Italian Phrases

Why a little Italian goes a long way

You can get through Rome, Florence and Venice in English. But a handful of Italian words changes how people treat you. A shopkeeper who hears buongiorno as you walk in sees a guest; one who hears "Hi, how much is this?" sees a tourist. Italians are generous with people who try, and nobody expects perfect grammar.

Outside the big three cities, the phrases below stop being polite extras and become useful tools. In a Puglia market, a Sicilian bus station or a Dolomites mountain hut, you may meet nobody who speaks English. Italy is also a country of strong dialects. Neapolitan, Sicilian, Venetian and Sardinian can sound like separate languages, but everyone switches to standard Italian for visitors, so the phrases here work from the Alps to Lampedusa.

The pronunciation guides use plain American spelling. The syllable in capitals gets the stress. "J" is as in "jet", "ch" as in "church", "ts" as in "cats", "ly" as in "million" and "ny" as in "canyon".

Pronunciation in five minutes

Italian is spelled the way it sounds, which makes it far easier to read aloud than English. Learn these rules once and you can sound out any menu or station name.

• Vowels are short and pure. A is "ah", e is "eh" (sometimes "ay"), i is "ee", o is "oh", u is "oo". Every vowel is spoken, so due (two) is DOO-eh, and Pompei is pohm-PAY.
• C and G change before e and i. Ce, ci sound like "cheh, chee" (cento, CHEHN-toh). Ge, gi sound like "jeh, jee" (gelato, jeh-LAH-toh). Before a, o and u they are hard, as in "cat" and "go".
• An h makes them hard again. Chi, che are "kee, keh", so bruschetta is broo-SKEHT-tah and Chianti is KYAHN-tee. Spaghetti keeps the hard g.
• Three combinations to memorize. Gli is "ly" (tagliatelle, tah-lyah-TEHL-leh). Gn is "ny" (gnocchi, NYOHK-kee). Sc before e or i is "sh" (prosciutto, proh-SHOOT-toh).
• Double consonants are held. Pause slightly on them: nonno (grandfather) versus nono (ninth), palla (ball) versus pala (shovel). It sounds fussy but it is how people recognize the word.
• Stress usually falls on the next-to-last syllable (ri-TAR-do). A written accent on the last vowel moves it there: città (cheet-TAH), caffè (kahf-FEH), perché (pehr-KEH).
• H is silent and R is tapped, a quick flick of the tongue like the "tt" in a fast American "butter". Z is "ts" or "dz": pizza is PEET-tsah.

Greetings and courtesy

Greet people when you walk into a shop, a café, a pharmacy or an elevator, and say goodbye when you leave. Skipping this is the single most common reason Americans get a cool reception. Switch from buongiorno to buonasera sometime after lunch; in much of the south people make the switch as early as 1 or 2 pm, in the north closer to late afternoon. You will hear it both ways and nobody minds.

Lei or tu

Italian has a formal "you" (Lei, with verbs that look like "he/she") and an informal one (tu). Use the formal form with shop staff, waiters over 30, hotel staff, older people and officials. The phrases on this page use it. If someone switches to tu with you, you can switch back. Address people as signore (sir), signora (ma'am) and, for a young woman, signorina. For more on greetings, cheek kisses and dress codes, see Etiquette.

At the restaurant and the bar

Restaurants in Italy will not rush you, and they will not bring the check until you ask for it. That is a courtesy: the table is yours for the evening. At a café counter (the bar), the routine in most cities is to pay at the register first, then hand your receipt (scontrino) to the barista, though in smaller places you order first and pay on the way out. Standing at the counter costs less than sitting at a table, sometimes a lot less in tourist squares. More on all of this in Food and Wine.

Menu words

A traditional Italian menu runs in courses: antipasti (starters), primi (pasta, risotto, soup), secondi (meat or fish), contorni (vegetable sides, ordered separately), then dolci (desserts). You do not have to order every course; a primo and a contorno each, or an antipasto and a secondo, is normal. These are the words that cause the most confusion.

