{"id":153,"date":"2009-06-30T08:06:30","date_gmt":"2009-06-30T12:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=153"},"modified":"2009-06-30T08:06:30","modified_gmt":"2009-06-30T12:06:30","slug":"giorno-or-giornata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/giorno-or-giornata\/","title":{"rendered":"Giorno or Giornata?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader wrote to me asking: \u201cCan you explain the difference between giorno<\/strong> and giornata<\/strong> (both meaning \u201cday\u201d in English) if there is one?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I thought that the answer to this was going to be short, and straightforward, but when I looked in my Italian dictionary, just to check that my comment would be correct, I realized that this wasn\u2019t going to be the case, and I decided to write a whole post about it. I hope I\u2019ll be able to explain the difference clearly, let\u2019s see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Giorno<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first meaning for giorno<\/strong> is astronomical, referring to the time that it takes for the Earth to complete a rotation around its axis. From this comes the use of giorno <\/strong>to indicate a 24 hours period from midnight to midnight, i.e.\u00a0to indicate a date or\u00a0a day of the week. E.g. il giorno di Natale <\/strong>(Christmas day); ho due giorni di tempo per finire questo articolo <\/strong>(I\u2019ve got two days\u00a0to finish this article); il giorno seguente siamo andati al mare<\/strong> (the following day we went to the sea); nei giorni feriali l\u2019autobus c\u2019e\u2019 ogni 10 minuti <\/strong>(on working days there is a bus every 10 minutes), nei giorni festivi l\u2019autobus c\u2019e\u2019 ogni ora <\/strong>(during holidays there is a bus every hour); il giorno del mio compleanno voglio andare a fare una bella passeggiata <\/strong>(for my birthday\u00a0I want to go for a nice walk); ritornero\u2019 fra tre giorni <\/strong>(I\u2019ll be back in three days).<\/span><\/p>\n

Giorno<\/strong> is also used when talking about something that is characteristic of a particular day: mercoledi\u2019 e\u2019 giorno di chiusura degli alimentari <\/strong>(Wednesday is closing day for food shops); lunedi\u2019 e\u2019 giorno di riposo dei musei <\/strong>(Monday is\u00a0the day\u00a0when the Museums are closed); sabato e\u2019 giorno di pagamento <\/strong>(Saturday is pay day).<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several idiomatic expressions where the word giorno <\/strong>is used: e.g. ogni giorno \/ tutti i giorni <\/strong>(every day); tutto il giorno <\/strong>(all day long); uno di questi giorni <\/strong>(one of these days); da un giorno all\u2019altro <\/strong>(suddenly \/ overnight); il piatto del giorno <\/strong>(dish of the day).<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the word giorno<\/strong> is used with the meaning of \u201cdaylight\u201d: sul far del giorno<\/strong> (lit. at the making of daylight, meaning \u201cat the break of day\u201d); e\u2019 meglio partire prima che faccia giorno <\/strong>(it\u2019s better to leave before it gets light); mi sono alzata che era giorno fatto <\/strong>(when I got up it was broad daylight); illuminare a giorno<\/strong> (to floodlight).<\/span><\/p>\n

Giornata<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This word derives from the previous one and is used to indicate an approximate<\/span> period of time which goes from morning to evening, with particular reference to what takes place during that time: e.g ho passato tutta la giornata a pulire <\/strong>(I spent all day cleaning); e\u2019 stata una giornata faticosa<\/strong> (it was a hard day); buona giornata! <\/strong>(have a good day!); verro\u2019 a trovarti in giornata<\/strong> (I\u2019ll come to visit you today). We also use the expression di giornata <\/strong>meaning \u201cfresh\u201d\u00a0or\u00a0\u201ctoday’s\u201d e.g. uova di giornata <\/strong>(fresh eggs). <\/span><\/p>\n

When talking about work, giornata<\/strong> means the amount of work that a worker produces in a day, or the amount of hours worked in a day: lavorare a giornata<\/strong> (to work by the day); la giornata lavorativa e\u2019 di 8 ore <\/strong>(the working day is 8 hours long); essere pagato a giornata <\/strong>(to be paid daily). From this comes the use of giornata\u00a0<\/strong>to mean\u00a0‘a day\u2019s pay\u2019: riscuotere la giornata <\/strong>(to draw the day\u2019s pay); mi sono guadagnato la giornata <\/strong>(I earned my day\u2019s wage); e\u2019 stata una giornata magra <\/strong>(it was a lean day, meaning that I didn\u2019t earn much).<\/span><\/p>\n

These days giornata<\/strong> is used to indicate a day dedicated to a special celebration or commemoration, often with a social or political aim such as \u2018giornata della donna\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018Woman\u2019s day\u2019); \u2018giornata europea della musica\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018European day of music\u2019); \u2018giornata missionaria\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018Missionary day\u2019). <\/span>It\u00a0is also used to indicate some great historical event such as: \u2018le Cinque Giornate di Milano\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018the Five Days of Milan\u2019), which commemorates the days from the 18th to the 23rd of March 1848 when the population of Milan rebelled against the Austrians, who ruled over Lombardy at that time, and\u00a0\u2018le Quattro Giornate di Napoli\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018the Four Days of Naples\u2019), commemorating the days from the 28th of September to the 1st of October 1943 when the population of Naples fought against the Germans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, there are a couple of situations in which both words can be used: 1. When talking about weather, e.g. ieri e\u2019 stata una giornata ventosa <\/strong>or ieri e\u2019 stato un giorno ventoso <\/strong>(yesterday was a windy day). 2.\u00a0when discussing the\u00a0hours of daylight, e.g.\u00a0dopo il 21 giugno i giorni \/ le giornate si accorciano <\/strong>(after the 21st of June the days become shorter).<\/span><\/p>\n

Vi auguro una buona giornata!<\/strong> (I wish you a good day!)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader wrote to me asking: \u201cCan you explain the difference between giorno and giornata (both meaning \u201cday\u201d in English) if there is one?\u201d I thought that the answer to this was going to be short, and straightforward, but when I looked in my Italian dictionary, just to check that my comment would be correct…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,619],"tags":[699],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","category-italian-language","tag-giorno-or-giornata"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","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\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}