In my previous blog we had a look at a few of the warning signs that you might encounter when visiting Italy. Today I’m going to continue with the same theme by giving you some useful warning phrases and explain how to use them.

Now it’s all very well being able to make sense of what a warning sign says but if, for example, you were a passenger in a car driven by an Italian who understood little or no English, and you needed to warn them about an impending disaster, exactly what would you say? O.K., so you’d probably just scream and flap your hands about hoping they might get the message, but that’s probably not the best method.

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Giving Warnings – 1

The most direct method of giving a warning is the ‘look out’ variety. Here are some of the variations you can use:

Attenzione! – Look/watch/mind out

Attento/a/i/e! – Look/watch/mind out, here the ending changes depending on who you are addressing, e.g. Attento, Paolo! (watch out Paolo!), Attente, ragazze! (Watch out girls!).

To give a warning about something specific: Michele, attento alla macchina! (Michele, look out for the car!), Ragazzi, attenti alle scale! (Look out/be careful of the stairs boys!).

If you want to warn a friend against doing something you can use sta’ attento/a or stai attento/a, e.g. Sta’ attento a non perderti! (Mind you don’t get lost!), Stai attenta a non dimenticare! (Mind you don’t forget!). In formal ‘lei’ situations use the present subjunctive ‘stia’, e.g. Signora, stia attenta a non cadere! (Be careful not to fall madam!), and when speaking to two or more people use the normal plural form state attenti/e a non perdervi! (Be careful non to get lost!)

A very colloquial way of giving a warning is to use the expression ‘occhio!’ (literally: ‘eye!’). To be more specific you can say: Occhio alle dita! (Mind your fingers!), Occhio alla curva! (Mind the bend!), and so on.

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Giving Warnings – 2

Another way of giving a warning is by using ‘non’ to tell someone not to do something:

For the informal ‘tu’ form you should use ‘non’ followed by the infinitive of the appropriate verb, e.g. Non andare troppo veloce! (Don’t go too fast!), Non toccare! (Don’t touch!), and so on. For a reflexive verb such as avvicinarsi (to go close to) you can use either of the following forms; Non ti avvicinare ai binari! or Non avvicinarti ai binari! (Don’t go close to the railway tracks!), note that if you choose to put the reflexive pronoun after the verb, you must take the ‘e’ off the end of the infinitive and substitute it with ‘ti’.

To say ‘don’t’ to more than one person add ‘non’ in front of the normal plural form of the verb, e.g. Ragazzi, non andate troppo veloce! (Boys, don’t go too fast!), and for the polite, ‘lei’ form use the subjunctive, e.g. Signora, non vada troppo forte! (Don’t go too fast madam!).