Do you know how to say “I miss you” in Italian?
It’s a bit backwards compared to English!
But once you get into the Italian frame of mind, it’s easy to learn.
Learn how Italians say “I miss you” in episode 49 of of 5 Minute Italian.
To help you remember what you learnt in today’s lesson, below you’ll find bonus materials including word lists, quizzes and flashcards. But first…
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Bonus Materials
Remember what you learnt with the bonus materials for today’s episode.
Today’s Italian words
Che cosa ti manca di Napoli? = What do you miss about Naples?
Che cosa = what
ti manca = from you
manca = it misses
di = about
Napoli = Naples
Mi manca la mia famiglia, il mare, e la pizza napoletana naturalmente = I miss my family, the sea and Neapolitan pizza obviously.
Mi = from me
manca = it misses
la mia famiglia = my family
il mare = the sea
e = and
la pizza napoletana = Neapolitan pizza
Naturalmente = of course.
E tu Katie? Che cosa ti manca dell’inghilterra? = And you Katie? What do you miss about England?
Mi manca la famiglia, gli amici, e la colazione inglese = I miss my family, friends and English breakfast.
Take the Quiz!
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Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say “I miss you” in Italian
Italian flashcards
Remember the vocabulary from your 5 Minute Italian lessons by downloading the digital flashcard pack.
- Download the flashcards: How to say I miss you in Italian
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Transcript
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian, I’m Katie.
Matteo: And I’m Matteo.
K: And in today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to use the verb “miss” (as in “I miss you”) in Italian.
M: First, ascoltiamo la conversazione, let’s listen to the conversation, then we’ll go through it step by step.
K: Matteo, che cosa ti manca di Napoli?
M: Mi manca la mia famiglia, il mare, e la pizza napoletana naturalmente.
M: E tu Katie? Che cosa ti manca dell’inghilterra?
K: Mi manca la famiglia, gli amici, e la colazione inglese.
K: So you heard:
M: Che cosa ti manca di Napoli?
K: What do you miss about Naples?
M: I live in Milan now, but I’m originally from Naples, so Katie was asking me what I miss about my home city.
M:
- Che cosa = what
- ti = from you
- manca = it misses
- di = about
- Napoli = Naples
K: The important bit for us today is the word manca, which means “it misses”. It comes from the -are verb mancare “to miss”.
Manca “it misses” is another example of how Italians sometimes speak backwards compared to English. Instead of saying you miss it, the idea is expressed backwards, it is missing from you, or literally, from you (ti), it misses (manca). “Ti manca”.
M: Italians don’t say “I miss it”, or “you miss it”, they say “from me, it misses” (mi mancha) or “from you, it misses” ti manca.
K: To use this word correctly, it’s essential to get this logic: in Italian, we don’t say “I miss something”, but rather, I talk about an object or person that’s missing from me.
It’s quite romantic if you think about it!
Next, you heard Matteo say:
M: Mi manca la mia famiglia, il mare, e la pizza napoletana naturalmente.
K: I miss my family, the sea, and Neapolitan pizza, of course.
M:
- Mi = from me
- manca = it misses
- la mia famiglia = my family
- il mare = the sea
- e = and
- la pizza napoletana = Neapolitan pizza
- Naturalmente = of course.
K: Naturalmente, literally means “naturally”, but it’s often used in Italian to mean “of course” or “obviously”.
M: Naples is the birthplace of pizza. I like pizza everywhere, but it’s never quite as good as in Naples, so that’s something I really miss.
K: And here again to express the concept “I miss” you heard mi manca, literally “from me it misses”. To say “I miss my family” you heard: mi manca la famiglia. Literally, “from me”, it misses my family. Next, Matteo asked:
M: E tu Katie? Che cosa ti manca dell’inghilterra?
K: And you Katie, what do you miss about England? And you heard me answer:
M: Mi manca la mia famiglia, i miei amici, e la colazione inglese.
K: I miss my family, my friends, and English breakfasts! So we know that in Italian, to say I miss something, we say mi manca (something is missing from me).
M: How would you say “I miss you”? in Italian? Can you guess?
K: We’d say “you are missing from me”. Literally: “from me, you miss”. “From me” is mi. Mancare is a regular –are verb, so how would you say “you miss”?
M: Manchi
K: To say “I miss you”? or literally “from me, you miss?”, we’d say:
M: Mi manchi.
K: And if you need a little help with -are verbs, you might find episode #44 helpful.
That’s it from us for today. Remember that when it comes to learning Italian, practice makes perfect. To help you remember what you learnt today, you’ll find bonus materials including a quiz and vocabulary flashcards – head over to www.joyoflanguages.com/italianpodcast and scroll down to this episode. Or follow the link in the show notes to go straight there. You can also practice your Italian by chatting with us in the 5-minute Italian facebook group – you’ll find the link for that in the show notes too. Ciao for now, or as we say in Italian:
M: Alla prossima!
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