich is something that got lost in translation. Panini actually just means “sandwiches” in Italian. Let’s listen to all the vowels again: 

M: Panini 

K: Next: 

M: Mozzarella 

K: Hear all the vowels there? Matteo really opens his mouth to say it. So it’s not [English accent] “mozzarella” how we would pronounce, it, but rather: 

M: MOT – TSA – RE – LA. Mozzarella. MOT – TSA – RE – LA. Mozzarella.   

K: And the last word: 

M: Responsabile.  

K: Not “responsible” but rather: 

M: RES – PON – SA – BI – LE. Responsabile. RES – PON – SA – BI – LE. Responsabile. 

K: Let’s listen to each word again, really slowly three times. Can you repeat them after Matteo? Remember to really open your mouth and enunciate the vowels as much as you can: 

M: 

• Auto (x3) 
• Opera (x3)
• Panini (x3)
• Mozzarella (x3) 
• Responsabile (x3)

K: That’s it for today, grazie for joining us, we’re really pleased to be back! Remember, to see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz to help it all sink in, head over to our website by clicking the link in the description. 

M: Or you can go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 87. 

K: If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts to get notified about new episodes.  

M: And we’d love it if you could leave us a review, because it really helps other Italian learners find the podcast. Grazie mille! 

K: Looking forward to “hearing” you again in the next episode! 

K, M: Ciao! 

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