Basic Italian phrases – How to survive and communicate in Italy 😀

Let’s speak Italiano – Basic Italian phrases

Basic Italian phrases – The language we now call Standard Italian derives from 13th-century Tuscan, or Florentine, to be specific. This choice was made after a few centuries of disputes between linguists, and was down to a number of factors.

Italian is an official national language in Italy, Switzerland, Vatican City, San Marino, and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta – not to be confused with Malta the country, where it enjoyed official status for centuries until 1934 but no longer does. It’s also an official language of the European Union.

Italian Language is recognized as a minority language in three other countries: Slovenia, Croatia and Brazil.

Curiosity:

The longest word in the Italian language is generally said to be ‘precipitevolissimevolmente’ meaning ‘very quickly’
Two words have eight consecutive vowels in them: ghiaiaiuolo and cuoiaiuolo.
Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world – an impressive feat, considering Italy’s relatively small size.

Basic Italian phrases

Essentials


1	Hello	Buongiorno
2	Good evening	Buonasera
3	Goodbye	Arriverderci
4	See you later	A dopo
5	Yes	Sì
6	No	No
7	Excuse me!	Per favore!
8	Thanks	Grazie
9	Thanks a lot	Grazie mille
10	Thank you for your help	Grazie per il suo aiuto
11	Don’t mention it	Prego
12	Ok	Va bene
13	How much is it?	Quanto costa, per favore?
14	Sorry!	Mi scusi !
15	I don’t understand	Non ho capito
16	I get it	Ho capito
17	I don’t know	Non so
18	Forbidden	Vietato
19	Excuse me, where are the toilets?	Dov’è il bagno per favore ?
20	Happy New Year!	Buon anno!
21	Happy birthday!	Buon compleanno!
22	Happy holiday!	Buone feste!
23	Congratulations!	Congratulazioni!

Conversation


1	Hello. How are you?	Buongiorno. Come stai ?
2	Hello. I’m fine, thank you	Buongiorno. Bene, grazie
3	Do you speak Italian?	Parli italiano ?
4	No, I don’t speak Italian	No, non parlo italiano
5	Only a little bit	Soltanto un po’
6	Where do you come from?	Di dove sei ?
7	What is your nationality?	Di che nazionalità sei?
8	I am English	Sono inglese
9	And you, do you live here?	E tu, vivi qui?
10	Yes, I live here	Si, abito qui
11	My name is Sarah, what’s your name?	Mi chiamo Sara, e tu ?
12	Julian	Giuliano
13	What are you doing here?	Che fai qui?
14	I am on holiday	Sono in vacanza
15	We are on holiday	Siamo in vacanza
16	I am on a business trip	Sono in viaggio d’affari
17	I work here	Lavoro qui
18	We work here	Lavoriamo qui
19	Where are the good places to go out and eat?	Dove mi consigli di andare a mangiare?
20	Is there a museum in the neighbourhood?	C’è un museo qui vicino?
21	Where could I get an internet connection?	Dove posso collegarmi a internet?

Learning


1	Do you want to learn a few words?	Vuoi imparare un po’ di vocabolario ?
2	Yes, sure!	Con piacere!
3	What’s this called?	Come si chiama ?
4	It’s a table	È un tavolo
5	A table. Do you understand?	Un tavolo, hai capito ?
6	I don’t understand	Non ho capito
7	Can you repeat please?	Puoi ripetere per favore ?
8	Can you talk a bit more slowly, please ?	Puoi parlare più lentamente?
9	Could you write it down, please?	Potresti scriverlo per favore?
10	I get it	Ho capito

Numbers


1	Zero	Zero
2	One	Uno
3	Two	Due
4	Three	Tre
5	Four	Quattro
6	Five	Cinque
7	Six	Sei
8	Seven	Sette
9	Eight	Otto
10	Nine	Nove
11	Ten	Dieci
12	Eleven	Undici
13	Twelve	Dodici
14	Thirteen	Tredici
15	Fourteen	Quattordici
16	Fifteen	Quindici
17	Sixteen	Sedici
18	Seventeen	Diciassette
19	Eighteen	Diciotto
20	Nineteen	Diciannove
21	Twenty	Venti
22	Twenty-one	Ventuno
23	Twenty-two	Ventidue
24	Twenty-three	Ventitre
25	Twenty-four	Ventiquattro
26	Twenty-five	Venticinque
27	Twenty-six	Ventisei
28	Twenty-seven	Ventisette
29	Twenty-eight	Ventotto
30	Twenty-nine	Ventinove
31	Thirty	Trenta
32	Thirty-one	Trentuno
33	Thirty-two	Trentadue
34	Thirty-three	Trentatre
35	Thirty-four	Trentaquattro
36	Thirty-five	Trentacinque
37	Thirty-six	Trentasei
38	Forty	Quaranta
39	Fifty	Cinquanta
40	Sixty	Sessanta
41	Seventy	Settanta
42	Eighty	Ottanta
43	Ninety	Novanta
44	One hundred	Cento
45	A hundred and five	Cento-cinque
46	Two hundred	Duecento
47	Three hundred	Trecento
48	Four hundred	Quattrocento
49	A thousand	Mille
50	A thousand five hundred	Millecinquecento
51	Two thousand	Duemila
52	Ten thousand	Diecimila

Time tracking


1	When did you get here?	Da quando sei qui?
2	Today	Da oggi
3	Yesterday	Da ieri
4	Two days ago	Da due giorni
5	How long are you staying for?	Quanto tempo resti ?
6	I’m leaving tomorrow	Riparto domani
7	I’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow	Riparto dopodomani
8	I’ll be leaving in three days	Riparto tra tre giorni
9	Monday	Lunedì
10	Tuesday	Martedì
11	Wednesday	Mercoledì
12	Thursday	Giovedì
13	Friday	Venerdì
14	Saturday	Sabato
15	Sunday	Domenica
16	January	Gennaio
17	February	Febbraio
18	March	Marzo
19	April	Aprile
20	May	Maggio
21	June	Giugno
22	July	Luglio
23	August	Agosto
24	September	Settembre
25	October	Ottobre
26	November	Novembre
27	December	Dicembre
28	What time are you leaving at?	A che ora parti ?
29	Morning, at eight o’clock	La mattina, alle otto
30	Morning, at a quarter past 8	La mattina, alle otto e un quarto
31	Morning, at half past 8	La mattina, alle otto e trenta
32	Morning, at a quarter to nine	La mattina, alle otto e quarantacinque
33	Evening, at 6pm	La sera, alle diciotto
34	I am late	Sono in ritardo

Italian gesture

The average Italian uses 250 every day. Italians love to let their hands do the talking.

Italian hand gestures and meanings: How to interpret Italian hand gestures and how to use them in conversation.

Basic Italian phrases