What's the difference between "soldi" and "denaro"?

In this video I'll explain the difference between the word "SOLDI" and the word "DENARO".

I am Luca and this video is aimed at those who are learning Italian as a foreign language.

Non-native speakers studying Italian often ask me what's the difference between the word "soldi" and the word "denaro" and which one you should use. That is, in other words, I'm often asked if it's better to say "soldi" or "denaro".

In this video I'll give you two answers. A short answer and a slightly longer answer.

The short answer is for those people who have only 20 seconds and then need to go save the world.

Alright. The short answer is: You should say "soldi", it's better to say "soldi", it's better to use the word "soldi".

But let's go to the long answer. I mean "long" so to speak.

Alright, let's say that the word "soldi" is today's standard Italian, whereas the word "denaro" is a rather old-fashioned word. Nowadays in speaking everybody says "soldi" and nobody say "denaro" anymore.

That is, for example, I find much more natural a sentence such as "Ho bisogno di soldi" compared to the sentence "Ho bisogno di denaro".

Similarly, I find much more natural a sentence such as "Mi servono dei soldi" rather than "Mi serve del denaro".

Similarly, in today's Italian we say "Ho speso tutti i miei soldi" - not "Ho speso tutto il mio denaro".

Another example could be: "Mi ha chiesto se gli potessi prestare dei soldi". This is what we say in contemporary Italian. By contrast, a sentence such as "Mi ha chiesto se gli potessi prestare del denaro" would sound a bit awkward.

Needless to say, these 2 words, "soldi" and "denaro", have the same meaning. However, "denaro" has become an old-fashioned word.

(Channel Intro)

However, you might hear the word "denaro" in some sayings and idioms, which remained unchanged from a long time ago.

For example, the most famous is undoubtedly "Il tempo è denaro". The proverb is indeed "Il tempo è denaro" - not "Il tempo è soldi". or "Il tempo sono soldi".

So, in the case of proverbs, the word "denaro" remained. Or rather, that's true for some proverbs, some idioms. Because you also have the proverb: "I soldi non fanno la felicità".

So, well, my advice is this: if you happen to hear the word "denaro" - ok, well, you know what it means. So there will be no comprehension difficulties.

When you speak, though, you might wanna always say "soldi". Because if you say "soldi", you won't be mistaken. Because "soldi" is contemporary Italian, standard Italian. By contrast, "denaro" is a more old-fashioned word.

For example, if someone came to me and said "Ho finito tutto il mio denaro", well, I would find this sentence extremely awkward. Precisely because the word "denaro" is old-fashioned.

The same goes for a question such as "Quanto denaro ti serve?" - which would sound extremely weird. It is clear that in this question I wouldn't use the word "denaro", I would use the word "soldi". So the question should more likely be: "Quanti soldi ti servono?".

Similarly, a sentence such as "Mi ha prestato del denaro" would sound weird to me. What's a better way of saying this? Clearly, it would be better to say: "Mi ha prestato dei soldi".

There's another question I'm asked quite often: What's the difference between "chiedere" and "domandare"?

Not long ago I also made a video about the difference between the verbs "chiedere" and "domandare". Well, I will add a card to it in the top corner. Check it out!