Parents often find themselves repeating certain words and phrases to their children over and over again. While some of these expressions are positive and encouraging, others may be less pleasant or gentle. Whatever their nature, these repeated messages play an important role in shaping children’s understanding of the world and their behavior.
We recently conducted a survey among 200,000 members our facebook group, asking their parents and grandparents about Italian words they often used when they were children. In this article, we’ve compiled the results of this survey, which included more than 1,000 responses, to showcase the most common Italian words and phrases that resonate across generations.
Did you hear these Italian expressions growing up? Let us know in the comments below!
shut up!
Quiet! / shut up!
shut up! I can’t hear the TV.
shut up! I can’t hear the TV.
eat!
eat!
Eating this is good for you!
Eat it, it’s good for you!
Give your hands a rest.
hand in place.
Keep your hands to yourself!
Keep your hands still!
That’s it!
stop! / enough!
Enough small talk!
Stop talking/chatting!
Stubborn
stubborn (literally means hard head)
You have a hard head.
You are so stubborn.
notes: Italian-Americans may also be familiar with the dialect Baking layerhave the same meaning.
Danit
Dan / Damn it
Damn poverty!
damn it!
wait!
wait!
Wait, I’m here too!
Wait, I’m here too!
be a good person/be a good person
Be a good boy/girl
Come on, be a good person and grandfather.
Come on, be nice to your grandpa.
come over
come over
Come here!
Come here!
How beautiful!
How nice/cute!
It’s great to have you here!
It’s great to have you here!
patience!
Oh well! / It doesn’t matter!
We missed the train, no problem!
We missed the train, oh well!
let’s go!
let’s go!
Let’s go to the park!
Let’s go to the park!
Holy patience!
God!
Holy patience, don’t bother me.
For God’s sake, don’t make me nervous.
talkative
Chatterbox
You are such a talkative person.
You are such a talkative person.
Very good, beautiful
handsome/beautiful
How handsome/beautiful you are!
You are handsome/beautiful!
Oh mom!
Oh my goodness!
Oh my gosh, it’s so hot!
Oh my gosh, it’s so hot!
notes: A common variation is my lady! (My Madonna!).
Tesoro
treasure
Dear, are you ready?
Are you ready for the treasure?
notes: Tesoro Is a pet name Italian, very similar to Honey in English.
crazy
crazy
You are crazy!
You are so crazy!
rude
Impolite, stupid, imbecile
He’s such a jerk.
What a fool he is.
shame
shame, shame, Awkward
That boy is a disgrace to the family.
The boy was a disgrace to the family.
still
again, however, still
I want to do it again!
I want to do it again!
ugly face
ugly face
How ugly your face is!
How ugly (dirty) your face is!
notes: This is often used endearingly to refer to a child with a dirty face, or a crying child.
you understand
you understand?
you know what I mean?
Do you understand/know what I mean?
capocolo
Traditional Italian Pork Cold Cut
How do you eat capocoro?
How to eat capocollo?
notes: Italian-Americans will know this word as slang depressed.
out of tune
Out of tune/tone deaf/confused
Luigi is just so out of character.
Luigi is truly tone deaf.
notes: Italian-Americans will know this word as slang knock you unconsciouswhich is a slang term meaning Fool or stupid.
witch
witch
The witch flies on her broomstick.
The witch flies on her broomstick.
my daughter/my son
my daughter/my son
I love you, my daughter.
I love you, my daughter.
pronto
get ready
Dear, are you ready?
Are you ready for the treasure?
Oh my God!
So sad! / For God’s sake!
Damn, what do we do now?
So sad, what should we do now?
pretty face
pretty face
What a beautiful face you have.
You have such a beautiful face.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honors in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, fluent in English and Italian, as well as varying degrees of fluency in Japanese, Welsh and French. Originally from Toronto, Heather has lived in several countries, notably Italy for six years. Her main research areas are language acquisition, education and bilingual teaching.
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