Today we're looking at an idiomatic expression that's exactly the same as in English, just to make your life a little easier!The idiom is Kill timeliterally kill time.
Kill time
kill time
kill is a verb in Italian that means kill or murder.although kill is a common synonym, with the former conveying the concept of a more brutal death without any mercy.
Of course, in this context, kill used figuratively, as in English kill. It describes the act of being busy, usually while waiting for something else to happen.
What do you do to kill time?
What do you do to kill time?
If you don't like this verb killthere is another expression in Italian, namely hang out (to kill time) or let time pass (let time pass).
What do you do to pass the time?
What do you do to pass the time?
But if you want to say you have time to kill?In this case, neither kill nor go through will do.Instead, you need to use one of the following expressions have free time (literally)Have time to sell“), nothing to do (nothing to do), or Have (some) free time (have free time).
I arrived early so I had some free time.
I got there early so I had some time to kill.
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.
