Some Readers’ Questions Answered Posted by Geoff on Nov 1, 2013 in Italian Language
Here are a few questions that we’ve been asked by readers over the past few months together with our answers. Sometimes we answer readers’ questions by writing blogs, and sometimes we simply post a reply in the comments section. The questions and answers below fall into the latter category, and we’ve decided to publish them here because they will undoubtedly be of use to other readers.
Domanda:
Hi Serena
Can you explain the use of “forza”. I saw you use it in the getting up post too.
Thank you
Robin
Risposta:
In the post Ninna Nanna ‘forza’ is used as an encouragement: “forza, è ora di andare a nanna” = “come on, it’s time to go to sleep”. When I was at secondary school, the Maths professor used to say before a test: “Forza, coraggio, ci sono volontari?” = “Come on be brave, are there any volunteers?” (lit. “strength and courage are there any volunteers”), so “Forza coraggio” became his nickname
In the Wakey Wakey post ‘forza’ is used to mean ‘force’: “se non ti alzi immediatamente ti butto giù dal letto a forza” = “if you don’t get up immediately I’ll throw you out of the bed by force”
Domanda:
Hi Geoff
I was wondering why ‘da’ is used most of the time to make a generic object have a specific use but for the hairbrush “per i capelli” is used. Is there a specific reason why?
Risposta:
When used to indicate the purpose of an object, the two prepositions da and per have the same meaning. Da is the most common one, in particular before an infinitive, e.g. la macchina da cucire = the sewing machine, but unfortunately there’s no hard and fast rule, it’s a matter of learning which one to use with each object described. We’ll write a blog about this in the future.
The Fall of my Guardian Angel:
Domanda:
Cara Serena, perché hai usato il futuro anteriore invece dell’ imperfetto nella frase “Io a quel tempo avrò avuto quattro o cinque anni…”? Probabilità? Mi è piaciuto molto il racconto.
Risposta:
The future tense is often used when we are guessing something, because it indicates uncertainty, e.g. hanno suonato alla porta. Chi sarà? = somebody rang the bell. Who could it be? (lit. who will it be?). In the example above, “Io a quel tempo avrò avuto quattro o cinque anni…”, I used the futuro anteriore because I was talking about the past: “at that time I must have been four or five years old” (lit. I will have had four or five years).
Domanda:
Geoff: Io ho un paio d’ occhiali da vista. Vabbene o no? JS
Risposta:
It’s better to use di rather than d’, hence: ‘ho un paio di occhiali da vista’
P.S. It’s not necessary to use ‘io’ because ‘ho’ already means ‘I have’, for example, we’d say: ‘hai un paio di occhiali da sole?’ = ‘have (you) got a pair of sunglasses?’, rather than ‘tu hai un paio etc’)
It doesn’t make sense but it has sense … doesn’t it?:
Domanda:
…mi vado a mettere la felpa (I’m going to wear my sweatshirt). Is this italiano? Or is it a bit slang? In all my years I’ve never heard “mi vado a” for “I’m gonna..” as in “I’m going to do something”. Have I been under a rock? Please explain. Thank you in advance.
Risposta:
Salve Cinzia! “Mi vado a mettere la felpa”: the personal pronoun “mi” is part of the reflexive verb “mettersi” (to put on, to wear). In Italian the personal/reflexive pronoun can be positioned either at the beginning of a verb sequence, such as in this case, or at the end of the verb sequence, attached to an infinitive, an imperative, or a gerund. In this particular case I could have written instead: “Vado a mettermi la felpa”. Both forms are correct.
Domanda:
Serena
I really like your blog and have been reading it for some time. In one of your examples you translated “scrittori di gialli” as writers of detective stories. How does “gialli” relate to detective stories, as it is also the plural of yellow? Are there other idiomatic expressions that use the word yellow? I also remember seeing the word “giallo” in news headlines, but it didn’t make sense to translate it as yellow.
Thank you
Steve
Risposta:
Salve Steve!
In 1929 the publisher Mondadori chose yellow to colour code their detective books. Since then ‘giallo’, or ‘gialli’ in the plural, has become a synonym for detective/mystery stories. By extension, the word ‘giallo’ in news headlines usually means ‘an unsolved mystery’.
I’m not aware of any idiomatic expressions that use the word ‘giallo’, but yellow is considered the colour of envy and jealousy.
