A few posts ago I had written about my experience learning Italian and all of the struggles that come with it. Since then I realized that I don’t write about Italian enough and maybe I should have a post dedicated to some of the language. In this post I’ll tell you the 10 phrases that got me by my first year learning Italian, as well as 10 phrases that I didn’t find in my Italian dictionary but learned by speaking. Both sets of these phrases have been like survival phrases to me. The second set of phrases I literally searched for because I say them so much in my own language.
10 Phrases that got me by
First I wrote the phrase in Italian, then the pronunciation, then the meaning.
Non lo so –KNOWN low so = I don’t know.
non ho capito –known oh cah-PEE-toh= I don’t understand
che cosa hai detto? – keh COHZA eye DETTO = what did you say?
si, mi piace –see, ME PEE-ach-eh= yes, I like it
più o meno-PEW oh meno = plus or minus (more commonly used to say “pretty much”)
come stai?- COHMEH stye= how are you
allora..-AH lora= well…
che cosa succede?-keh COHZA soo-CHE-deh= what happened?
puoi aiutarmi per favore?-poy eye-u-TAR-me pear fah-VORE-eh = can you help me please
va bene- vah BEH-neh= sounds good/all right
10 Phrases I never found in the dictionary
Meno male-meno MAll-eh= thank goodness
come mai?-COHMEH my= how come
almeno-al MENO= at least
ti dispiace?- tee dis-PEE-ah-cheh= do you mind?
lascia fare- LASHA far-eh= I bet
per caso- pear CAZO= by chance
fammi sapere- FYE-me sah-PEAR-eh= let me know
fra tempo- FRAH tempo= in the mean time
non importa- known eem-POR-tah= never mind
non mi hai preso- known me eye PRE-zo= you didn’t get me (hurt me)
There are plenty more phrases that I never found in the dictionary but write down occasionally. Hope these phrases will be useful to you all. Have you been searching for a particular phrase in Italian but can’t find it? Let me know and maybe I’ve found it! In bocca al lupo~
