Build your Italian vocabulary!

Hi, everybody! I am Luca and this video is aimed at those marvellous people who want to learn Italian well.

I am referring to those who are studying or learning the Italian language and wish to speak Italian like a native speaker.

Here I have a little object which I wanted to use as a starting point to discuss a number of Italian words and phrases.

I wanted to take inspiration from this little object to help you expand your active vocabulary. That is, in other words, talking about this object I wanted to help you learn new words.

First of all, what is this object called?

I hope you can see it. I would call it "un pupazzetto a forma di squalo".

You probably know the word "squalo". "Squalo" refers to this animal. It lives in the oceans.

I would call this object "un pupazzetto a forma di squalo". So, if we want to say that a given object has a specific shape, we can use this phrase: "a forma di". "Un pupazzetto a forma di squalo".

In theory, I could also call it "un giocattolino", or "un giocattolo". Me personally, though, I'd say: "un pupazzetto". "Pupazzetto" is diminutive of "pupazzo". I can say: "un pupazzetto a forma di squalo". Or: "un piccolo pupazzo a forma di squalo".

I wouldn't use the word "gioco", that's for sure.

What's the difference between the words "giocattolo" and "gioco"?

Concrete objects used by kids for playing are typically called "giocattoli". By contrast, "il gioco" is an abstract concept, it refers to the process of playing. It's usually like that.

Or better, the word "giochi" could also mean toys. But I for one prefer to use the word "giocattolo/i" when referring to concrete objects.

I'm not going to tell you what colour it is, because the issue is more complex than it appears.

Because this is precisely a colour that some people would call "blu", other people would call "azzurro". That is, in other words, it is a intermediate hue situated between "blu", which is typically darker, and "azzurro", which is typically lighter. So this is one of those borderline cases.

Some people would call it "blu", other people would call it "azzurro".

What material is this toy figure made of? It is made out of rubber, or plastics. Well, I don't know exactly. I don't know the chemical composition of this material. I didn't send it to the lab to learn what material it is. I didn't have it analyzed by a lab so that they could tell me what material is this.

Generally speaking, we can say that it is made out of rubber. We can say that it is made out of plastics. Alternatively, we could also say "è di plastica gommosa".

Now, I'm not a chemist, I'm not an expert in chemistry. So I can't really explain to you what's the difference between plastics and rubber. I would say that rubber is typically soft. So if I say "plastica gommosa" I make it clear that this object is made out of plastics, but it is soft. You know, plastics could also be hard.

You surely know the noun "gomma". "Gomma" as an object used to erase, right? If you write in pencil, you can erase with an eraser.

So, that's the material I'm talking about. This object is made of a similar material, it is soft and thus it can be squeezed. See?! What am I doing? "Lo sto schiacciando".

Some time ago I made a video about a very nice and amusing idiom with the verb "schiacciare". I'll add a card to it in the top corner. If you want, check it out!

Incidentally, this object is so old that rubber has started melting down. I have had it for 30 years, I guess. Or perhaps not 30, but 25 for sure.

You know that, after a while, rubber tends to liquefy, to melt down. So it's a bit disgusting to keep it it in my hand because rubber is melting down and it has become sticky.

You may be wondering what's this object exactly for. Nothing, it's just a toy figure. It is apparently used for playing.

You may have never seen figures like this one. But these toy figures have a peculiarity. There is a small hole here. Specifically, in this case, the shark has a small puncture on its nose, here, on the tip of its nose, there's a little puncture.

Well, these toy figures can be filled with water and then, when they are full of water, if we squeeze them, they spray water. Now I'm not gonna show you a practical demonstration, trust what I say.

This shark can be filled with water. Once it is full, I squeeze it and water will come out. It sprays water. I don't do that because I don't want to flood the house.

So the game essentially was this. You filled it with water, then you sprayed others.

(Channel Intro)

Here I have another similar toy figure. In this case it is dynosaur-like.

Please don't ask me what is this dynosaur called, it is an armored dynosaur, on top of it there's an armor.

This one is even more sticky than the shark figure, my hands got sticky. Some rubber sticked to my finger tips. In a few years these 2 figures will essentially melt down like snow in the sun.

Some people say /dinosauro/ with an unvoiced S, while other people say /dinozauro/ with a voiced S. Since it is a compound word, it should be pronounced as /dinosauro/.

This toy figure also has a little puncture. Here there's a small hole. Well, you can't see it, because this hole is really tiny.

And it works just like the shark. That is, you fill it with water and then, when you squeeze it, it will spray water.

Needless to say, now it is empty. That is, inside there's no water. If I squeeze it, air comes out. If I do this, I feel a windlike sensation on the palm of my hand.

Anyways, I'd say that when I was a kid I had a lot of these toy figures. I had like thirty, I guess.

Now I don't know what happened to them, but there were many different types. This one with a dynosaur-like appearance. The other one with a shark-like appearance. There was also one figure with a Frankenstein-like appearance. One with a pumpkin-like appearance. One with a basketball-like appearance. One with a football-like appearance. You name it!

Well, in Italian we can use this phrase "chi più ne ha più ne metta" to point to a great variety.

I had tons of these figures when I was a kid. I don't know what happened to them.

You could find them inside chips packages, that is, if you bought a bag, a bag of chips, inside there was one of these. When I was a kid, I used to collect them.

Please do this! In the comments below please let me know if you recognized these objects. And if you also had them when you were kids. They were quite popular in those years.

That being said, in the top corner I'll add a card to a video in which I discuss another object. If you want to expand your vocabulary and speak Italian like a pro, check it out!