ITALIAN is a very beautiful foreign language, the romance language of romance languages, the lingering last breath of classical Latin. The history of Italian makes for interesting reading – and explains why it’s a tricky tongue to master! Nevertheless, having a basic vocabulary can help you communicate, so here’s a list of common Italian words.

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Italian words

This list of Italian words are all nouns. In Italian, nouns are either masculine or feminine and therefore take a masculine or feminine article. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to whether a noun is masculine or feminine, so you just have to learn them. Also, there are six definite articles, all of which mean ‘the’! They are il, lo, la, i, gli and le. There are three indefinite articles – un, uno, una – which translate into ‘a’ or ‘an’. Other romance languages, such as Spanish or French, have a plural indefinite article, but not Italian.

Italian words

ITALIANS, they know a thing or two about love. Italy is the birthplace of legendary lover Casanova, the setting for literature’s tragic tale of unrequited love, Romeo and Juliet, and the home of some of the world’s most romantic landscapes. Some go as far to say that Italian is the language of love. So if you wanted to learn an Italian phrase or two, what better place to begin than with how do you say I love you in Italian?

To say those three little words, I love you, in Italian, you need learn just two little words: Ti amo.

Pronounced tee ah-moh, ti stands for you and amo is the first person conjugation of the verb amare. This is the infinitive form and literally means to love. It is very similar to how one says I love you in Spanish in structure, sound and meaning. In Italian, as in Spanish, you do not need to use the word for I, but it is not wrong to say it, either. The Italian phrase for I love you then becomes Io ti amo. Io is pronounced ee-oh.

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But this expression of affection is reserved for intimate, romantic love only, and should not be used lightly (which is true of the sentiment in any language, really!) – or with friends or family.

To tell a family member or dear friend that you love them, say Ti voglio bene. Voglio (pronounced voh-lyoh) is the first person of the Italian verb volere, which means to want. (Again, very similar to the other way of saying I love you in Spanish.) Bene (pronounced beh-neh) means good. You can crank up the feeling by adding the word tanto (tahn-toh) – Ti voglio tanto bene. I love you very much.

Now that’s amore!