Successful learners of Italian soon develop the good habit of identifying similarities between English and Italian words. This can be a very useful way of extending your vocabulary thanks largely to the Latin element present within the English language. You will often notice for example that words which end with –tion in English will end in –zione in Italian: station = stazione, exploration = esplorazione, fraction = frazione, and so on. Likewise many English words ending in –ty will end with –ta’ in Italian, e.g. city = citta’, hospitality = ospitalita’, university = universita’, etc. Then there are verbs such as ‘to study’ = studiare, ‘to block’ = bloccare , ‘to dance’ = danzare, the list is endless, and these are of course some of the easiest Italian words to learn.

However state attenti (be careful) because some words which seem almost identical in both languages can be misleading. This week, therefore, to complement the Italian Word of the Day which you will find on this page I’m going to give you some important ‘Misleading Words of the Day’ to try and help you avoid making some of the more common mistakes when speaking Italian.

The ‘Misleading Word of the Day’ for today is: attualmente.

Following the above rule of similarity we have these examples: casualmente = casually, rapidamente = rapidly, distintamente = distinctly, and therefore attualmente should logically mean ‘actually’ right? Wrong!

In Italian attualmente means: at present, at the moment, now, or nowadays. e.g. ‘attualmente non fa molto freddo’ (It’s not very cold at the moment), ‘mia sorella attualmente abita in Francia’  (my sister lives in France at present).

Attuale, therefore, means not actual but present: l’attuale primo ministro (the present prime minister), and an attualita’ is a ‘current event’ or ‘topical interest’.

So, you may ask, if attualmente doesn’t mean actually how do I say actually in Italian? Well, of course, it depends on the context. Here are a few examples to help you:

To say ‘actually’ with the sense of ‘really’ you can use realmente, veramente, proprio, davvero or sul serio: ‘vai veramente a Parigi?’ (are you actually going to Paris?), ‘hai proprio mangiato le lumache!?’ (have you actually eaten snails!?)

To say ‘actually’ with the sense of ‘in actual fact’ you can use in realta’ or effettivamente: ‘in realta’ non mi va di mangiare fuori questa sera’ (actually I don’t fancy eating out this evening), ‘effettivamente il film era un po’ noioso’ (actually the film was a bit boring).

To say ‘actual’ you can use vero, reale, or effettivo: il costo reale era maggiore (the actual cost was greater).

Adesso ho davvero finito la prima puntata (now I’ve ‘actually’ finished the first instalment).