How to say sky in Italian
How to say sky in Italian
Snow. Snow. And more snow!
Certainly not a good omen for this time of the year. The sky has been a palette of whites and light greys. I am now in mid-air with an annoyingly fidgeting kid sitting next to me, who keeps biting her nails. She asked one of the flight attendants what time we were due to land 20 minutes into the flight. Her energy is unsettling – I’m not too keen on turbulence and take-offs, even though they’ve never stopped me from jumping on a plane as often as I can.
Crossing the sky is oddly relaxing, like being in a sort of vacuum where nothing else matters.
You’re stuck up there.
I’m always fascinated by the idea of people from the most diverse walks of life meeting in that same condensed space. Each one of them with a totally different life story.
Mid-air, I get inspired to write. Words take over my mind as an interrupted stream of thoughts and ideas are dying to be imprinted on paper. Needless to say – I’m very fond of the sky.
So, this post goes out to il cielo.
LA LUNA
I used to be in love with the moon when I was a teenager, but over the years I also developed an admiration for the sun –
maybe I’ve become more cheerful!
Trivia: Every language has its own funny expressions. Italian uses the romanticised idea of the moon to express mood (NOTE: the similarity of the words moon and mood is coincidental 😉). To be in a bad mood in Italian is to
have the bad/wrong moon or even simpler to have the moon. To be a moody person in Italian is to be lunatico.
Essere lunatico
LANGUAGE IN USE: Luca è molto lunatico [Luca is very moody].
Avere la luna (storta)
IDIOM IN USE: Luca ha la luna oggi [Luca is in a bad mood today]. This literally translates to Luca has the moon today.
LE STELLE
Confused about when to use one version or the other? Simple! Stella is one. Stelle are many. A very popular Italian idiom that uses the image of stars is…
To be alle stelle, literally “at the stars”.
It’s a figurative way to say that something is very high. Often used with prices! Or success. It’s more or less the equivalent of skyrocketing in English.
IDIOM IN USE: I prezzi sono saliti alle stelle [ENGLISH – literally – Prices went up to the stars].
The sky captures many people’s attention when is stellato. I love even just the sound of this word.
A cielo stellato in Italian is a starry sky in English.
IL SOLE
“Bella come il sole!” Do I need to say more?
Literally this means – as beautiful as the sun. We could translate it to gorgeous in English (unfortunately losing
the imagery of the sun’s splendour in the process).
NOTE: you’d use bella for a female and bello for a male. See post about gender in Italian here, if you are after more info.
LA PIOGGIA
Pioggia a catinelle
This is figure of speech used to say that the rain is coming down in buckets.
Pioggia is the Italian name for rain and piovere is the verb to rain.
IDIOM IN USE: Piove a catinelle [ENGLISH: It’s raining buckets].
Le nuvole…
Cadere dalle nuvole… or literally falling from the clouds. It is a funny idea. This is a fairly common expression in Italian and it can be sarcastic.
I’ll give you an example of how Italians would use this expression. Read on…
Your friend’s partner is constantly cheating on them. Everybody knows except your friend. Then, one day, they find out… either by chance or because you simply cannot take it anymore and you just tell them. Their partner was going way too far!
If the expression on your friend’s face tells you that they are surprised by this truth, their reaction would be defined as cadere dalle nuvole.
IDIOM IN USE: Il mio amico è caduto dalle nuvole [ENGLISH: My friend fell from the clouds]
IL FULMINE
IDIOM: Fulmine a ciel sereno
A fulmine a ciel sereno is a bolt from the blue. To express the idea of something absolutely unexpected happening,
in Italian we use the image of a sudden lightening (or fulmine) in the clear sky. When using this expression, the events or news happening out of the blue are usually negative or shocking… just think about the dramatic action of a lightning!
L’ARCOBALENO
And how could I possibly forget about the rainbow? You might not see it in the sky that often, but when you do… it’s bellissimo.
In Italian, we call it ARCOBALENO.
But bear in mind the symbolic meaning of the rainbow. I’ll explain with a funny anecdote…
In Italy, and in other countries as far as I know, the rainbow flag is the PEACE‘s flag. I remember a gay friend of mine once travelled to the north of Italy. People in the Italian village she visited were hanging rainbow flags on their balconies and windows to express solidarity and support in favour of a peaceful resolution to an international political mess going on at the time. Unaware of the different meaning of the flag, my friend was over the moon thinking that she’d just landed in a gay village. 😊
Always remember – the sky is the limit…
Until next time!