Buondì.
Here’s a little quiz for you. Guess the fifteen English words defined below (= number of letters):
- a female horse (4)
- when goods are sold at a lower price than usual (4)
- a thin, bony flake on a fish (5)
- spies might use one to communicate (4)
- a military or police gesture that shows respect (6)
- a conditional release from custody (6)
- payment for traveling on public transport (4)
- a punishment requiring payment of money (4)
- a biological sex (4)
- a large musical instrument with keys (5)
- expected, needing to be paid (3)
- assign a value to something (4)
- rock containing gold or other metals (3)
- the bottom of your foot or shoe (4)
- a large house surrounded by land (6)
Get all those? Brave, ladies!
Yes, I know you’re not all ladies, no need to write in.
I should therefore have said ‘Bravi!’, right?
Meaning ‘Well done you guys/you mixed group of males and females.’
Or even ‘Brav*!’ as explained in Monday’s article.
But despite some of you being male, I wrote brave.
Figured it out yet?
Yup, I’ve been collecting English/Italian ‘false friends’ (which is a good excuse to spend my days reading newspapers…)
Male and brave are English words, but also exist in Italian, though with different meanings.
Brave in English is a synonym of ‘courageous’ while in Italian it’s the female/plural form of the adjective ‘brava’, meaning ‘good at something, nicely done’.
So back to the little quiz – what are the Italian meanings for your fifteen answers? Without using a search engine or dictionary, please! That would be cheating.
The first club member to leave a comment on this article, with the fifteen false friends and brief explanations of the different Italian meanings, wins a copy of this week’s new ebook (see below).
Divertitevi!
Divert yourselves!
Which isn’t really a false friend by my reckoning, as the spelling is different. And because, at a stretch, you could think of the meanings as being connected.
Have fun, then.
A lunedì.
P.S. New ‘easy reader’ ebook: -25% offer ends Sunday night!
Don’t forget that this week’s new Italian ‘easy reader’ ebook, Il re dei ladri, is currently 25% discounted, so just £5.99 rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ price of £7.99.
But only until Sunday night…
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- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
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- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at intermediate level or above
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Do check out the Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) before you buy a copy. That way, you’ll know whether the level is suitable for you, and that the format works on the device you intend to use it on.
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P.P.S.
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Zdenek says
This was actually fun! 🙂
1) mare, that would be „sea“ in Italian, as in a large body of water. I’m afraid to eat its frutti, to be honest.
2) sale, this on is often paired with pepper on a table here in the Czech Republic; salt! 🙂
3) scale, ehm, possibly multiple staircases or, more probably, multiple music scales which musicians study?;
4) code, and oh, this was hard to guess 🙂 Three healthy, normal cats would have three of them. Tails.
5) salute may be the most important thing, aside from family and friends 😉 It’s health.
6) parole is all above and below; all the words.
7) fare is what we do not only on public transport. Literally. To do.
8) fine is what I may never get to in this assignment. An end.
9) male is nothing good. I know it as an adverb or as a “dolore”, a pain.
10) piano… lasicate mi cantare, una canzone piano piano… This one baffled me at first. As a musician, I play quietly, but the word means slowly.
11) due, and if there are two (due) checks due, it’s even worse for one’s wallet.
12) rate, this took me too long 🙂 And I had to double check the meaning, to be honest. Is it a part of the price paid… in parts. Installments?
13) ore, and I feel like I’m doing this for at least a couple of ore already. Hours.
14) sole, our beloved, nearest star, or rather the phenonemom on the skye. The sun.
15) estate, which is actually right behind the door. Summer.
Daniel says
Nicely done, Zdenek! I’ll email your prize.
Zdenek says
Thank you for the fun and educational oportunity to procrastinate, I could not resist 🙂 And thank you very much for the book!
Just so you know, it really inspired me 😉 Now I’m googling why piano in music means quietly, not slowly, and whether the Italians also use the word Sole for the actual star, and with capital S. And I will look up all the words to discover their other meanings 😉 Thank you!
Daniel says
‘piano’ has other common meanings, too. Check them out!
Daniel says
Oh and the Italian word for the instrument is ‘pianoforte’, the ‘piano’ part meaning ‘quitely’, and the ‘forte’ part ‘strongly/loudly’.
Italian Wikipedia has this:
Il pianoforte è uno strumento musicale a corde percosse mediante martelletti, azionati da una tastiera. L’origine del termine è italiana ed è riferito alla possibilità di suonare note a volumi diversi in base al tocco, effetto non ottenibile in strumenti a tastiera precedenti, quali il clavicembalo.
Felice says
From memory “piano” can also mean floor (e.g 1st floor, which is actually ground floor in UK, and then there’s the meaning of “plan”, related to the verb “pianificare” – to plan
Daniel says
Get your head around this, Felice:
https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ricerca/piano/
(I didn’t bother…)
Lesley Teitelbaum says
Thank you for sharing such thoughtful and poetic responses –
VERY VERY WELL DONE !!!!!! ✅ 👏
Zdenek says
Hmm, I DID check the FAQ and I am still not sure if my comments simply awaits approval or if it’s lost. So sorry for the spam if this is a second copy 😉
1) mare, that would be „sea“ in Italian, as in a large body of water. I’m afraid to eat its frutti, to be honest.
2) sale, this on is often paired with pepper on a table here in the Czech Republic; salt! 🙂
3) scale, ehm, possibly multiple staircases or, more probably, multiple music scales which musicians study?;
4) code, and oh, this was hard to guess 🙂 Three healthy, normal cats would have three of them. Tails.
