13 must-know Italian idioms

In this video I'll explain 13 informal Italian phrases and idioms that you can use to speak Italian naturally.

These expressions aren't usually taught in traditional Italian courses. However, they are particularly useful if you want to speak Italian expressively, that is not like a dictionary, but like a native speaker.

If you are learning Italian as a foreign language, this video is for you! This video is specifically aimed at those who understand Italian and would like to speak Italian naturally.

If you truly want to go from intermediate level Italian to advanced level Italian, please consider subscribing and turning on notifications.

On this channel I regularly publish Italian language lessons for non-native speakers. In my lessons I usually talk about things that aren't explained in Italian courses.

Like I said, in this video I'll explain 13 Italian expressions. For each of these expressions I'll give you 3 examples.

Oh, yes! Just a quick remark! The examples that I'll give you are not related one to the other. That is, for each idiomatic phrase I'll give you 3 sample sentences, but these sentences are not related one to the other.

If something is not clear, or if you have any queries, please leave a comment down below, I'll gladly read it.

If you would like additional examples with one of these expressions, leave a comment below as well. I will gladly reply.

Alright! Buckle up your seatbelt and prepare to fly to the realm of super Italian!

Let's start from the first Italian idiom and the first examples.

Round 1.

1. Luigi talks nonsense, he is nuts.

2. Martina isn't in her right mind, she does really strange things.

3. I've met a girl who is out of her mind, she says that she is Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Non ci sta con la testa.

Round 2

1. You'd better tell him straight out, otherwise he won't understand.

2. In life it's always better being straightforward and telling things not mincing words.

3. She said no. It's not that she indirectly made me understand, she didn't mince words.

Senza mezzi termini.

Round 3

1. Roberto for sure doesn't understand anything. He always understands the exact opposite of what I tell him.

2. Daniele doesn't understand ****. I've asked him so many times not to do that and he keeps doing that.

3. I have explained this to him countless times, but he still doesn't get it. He doesn't understand ****.

Non capisce una mazza.

Round 4

1. She smiled through clenched teeth. She wasn't very happy to see me.

2. When I made the proposal, they accepted grinding their teeth.

3. I asked her something and she replied grinding her teeth.

A denti stretti.

Round 5

1. Elisabetta is my cup of tea. I love talking with her!

2. The new teacher is my cup of tea, his explanations are very clear.

3. Alright, I agrre. Your proposal sits well with me.

Mi va a genio.

Round 6

1. That company's director sets the terms. All decisions depend on him.

2. The owner's son does as he pleases. He decides everything.

3. In theory we were supposed to decide together, but he does as he pleases..

Fa il bello e il cattivo tempo.

Round 7

1. With this product they earn much more. They found the golden goose.

2. They have invented a system by means of which they can earn twice as much. They found the golden goose.

3. My friend married a beautiful, smart and rich woman. He found the golden goose.

Gallina dalle uova d'oro.

Round 8

1. At first he turned up his nose and said no. But then he accepted.

2. Initially, he turned up his nose and said that it was immoral, but later on he helped me.

3. I invited her to my place, but she turned up her nose. She didn't look too enthusiastic at the prospect.

Ha storto il naso

Round 9

1. Francesco doesn't talk much, he is a man of few words.

2. Marta is a woman of few words. Whenever I ask her something, she replies with one or two sentences.

3. I don't like people talking non-stop, I prefer men and women of few words.

Di poche parole.

(phrase #10)

1. I often argue with my wife.. She finds fault in everything.

2. Chiara is never satisfied with anything, she's always finding fault with everything.

3. My colleague is a boring person. She complains all the time and finds fault with everything.

Ha da ridire. Also: ha sempre da ridire.

(phrase #11)

1. You have spent a lot of money and they gave you a computer that is worth nothing.

2. That phone is very expensive, but is worth nothing. Don't buy it!

That doctor is worthless, I'm thinking of changing him. He talks nonsense.

Non vale niente.

(phrase #12)

1. There's bad blood between my girlfriend and my ex, they argue all the time.

2. There's bad blood between me and my colleague. We don't get along very well.

3. Between Laura's father and her boyfriend there's bad blood. One could almost say that they hate each other.

Non corre buon sangue.

Here you can find a card to a playlist I made a while ago and in which I grouped all videos about Italian idiomatic expressions.

I made tons of videos about informal Italian expressions and idioms. I have grouped all these videos in a single playlist.

If you truly want to speak Italian naturally, not like a dictionary, please take a look at this playlist!

Final round

Non ne vale la pena.

Keep in mind that I said "non ne vale la pena" and not "non vale la pena". Later on you'll understand why.

When do we use this expression? When we want to say that it's not worth doing something.

Thus, if a friend of mine tells me I was thinking that.... and then tells me what he is planning to do, for instance he tells me about a project, that he wants to do something, if I tell him "Mah, secondo me non ne vale la pena!" what do I mean?

I mean that I for one think that it's not a good idea, that in my opinion what he plans to do takes some energy, but won't give him great results. Basically, if I say "non ne vale pena", I suggest that he doesn't do that.

I don't know if you know the verb "sconsigliare". You surely know the verb "consigliare". "Sconsigliare" means telling someone not to do something.

For instance, I don't know, if he tells me: "Listen. I was thinking of talking about that with Luigi", and if I answer "Guarda, non ne vale la pena", what do I mean? I mean that in my opinion it's better if he doesn't talk with Luigi.

Thus in other words, in my opinion, talking with Luigi essentially is a waste of time and so I suggest that my friend doesn't speak with Luigi.

Another example could be: "I was thinking of calling Martina and asking her if she can help us". In this case I could say: "Guarda, secondo me non ne vale la pena".

What does it mean? That in my opinion it won't help. It means that I for one think that she won't help us and I stress the fact that doing this is just a waste of time, because we invest our energy in something that is bound to yield no results.

Similarly, another example could be: "Listen, I was thinking of reviewing this text for the 12th time. There might be some typos that I didn't spot".

Well, given that my friend has already reviewed the text 11 times, I could tell him: "Guarda non ne vale la pena".

What do I mean? That in my opinion there is no point in him reviewing the text for the 12th time. Because it's very likely that, if there had been any typos, he would have spotted them during his previous revisions.

So in my opinion, on the one hand one should factor the investment of time required for reviewing the text and on the other the likelihood that my friend might spot more typos. I for one think that it is unlikely that he will find more typos, so his time would basically be wasted.

This thing requires energy that will be wasted. Why? Because regardless he will get negligible results, or rather it's likely that he will get nothing.

Like I said, pay attention that here we have NE, so it is "non ne vale la pena" and not "non vale la pena".

Why do we have NE? Because in fact, properly speaking, the pattern is "non vale la pena di fare una determinata cosa". So "ne" here replaces DI. That is, in other words, "non ne vale la pena" stands for "non vale la pena di fare questa cosa".

As you may recall, earlier I simply told you "non ne vale la pena". NE replaced "di parlarne con Luigi", di fare questa cosa, non vale la pena di parlarne con Luigi.

Properly speaking, it should be "non vale la pena di". There are also people who say: "Non vale la pena" and for instance say "Non vale la pena parlarne con Luigi".

According to the dictionary, technically speaking, the phrasal expression should be "non vale la pena di", but in actual fact many people, especially with this specific sentence pattern, say "Non vale la pena parlarne con Luigi", "non vale la pena fare questa cosa".

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May the force of Advanced Italian be with you!

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