Hello everyone! We are finally in the midst of summer, and even though travelling to Italy might still be a little troublesome for a little while, I thought about teaching you some words and expressions often used in conversations, so that you can start practicing them and use them fluently next time you come visit!

The first expression I’d like to explain is probably one of the favorites of anyone who’s learning Italian: boh! Boh means “I don’t know” and it replaces this short sentence entirely when answering a question. For example, if you were asked, Quand’è la partita? – At what time is the game? – and you don’t know, you can simply answer: boh! Another fun sound that is quite hard to grasp is mah! −who knows! It can be used to cast doubt, to tease, in can be similar to a shoulder shrug or it can possibly mean anything if you ask around depending on the sentence and tone. −È arrivata Lucia? −Mah! (−Did Lucia arrive? −Who knows!) In this example, you actually don’t know the answer, so the meaning of mah is very similar to boh. −Mi hai già comprato il regalo di compleanno? −Mah! (−Did you by me a birthday present? −Who knows!) In this example though, mah is used to tease the person asking the question. – Martina dice di aver già finito tutto il lavoro. −Mah! (−Martina says she finished all her work already. −Hmm, really?!) In this last example, the person uses mah to cast doubt on what their interlocutor said.

Another expression that is pretty used in Italian is figurati. Figurati can be used to respond to a grazie – “thank you” – meaning “my pleasure” or “don’t worry about it,” but it can also be used in another way which is slighlty more difficult to graps and use. In fact, it can also be used with the meaning of “as if!” or “of course not.” Here’s an example of the second case: −Secondo te Marco si è ricordato di andare a fare la spesa? −Figurati! (−Do you think Marco remembered to go grocery shopping? −As if!) Another way you can answer the same question is Ti piacerebbe! – You wish he did! Ti piacerebbe is used when you think that the other person hoped or wished for something specific to happen. It can be declined according to the person it refers to, for example: −Hai vinto alla lotteria questa volta? – Mi piacerebbe! (−Did you with the lottery this time? – I wish I did) So you can use the pronouns mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi gli according to whose desire it is. A similar way to answer expressing the desire that something happened is magari. Magari is invariabile, so it does not change according to the subject or the object, and it is used as a one-word answer to express something a person wishes, hopes for, or desires to happen, but it doesn’t. −Vai in Italia quest’estate? −Magari! (−Are you going to Italy this summer? −I wish I did!/I’d love to!/If only!)

There are also more colloquial ways to answer yes/no questions: già and macché. They can be compared to “yep” and “nope” in English and they are an informal way to say sì and no. −Vieni anche tu alla festa? −Già. (−Are you coming to the party? – Yep.) It can even be repeated to give enphasis: già già. It is also often used to give a confirmation to a rhetorical sentence: −Vieni anche tu alla festa, vero? −Già (−You are coming to the party as well, right? −Yep.) or −Hai visto che ho già finito di studiare? −Già (−See? I’ve already finished studying. −Sure. It can also be used as “sure” in an ironic way: −Andiamo in Australia? −Già, di corsa (−Can we go to Australia? −Sure, right away) Or, when followed by proprio it can be used in a negative way: −Devi fare quello che ti dico. −Già, proprio (−You must do what I say. −Yeah, sure). Macché is used to express a strong negative answer or disapproval. −È arrivato il pacco che avevi ordinato? −Macché, non è arrivato nemmeno oggi. (−Did you get the package you ordered? −Nope, it didn’t come today either.) It can be used to also repeat part of the previous sentence to give emphasis to the negation: −Fa’ così perché è timido. −Macché timido, è sempre al centro dell’attenzione! (−He behaves that way because he’s shy. −Shy? Not at all! He loves being at the center of the attention!) Another expression that can be very useful when saying “yes” is volentieri. This word is very useful when you want to convey you are happy about accepting. −Andiamo a mangaire qualcosa? −Volentieri! (−Do you want to go grab something to eat? −Sure!) Or −Mi aiuteresti? −Volentieri! (−Can you help me? −Of course!)

There are so many useful responses to a conversation that can be very useful during small talk. One of these is speriamo bene. It can roughly be translated to “let’s hope it goes well” and it is used to wish that something will have a positive outcome. −Lunedì abbiamo un esame. −Speriamo bene! (−We have an exam on Monday. −Let’s hope it goes well!) Another fun expression is che pizza! Which literally means “what a pizza” but it is used to express mild annoyance towards something. For example, using the previous example: −Lunedì abbiamo un esame. −Che pizza! (−We have an exam on Monday. −What a pain!) A similar expression is uffa which roughly corresponds to “ugh” or “aw, snap.” A fun expression to use is mi raccomando. It is hard to explain what it means, but it is used to strongly remind someone to do something, it’s like giving a strong reminder to someone. It might be easier to explain through some examples: Mi raccomando, chiamami quando arrivi! (Make sure you call me when you get there). It can also go at the end of the sentence: Chiamami quando arrivi, mi raccomando! (Call me when you there there, don’t forget!) Mi raccomando, fatti sentire quando sei in vacanza! (Make sure you contact me when you are on vacation, don’t forget!) A common phrase parents will use is: Mi raccomando, fai il bravo/fai la brava! (Please, make sure you behave!)

Keep in mind that most of the expressions I explain are colloquial, so you might want to be pretty acquainted with the person you are speaking with when using them. But nonetheless, try to use them and practice them as much as possible, because I assure you, they’ll help you sound much more fluent in casual conversations! This way you can be ready next time you come and visit!