{"id":196,"date":"2009-10-31T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-31T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=196"},"modified":"2014-11-13T11:37:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T11:37:05","slug":"tavolo-or-tavola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/tavolo-or-tavola\/","title":{"rendered":"Tavolo or Tavola?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following my article about new trends in Italian kitchens, a reader asked me whether the words tavolo<\/strong> (table) <\/strong>and tavola<\/strong> (table) are interchangeable, and if there is any difference between the two. Well, I\u2019m afraid that this is yet another idiosyncratic use of the Italian language, so let\u2019s see if I can clarify it for you.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Nowadays the masculine word tavolo<\/strong>, which originates from the feminine word \u201ctavola\u201d (Latin \u201ctabula\u201d), is used almost exclusively to describe a piece of furniture, e.g. il tavolo della cucina <\/strong>(the kitchen table), il tavolo da pranzo <\/strong>(the dining table), il tavolo da disegno <\/strong>(the drawing table), il tavolo da stiro <\/strong>(the ironing board), il tavolo da biliardo <\/strong>(the snooker table). We also use the word \u201ctavolo\u201d for a table in a restaurant, so if you want to book a table for four people, you\u2019ll have to say vorrei<\/strong> prenotare un tavolo per quattro per favore <\/strong>(I would like to book a table for four please).<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the feminine word tavola<\/strong>, which also means a plank or a board, is used to describe the dining table, not<\/span> as a piece of furniture, but with reference to the table as a place where meals are eaten. In this case we have a whole series of idiomatic expressions based around the act of eating a meal at the table. These are the most common ones:<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

apparecchiare la tavola <\/strong>(to lay the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

sparecchiare la tavola <\/strong>(to clear the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

portare \/ servire in tavola <\/strong>(to bring food to the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

il pranzo \/ la cena \u00e8 in tavola <\/strong>(lunch \/ dinner is on the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

andare \/ mettersi \/ sedersi a tavola <\/strong>(to sit down to eat at the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

essere \/ stare a tavola <\/strong>(to be sitting eating at the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

chiamare a tavola <\/strong>(to call people to the table)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

tutti a tavola!<\/strong> or simply a tavola! <\/strong>(everybody to the table! i.e. come and sit down to eat!) <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

servizio da tavola <\/strong>(dining set, i.e. plates, cutlery, glasses)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

biancheria da tavola <\/strong>(table linen)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

uva da tavola <\/strong>(eating grapes)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Now please don\u2019t ask me why a table in a restaurant is called un tavolo<\/strong> and not, as you might expect, una tavola<\/strong>, because I haven\u2019t got a clue!<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

However, don\u2019t forget that leggere il giornale a tavola \u00e8 maleducato <\/strong>(to read the newspaper while eating is bad manners), but it\u2019s OK leggere il giornale al tavolo <\/strong>(to read the newspaper at the table)!  <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

To finish with, a funny proverb: chi canta a tavola e fischia a letto, \u00e8 matto perfetto <\/strong>(whoever sings at the dinner table and whistles in bed, is perfectly crazy)!<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following my article about new trends in Italian kitchens, a reader asked me whether the words tavolo (table) and tavola (table) are interchangeable, and if there is any difference between the two. Well, I\u2019m afraid that this is yet another idiosyncratic use of the Italian language, so let\u2019s see if I can clarify it for you…<\/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":[619],"tags":[870,871],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-italian-language","tag-tavola","tag-tavolo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","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=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7855,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions\/7855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}