5) salute may be the most important thing, aside from family and friends 😉 It’s health.
6) parole is all above and below; all the words.
7) fare is what we do not only on public transport. Literally. To do.
8) fine is what I may never get to in this assignment. An end.
9) male is nothing good. I know it as an adverb or as a “dolore”, a pain.
10) piano… lasicate mi cantare, una canzone piano piano… This one baffled me at first. As a musician, I play quietly, but the word means slowly.
11) due, and if there are two (due) checks due, it’s even worse for one’s wallet.
12) rate, this took me too long 🙂 And I had to double check the meaning, to be honest. Is it a part of the price paid… in parts. Installments?
13) ore, and I feel like I’m doing this for at least a couple of ore already. Hours.
14) sole, our beloved, nearest star, or rather the phenonemom on the skye. The sun.
15) estate, which is actually right behind the door. Summer.
Daniel says
All comments are moderated as an anti-spam measure, Zdenek. And all genuine ones (a small minority) are published. Depending on the time zone that might sometimes take a while.
And no, this answer isn’t in the FAQ, partly because comments and questions about them are so infrequent…
Steve Dowdle says
1. Mare = the sea
2. Sale = salt
3. Scale = stairs
4. Code = tail
5. Salute = health
6. Parole = words
7. Fare = to make
8. Fine .= the end
9. Male = bad
10. Piano = floor
11. Due = two
12. Rate = instalments
13. Ore = hour
14. Sole = only
15. Estate = summer
I enjoyed that thanks Daniel. (Number 12 had me stumped at first.) Grazie!
Daniel says
Good job, Steve!
No. 4, coda/code (careful with the plurals…) also means queues, traffic jams, though I guess that’s a metaphorical use of ‘tails’
Helen says
Thanks for sidetracking me! I opened my phone to find a soup recipe but saw your email and got into the quiz. I forgot all about the soup!
Daniel says
Prego! Sorry about the soup though. Still, it’s too hot for soup, no?
Helen says
Not when you’re trying to use up leftovers. ‘ Waste not want not’ as the old saying goes.
Harold Wonham says
Hi Daniel! A nice quiz, interesting, fun and practical. Zdenek and Steve have beaten me to it, so I won’t repeat their excellent work, except to add that I was going to add “the endings of pieces of music” to “code” and suggest that “piano” also means a plan, or the storey of a building.
One German false friend I like is “Gift”. After WW2 Americans sent relief parcels to the good people of beleaguered Berlin labelled “Gift from America”. It actually means “poison”.
Daniel says
And ‘gift’ in Swedish means ‘married’…
Annalinda Ragazzo says
I know I am late …just read your email.
Here goes:
1. Mare = sea
2. Sale= salt
3. Scale- stairs
4. Code- tails
5. Parole- words
6. Salute- health
7.. Fare – to do, to make
8. Fine- end
9.male= bad
10..piano- slow
11.. due- two
12. Rate- non sicuro
13. Ore- hours
14. Sole- sun
15. Estate- summer
Daniel says
Good work, Annalinda. Not sure about n.12 though…
Annalinda Ragazzo says
Sorry, I meant I didn’t know whatever “rate” means in italian
Daniel says
Rata = installment, people in Italy pay for things ‘in rate’. A car loan, for instance.
Daniel says
Ah, I see! I spent a few minutes looking in dictionaries for a meaning I wasn’t familiar with. Raté was the best I could come up with:
https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/rate/
Wrong answer, anyway!
Lesley Teitelbaum says
Hello Daniel !!!
What a fun and fabulous exercise- i was soooooooo excited to finally complete the exercise – I got stuck on code for what spies use to communicate and i was very stuck on expected, needing to be paid which my brain stubbornly solved with owe – and would not budge – my husband liberated me from my blocks – and I raced to share my results – only to realize I had been scooped at midnight by other readers !!! Alas – i was at an unfair disadvantage being in a time zone 7 hours behind you (emoji – laughing so hard you are crying!!!). Alrighty – alas – it was a very fun activity and I learned a few new words !! So all is right and well with the world – and congratulations to the winner – well done – – i loved the extra details that were included in he response – and also it was nice to know that I am not alone in avoiding fruitti di mare
Daniel says
Sorry about the time zone thing – I only thought about it after I’d already published the article. But then, if I waited until the west coast of the USA was up and reading emails, Australia would already be fast asleep…
Brenda Burton says
Gee, I’m too late. Living in the US handicapped me! I’ll have to give myself a gift.
I’m a musician and piano can also mean softly or quietly.
Daniel says
Yes, that’s true. Along with other things like ‘floor’ (piano terra, primo piano). I got the word from a kitchen ad, though. A ‘piano’ made of quartz for the price of one of those cheaper laminated worktops.
Lesley Teitelbaum says
and . . . I can not resist sharing – that thanks to your exercise I also just discovered – sale – in addition to being the word for salt in italian – is also the third person singular conjugation for the verb salire !!!
I will never look the word sale – the same in english or in italian 🙂
Wishing you all the best Daniel – and as always thank you for your language sharings !!!
Lil says
loved the quiz Daniel. i got stuck on of them and had to cheat by looking them up. but fun!
Peter says
The quiz was a great gift. Thank you
Daniel says
Prego!
Tricia Daw says
I enjoyed this quiz too!