Remember, if you have any questions, or suggestions for future blog articles, please leave a comment.
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Comments:
AntonyM:
All this is highly appreciated… one thing: I note that often Italians speaking/writing English have learned Britishisms without being aware of it. “Maths” is understandable, but to an American it sounds strange. We’d write something like “When I was at secondary school, the math professor used to say…”
In this informal context, no capitalization. If you were being more formal, you might write the “professor of Mathematics” …
And as soon as I typed the word capitalization I realized the British way of spelling it would be with an “s” as in capitalisation.
Oh well…
Geoff:
@AntonyM Salve Antony, Perhaps the fact that I’m English, and not American, and that Serena lived in England for 13 years has something to do with that. To most British English speakers the American habit of dropping letters, such as the u in colour seems lazy.
Of course, by now England has been invaded by Americanisms such as Kwiksave, which to my generation sound pretty horrible.
Personally I have a lot of American friends so I’ve picked up a lot of Americanisms!
A presto, Geoff
Paolo Minotto:
I think the two prepositions da and per, when they have the same meaning, is a source of confusion since there isn’t a rule to go by.
A future blog would be much appreciated on this.
Geoff:
@Paolo Minotto Non ti preoccupare, il blog arriverà 🙂
Saluti da Geoff
Phil:
In America (at least in the old days when I grew up), we had a term “yellow journalism.” It was used to describe newspapers and periodicals which tended to use low standards of truth to destroy political opponents. They were printed on cheap paper which had a yellow tint which gave the style its name.
Phil
Paolo Minotto:
Serena/ Geoff,
Thanks for addressing my question concerning “da and per”.
In your recent post:
“Ci vengo a patto che siate un gruppo piccolo di persone che conosco”
“I’ll come as long as it’s a small group of people that I know”
Why was “siate” used and not “ci sia” or just “sia”?
And, concerning ““Sì, ma c’ha il vetro per cui fa un bel TAC quando la colpisci”.
c’ha – does that translate to ci ha (it has)? What function does “ci” serve here and when is it or not used before il verbo “avere”?
Great blog. Thanks. (Now i know what “Airsoft” is.)
paolo minotto
Serena:
@Paolo Minotto Salve Paolo! Grazie per i complimenti. Airsoft is great fun when played with friends. This morning I had my second battle: 1 kill, 0 deaths!
First question: “Ci vengo a patto che siate un gruppo piccolo di persone che conosco”
“I’ll come as long as it’s a small group of people that I know”
Why was “siate” used and not “ci sia” or just “sia”?
This wasn’t a literal translation, what I really wrote was: “as long as you (voi) are a small group of people that I know”. I used ‘voi siate’ because I was talking to Geoff who is part of the group.
Second question: concerning ““Sì, ma c’ha il vetro per cui fa un bel TAC quando la colpisci”.
c’ha – does that translate to ci ha (it has)? What function does “ci” serve here and when is it or not used before il verbo “avere”?
c’ha means ‘ci ha’ and is pronounced ‘cià’. ‘Ci’ doesn’t have any grammatical function, is a colloquialism, particularly common in Toscana and in many other parts of Italy.
Saluti da Serena
Paolo Minotto:
Grazie per le risposte.
paolo
Robin:
Ciao Serena, Ciao Geoff
I have another “reader’s question” and wonder if you could help with a blog on it. It relates to the translation of the English
“On arriving at work…(e.g.I realise in fact I had booked a day of holiday)”
“On closing the door…”
“On speaking with her…)
“On confronting him…
While doing an exam, I recently came across the phrase “Nel chiudere la porta, mi sono accorto che le chiavi erano gia dentro”.
In English we start each of these sentences with “On” but in Italian there seems to be an option of Sul or Nel…or “Arrivando al lavoro..”?
Can you help explain the translations and the prepositions?
Grazie mille.
Robin
Serena:
@Robin Salve Robin, scusa per il ritardo, ma questa non è una risposta semplice.
“nell’entrare ho visto …” è corretto, ma non usiamo ‘sul’ (on) come alternativa. Penso che sia l’abbreviazione di “nell’atto di entrare” (lit. in the action of entering)
Le forme alternative più comuni sono:
1. entrando ho visto (gerundio + passato prossimo)
2. mentre entravo ho visto (mentre + imperfetto + passato prossimo)
Vedo se riesco a scrivere un articolo su questo argomento fra qualche tempo
A presto
Serena