Basic Italian Words
These words appear in almost every Italian sentence. One of them, prego, does more jobs than any single English word.
The first ten
-
sì
see
-
yes
-
no
noh
-
no
-
per favore
pehr fah-VOH-reh
-
please
-
grazie
GRAH-tsyeh
-
thank you
-
prego
PREH-goh
-
you're welcome
Also after you, go ahead, and how can I help
-
forse
FOR-seh
-
maybe
-
bene
BEH-neh
-
good, well
-
male
MAH-leh
-
bad, badly
-
molto
MOL-toh
-
very, a lot
-
un po'
oon poh
-
a little
People
-
io
EE-oh
-
I
-
tu
too
-
you
Informal
-
Lei
lay
-
you
Formal, capitalised, takes the she verb form
-
lui
LOO-ee
-
he
-
lei
lay
-
she
-
noi
noy
-
we
-
loro
LOH-roh
-
they
Small words that hold a sentence together
-
e
eh
-
and
-
o
oh
-
or
-
ma
mah
-
but
-
anche
AN-keh
-
also
-
con
kohn
-
with
-
senza
SEN-tsah
-
without
-
qui
kwee
-
here
-
lì
lee
-
there
-
adesso
ah-DES-soh
-
now
Everyday things
-
l'acqua
LAH-kwah
-
water
-
il cibo
eel CHEE-boh
-
food
-
la casa
lah KAH-zah
-
house
-
l'amico
lah-MEE-koh
-
friend
l'amica for a female friend
-
grande
GRAN-deh
-
big
-
piccolo
PEEK-koh-loh
-
small
Prego, and the article
Prego answers grazie, but it also means go ahead when someone hesitates at a door, here you are when handing something over, and how can I help when a shopkeeper greets you.
Every noun is masculine or feminine and the article says which: il and lo for masculine, la for feminine, l' before a vowel. Learn la casa rather than casa.
Lo is used instead of il before z and before s plus a consonant, which is why it is lo zio and lo studente.
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