{"id":12464,"date":"2016-09-09T10:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T08:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=12464"},"modified":"2016-09-08T21:22:26","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T19:22:26","slug":"eccoci-al-mare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/eccoci-al-mare\/","title":{"rendered":"Eccoci Al Mare!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve studied Italian in language classes or from books, it can be an unsettling surprise to arrive in Italy and find that colloquial Italian is peppered with words and expressions that no one ever told you about.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ecco<\/a>

Ecco laggi\u00f9 il mare!<\/strong> Photo<\/span> \u00a9 Geoff Chamberlain<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

One such word is <\/span><\/span>e<\/span><\/span><\/strong>cco<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong> You hear it <\/span><\/span>all\u00a0the time, <\/span><\/span>but it\u2019s <\/span><\/span>difficult to pin down <\/span><\/span>exactly what it means<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>Ecco<\/strong> is used in many different contexts, and finding an exact equiv<\/span><\/span>alent in English <\/span><\/span>seems hopeless<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As usual in these cases, the best remedy is to study practical examples of its usage. Ecco<\/strong>, that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going to do today. Ecco qualche esempio<\/strong> (Here are some examples):<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ecco<\/strong> is very often used when beginning an explanation, or working out what to say, and in this case it means something like \u201cwell …\u201d:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChe lavoro fai?\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/strong>(\u201cwhat work do you do?\u201d) <\/span><\/span>\u2026<\/strong> \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/strong>Ecco, io lavoro come bagnino sulla spiaggia\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201cwell, I work as a lifeguard on the beach\u201d)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also hear it used in everyday conversation as an exclamation of agreement meaning \u201cthat\u2019s right!\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this case, it’s <\/span><\/span>often followed by <\/span><\/span>appunto<\/span><\/span><\/strong> or <\/span><\/span>esatto<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (exactly):<\/span><\/span>
\n\u201cguarda quanta gente sta arrivando alla spiaggia, meno male che siamo arrivati presto!\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/strong>(Look how many people are coming onto the beach, thank goodness we arrived early!\u201d)<\/span><\/span> \u2026<\/span><\/span> \u201cEcco, appunto!\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/strong>(\u201cThat\u2019s right, exactly!\u201d)
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes ecco<\/strong> is used as an exclamation meaning \u2018here\u2019 or \u2018there\u2019,\u00a0 at the moment of arrival<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this instance, <\/span><\/span>ecco<\/span><\/span><\/strong> is combined with the direct personal pronoun <\/span><\/span>mi, ti, lo, la,\u00a0ci, vi, li, le<\/span><\/span><\/strong> e.g. <\/span><\/span>ecco<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(here\/there) + <\/span><\/span>vi<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(you [plural])\u00a0becomes <\/span><\/span>eccovi<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (here\/there\u00a0you are). <\/span><\/span>Obviously the choice of \u2018here\u2019 or \u2018there\u2019 depends on the situation:<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n\u201cEccoci<\/span><\/span><\/u><\/strong> arrivati al mare\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201c<\/span><\/span>here we are<\/u><\/span><\/span>, we’re at the sea\u201d), <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/b><\/span><\/span>eccovi<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/strong> finalmente!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201chere\/<\/span><\/span><\/span>there you are<\/u><\/span><\/span>, finally!\u201d), <\/span><\/span>\u201cSerena, <\/b><\/span><\/span>dove sei … vieni in acqua?\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/strong>(“Serena, where are you, are you coming into the water?”<\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span> …<\/span><\/span><\/strong> \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/strong>eccomi<\/span>, arrivo!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(“<\/span><\/span>Here I am<\/u>, I’m coming!<\/u>“<\/span><\/span>). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It can also mean \u2018here is\/are\u2019 or \u2018there is\/are\u2019:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

\u201cecco le infradito per la spiaggia\u201d<\/strong> Photo CC by Bermi Ferrer<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cE<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>cco<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/strong> laggi\u00f9 il mare\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201c<\/span><\/span>there\u2019s<\/u><\/span><\/span> the sea down there\u201d), <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/b><\/span><\/span>ecco<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/strong> il tuo costume da bagno\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201c<\/span><\/span>here’s<\/u><\/span><\/span> your swim suit\u201d), \u201ce<\/span>cco<\/u><\/strong> le infradito per la spiaggia\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0(\u201chere are<\/u> your flip flops for the beach\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

and \u2018this is\u2019 or \u2018that is\u2019:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEcco<\/span><\/span><\/u><\/strong> come fare un bel castello di sabbia!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201c<\/span><\/span>that’s<\/u><\/span><\/span> how you make a nice sand castle!\u201d)<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When used with perch\u00e9<\/strong>, ecco<\/strong> means \u2018that\u2019s why\u2019:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSono stato in vacanza al mare per tre settimane\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/strong>(\u201cI\u2019ve been on holiday at the sea for three weeks\u201d<\/span><\/span>) …<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/strong>ecco perch\u00e9<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/strong> non ti ho visto <\/span><\/span><\/strong>in giro<\/span><\/span><\/strong>!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201c<\/span><\/span>that\u2019s why<\/u><\/span><\/span> I haven\u2019t seen you <\/span><\/span>around<\/span><\/span>!\u201d).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A couple of useful colloquial expression …<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span><\/span>t the end of a summary or explanation we sometimes say <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/b><\/span><\/span>ecco tutto\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(\u201cthat\u2019s all\u201d).
\nT<\/span><\/span>o say that something is done, or finished we often use <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/b><\/span><\/span>ecco fatto\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (\u201cthat\u2019s <\/span><\/span>that<\/span><\/span>\u201d\u00a0or \u201cit\u2019s done\u201d)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

… and finally … <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

… ecco<\/span><\/span><\/strong>ci alla fine del<\/span><\/span><\/strong> blog!<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (h<\/span><\/span>ere we are at the end of the blog!<\/span><\/span>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A presto …<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

If you\u2019ve studied Italian in language classes or from books, it can be an unsettling surprise to arrive in Italy and find that colloquial Italian is peppered with words and expressions that no one ever told you about. One such word is ecco. You hear it all\u00a0the time, but it\u2019s difficult to pin down exactly…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":12484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[668,684],"class_list":["post-12464","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colloquial-italian","tag-ecco"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12464"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12489,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12464\/revisions\/12489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}