Here’s another small collection of words and phrases that we use all the time in Italy, but which are often overlooked in Italian classes or text books. Learning how and where to use them will make your spoken Italian sound much more natural.

Allora is such a habitual word that it sometimes seems impossible to start a sentence without it. It has a ‘twin sister’, dunque, but more about that later.
Allora has a variety of meanings, including: ‘so’, ‘well’, ‘well then’, ‘in that case’, and ‘therefore’. It can also mean ‘then’ or ‘at that time’. Here are a few examples that will give you a feeling for how it is used:

so?

allora, com’è? (so, how are things?). This is a very common way of greeting a friend. You can also use allora, come stai? (so, how are you?) or allora, come va? (so, how’s it going)
Franco: ‘Purtroppo non sono riuscito a prenotare un tavolo al ristorante San Giorgio’ (Franco: ‘Unfortunately I didn’t manage to book a table at the San Giorgio restaurant’) Laura: ‘e allora, dove andiamo stasera?’ (Laura: ‘so…, where are we going this evening?’)

well then?

allora, hai finito quel lavoro? (well then, have you finished that job?)
cosa, sono già le nove! Allora, bisogna finirlo subito (what, it’s already nine o’clock!, well then, it needs to be finished straight away)

in that case, then

Non sei ancora pronto? allora ti aspetterò altri cinque minuti (aren’t you ready yet? in that case I’ll wait for you for another five minutes)
se non c’è più pane allora bisogna fare un salto dal panettiere (if there’s no bread left then we need to pop to the bakers)

since then

ci siamo incontrati al bar la settimana scorsa, e da allora non l’ho visto (we met at the bar last week, and I haven’t seen him since then)
l’ho portato dall’orologiaio tre anni fa per una revisione, e da allora in poi non ha avuto più problemi (I took it to the watchmakers three years ago for a service, and from that time onwards it hasn’t had any more problems)

at that time (and a bit of history!)

Nel 1871 Garibaldi fonda la prima associazione per la protezione degli animali in Italia. Allora nessuno pensava ai diritti degli animali (In 1871 Garibaldi founded the first association for the protection of animals in Italy. At that time, no one considered animal rights.)

until then, until that time

non ci ero mai stato fino allora (I’d never been there until that time)
non avevo mai assaggiato un vero gelato fino allora! (I’d never tasted a real ice cream until then!)

right then, at that very moment

…e proprio allora è entrata Federica! (… and at that very moment Federica came in!)

dunque …

As I hinted earlier, dunque can often be used as an alternative to allora. Here are some examples:

penso, dunque sono (I think, therefore I am) N.B. don’t say penso, allora sono … unless you want to sound like a troglodyte!

dunque, andiamo in pizzeria stasera? (well then, are we going to the pizzeria this evening?)

you can use dunque if you are picking up the thread of a conversation e.g. dunque… mi stavi raccontando delle tue vacanze (so… you were telling me about your holiday)

you can also use it in exclamatory phrases e.g. dimmi dunque! (tell me then!)

Both dunque and allora are used very commonly when you are having a conversation and are thinking about what you’re going to say next, a bit like saying ‘hmm now let me think…’ dunque … cosa volevo dire? (so … what did I want to say?) … ah sì … eccoci alla fine del blog!