Trains, buses and taxis

High-speed Frecciarossa and Italo tickets come with a seat and a fixed train, and digital tickets need no validation. Paper regional tickets and many city bus tickets must be stamped in a machine before you board, and inspectors fine people who forget, tourists included. The full system is explained in Getting around.

Station and transit signs

Road signs and the gas station

If you drive, two signs matter more than any others. A ZTL sign with a red-ringed white circle marks a zona a traffico limitato, a historic center closed to unauthorized cars. Below it, a lit panel reading varco attivo means the camera is on and you will be fined; varco non attivo means it is off for now. Rental companies pass the fine along months later with an administrative fee on top. Read Driving before you pick up a car.

Default limits are 130 km/h (81 mph) on the autostrada, 110 km/h (68 mph) on it in rain and on main divided highways, 90 km/h (56 mph) on other rural roads and 50 km/h (31 mph) in towns, with 30 km/h (19 mph) zones spreading through city centers. Posted signs override all of these.

Shopping and markets

In small shops, say hello before you start browsing, and ask before you pick things up in a boutique. At produce markets, the vendor usually chooses and bags the fruit for you; grabbing it yourself can draw a sharp look, though supermarkets give you plastic gloves to do it yourself. Food at the deli counter is sold by the etto (100 g, about 3.5 oz). See Shopping for tax-free forms and what you can bring home.

Signs on shop doors

• Aperto / Chiuso: open / closed. Orario continuato means the shop stays open through lunch, which many smaller shops do not.
• Chiuso per ferie: closed for vacation, common in August.
• Saldi: sales, which run on fixed dates set by each region, usually starting in early January and in July.
• Spingere / Tirare: push / pull. Ingresso libero: come in and browse freely.
• Non toccare: do not touch.

Emergencies, health and police

Dial 112 from any phone for police, ambulance or fire; operators can usually connect you to an English speaker. The older direct numbers still work: 113 for state police, 118 for an ambulance, 115 for the fire brigade and 1530 for the coast guard at sea. For theft, you need a written police report (denuncia) for insurance claims and to replace a passport; file it at a Questura (state police) or Carabinieri station. The Safety and Health pages cover what to do next.

The US Embassy in Rome is at Via Vittorio Veneto 121; its main line is +39 06 46741, and there are consulates in Florence, Milan and Naples. See Safety for after-hours help.

Numbers, prices, days and time

You will hear numbers constantly: prices, platform numbers, room numbers, times. Italians write €12,50 where you would write 12.50, and use a period for thousands (€1.200). Times use the 24-hour clock in writing, so a 19:30 dinner reservation is 7:30 pm. Dates go day, then month: 6/1 is January 6.

Prices are said plainly: dodici euro e cinquanta for €12,50. Euro does not change in the plural, so it is dieci euro, never "euros". Two hundred is duecento, two thousand is duemila.

Gestures

Italians talk with their hands, and some gestures are so standard they replace words. You do not need to use them, but recognizing them helps, and a couple of American gestures mean something different here.

How to practice before you go

Thirty days of ten-minute practice is enough to handle everything on this page. Start with the greetings and the restaurant table, since you will use them every day, then add the numbers so you can follow prices and platforms. Free apps such as Duolingo and the offline Italian pack in Google Translate cover basics; the camera mode in Google Translate reads menus and signs, which is handy for regional dishes no phrase list can cover. See Staying connected for apps and eSIMs.

• Learn buongiorno, buonasera, per favore, grazie, scusi and permesso until they come out without thinking.
• Practice saying your hotel's address and the name of your train station out loud.
• Write your allergies in Italian on a card if you have serious ones (Sono gravemente allergico a...).
• Download the Italian offline language pack before you fly.
• Save 112 and the US Embassy number in your phone.

Ready to plan the rest? Start with Planning your trip, check Etiquette for the unwritten rules and see Festivals for where to hear Italian at full volume.