If you’re thinking about a trip to Italy, you’ve surely pictured yourself walking into a beautiful Italian café and ordering your first drink, or going out for an authentic Italian meal…
But how to do this in Italian?
Here you’ll learn the
What’s the first thing you should learn in Italian? Maybe how to…
Say hello?
Ask someone their name?
Here’s our suggestion:
Grazie!
That’s Italian for “thank you”. It’s a word you’ll use every day that’s essential for being polite in Italian.
Even if you already
When you first arrive in Italy, speaking to locals in Italian might feel intimidating.
What if you don’t understand what someone says? What if you can’t remember how to say… well: “how do you say?”
The good news is, to communicate
Grazie!
Hmm... now what?
You might have the feeling that Italians use a lot of different phrases to answer grazie. You’re right!
The best response to grazie could depend on who you’re speaking to. Is it a formal or informal situation? Or
Ever had the feeling that your pronunciation of grazie is just slightly… off?
If so, don’t worry, you’re in good company.
This word is perhaps responsible for more pronunciation mistakes than any other among Italian learners.
Read on to find out
Io, tu, lei... these little words are called "subject pronouns" in Italian.
In English we use them all the time: “I go”, “you want”, “she speaks”.
But Italians often don’t! In fact, it can be really confusing knowing when to
What does having a cold, a romantic partner and a talent for making mistakes in Italian have in common?
In Italian, it’s the verb essere.
Normally, essere in Italian means “to be”. But not always! There are a few little phrases
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
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
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
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. 
I like it, you like me, we liked them… in this episode you’ll learn how to use the verb PIACERE in all its different forms, just like an Italian would.
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Think about something you really liked in the past. Maybe a place you lived in or something tasty you used to eat.
In today’s episode, learn how to talk about things you liked (or didn’t like) when they lasted for
In Italian, objects can be masculine or feminine. This means that:
Bread is un signore 🎩
Pizza is una signora 🎀
This is good to know, because it helps us use the past correctly, especially when we’re talking about things we liked.
Mi piace. It’s simple enough to remember this phrase in the present, but in the past, things get a little tricky! Learn how to talk about things you liked in this episode. By the end, you’ll be able to say
Did you know that mi piace doesn’t really mean “I like”? This mistranslation is one of the reasons that learning this expression can be so tricky in Italian. Once you clear it up and learn the true meaning, everything becomes
In English, we “have” lunch and dinner. But Italians don’t say it like this - they lunch and dine. Find out how to talk about having lunch and dinner in episode #81 of five minute Italian.
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In this episode, you’ll learn how to avoid a common mistake that English speakers make really often when they speak Italian. In English, you can “have” a coffee or “have” lunch. But in Italian, we don’t say it that way.
In this episode, you’ll learn about my favourite Italian word of all time, that isn’t even really a word, it’s more like a sound: Boh! But what does it mean?
Find out in episode #79 of five minute Italian
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Have you ever heard the word “magari” and wondered what it meant? The confusion can come from the fact that it actually has 2 very different meanings. Once you know them, it’s simple.
And if this word is new to you,
