{"id":13469,"date":"2017-02-15T20:59:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T19:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=13469"},"modified":"2017-02-15T20:59:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T19:59:01","slug":"dammi-i-soldi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/dammi-i-soldi\/","title":{"rendered":"Dammi I Soldi!"},"content":{"rendered":"

People often ask me where I get my ideas for blogs, and it’s a difficult question to answer. Take today’s post, for example …<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I walked out onto la ter<\/b>r<\/b>azza<\/b> in front of our house and happened to glance at the narrow strip of garden to the right. There, to my surprise, I spotted a small round hole drilled neatly down into the soil. It looked distinctly like it had been burrowed by a rat, and my first thought was: “Se quel buco l’ha fatto un ratto, lui avr\u00e0 le palle di accia<\/b>i<\/b>o!”<\/b> (If a rat has made that hole he’s got balls of steel) because with our six cats around … well, put it like this, if I was a rodent it wouldn’t be my ideal spot to make my home.<\/p>\n

Then another thought occurred to me. I went back indoors and said to Serena: “There’s a strange hole in the garden, and I think it’s been made by a rat”. “Yes”, said Serena, “I saw it yesterday and forgot to tell you”.
\n“Secondo me”<\/b>, I said, “quel ratto sta pagando <\/b>la mancia ai gatti” <\/b>(In my opinion that rat’s paying a tip to the cats). And then I hesitated: “Wait, is it mancia<\/b> or manciata<\/b>? No hang on, it’s mazzette<\/b>! Damn, what’s that word for the protection money paid to La Mafia?”<\/p>\n

Serena: “Well, mancia<\/b> is tip, like in the restaurant, but you can use mazzette<\/b> (bundles) or bustarelle<\/b> (little envelopes), which refer to the bundles of money or envelopes full of cash paid as bribes to people in public office for example. The best word though is ‘il pizzo’<\/b>, which is the Mafia word for protection money.”<\/p>\n

Geoff: “Yes, that\u2019s the word I wanted! In that case what I meant to say was: ‘quel ratto sta pagando il pizzo<\/b> ai gatti<\/b>‘<\/b> (that rat’s paying protection money to the cats).”<\/p>\n

At that point I felt a familiar part of my brain awaken, a few cogs creaked, and then … bingo, out popped a blog!<\/p>\n

(N.B. yes, Serena and I often speak in a mixture of English and Italian!<\/i>)<\/p>\n

\"11137834<\/a>

“Give me the money!”. “I like your knife, I’ll buy it for 200”. “OK, fine”. “Perfect, give me the money!”<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Basic Money Vocabulary<\/span><\/p>\n

i<\/b> soldi<\/b> (masculine plural) = money<\/p>\n

i<\/b>l denaro<\/b> (masculine singular) = money (older form)<\/p>\n

l<\/b>a<\/b> monet<\/b>a<\/b> = the coin\/currency<\/p>\n

gli spicciol<\/b>i<\/b> = small change<\/p>\n

il resto<\/b> = the change<\/p>\n

il costo<\/strong> = the cost<\/p>\n

il cambio<\/b> = the currency exchange<\/p>\n

il conto<\/strong> = the account<\/p>\n

una banc<\/b>o<\/b>nota<\/b> = a banknote<\/p>\n

un\/due\/tre … euro<\/b> = one\/two\/three … euro (N.B. euro does not pluralise<\/i>)<\/p>\n

un centesimo\/due\/tre … centesimi<\/strong> = one cent\/two\/three …. cents<\/p>\n

la banca<\/b> = the bank<\/p>\n

il bancomat<\/b> = the cash machine<\/p>\n

Verbs
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

pagare in contanti<\/b> = to pay with cash<\/p>\n

pagare <\/b>con assegno<\/b> = to pay by cheque<\/p>\n

pagare <\/b>con la carta<\/b> = to pay with a credit card<\/p>\n

costare\/venire<\/strong> = to cost, e.g. quanto costa questa giacca?<\/strong> (how much is this jacket?), quanto vengono le arance?<\/strong> (how much are the oranges?)<\/p>\n

guadagnare<\/b> = to earn, e.g.: Giorgio guadagna un mucchio di soldi<\/b> (Giorgio earns a lot of money)<\/p>\n

ritirare<\/b> = to withdraw, e.g.: devo ritirare dei soldi dalla banca<\/b> (I have to withdraw some money from the bank)<\/p>\n

versare<\/b> = to deposit, e.g. ho versato 50 euro sul tuo conto<\/b> (I’ve deposited 50 Euro into your account) <\/b><\/p>\n

dovere<\/b> = to owe money, e.g.: quanto ti devo?<\/b> (how much do I owe you?)<\/p>\n

essere in credito<\/b> = to be in credit<\/p>\n

essere in debito<\/b> = to be in debt<\/p>\n

A Few Idiomatic Expressions<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e8 pieno di soldi <\/b>= he’s got loads of money (lit: he’s full of money<\/i>)<\/p>\n

abbiamo pagato una barca di soldi<\/b> = we paid a lot of money (lit: we paid a ship full of money<\/i>)<\/p>\n

ci \u00e8 costato un occhio della testa<\/b> = it cost us an arm and a leg (lit: it cost us an eye from the head<\/i>)<\/p>\n

non vale un soldo<\/b> = it’s worthless (lit: it’s not worth a coin<\/i>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

People often ask me where I get my ideas for blogs, and it’s a difficult question to answer. Take today’s post, for example … Yesterday morning I walked out onto la terrazza in front of our house and happened to glance at the narrow strip of garden to the right. There, to my surprise, I…<\/p>\n

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