One of the first words we learn in Italian is bello. In fact, it's a very handy word, and one Italians use constantly. The translation we see first in just about any dictionary is "beautiful." It starts with B, and is easy to remember.
Un palazzo rinascimentale molto, molto... molto bello.
A Renaissance building that's very, very... very beautiful.
Caption 6, Antonio racconta Praia a Mare
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But let's look at some other translations for the word bello, translations we might not think of right away. Of course, when we are immersing ourselves in the Italian language, we don't really need to think too hard about the translation. We listen and repeat. The more we participate in or listen to Italian conversation, the more we get a feel for when to use bello and when to use molto bello, bellissimo, or some other adjective, such as carino, as we discuss below.
We can use the adjective bello (with its appropriate endings) to describe either a man or a woman. In English, we might say "a beautiful man," but it's more customary to say "handsome" for a man. In Italian, it's the same word, but the ending has to match the gender and number of the subject described.
un bel uomo (a handsome man)
una bella donna (a beautiful woman)
due belle ragazze (two pretty girls)
due bei ragazzi (two nice-looking boys)
Quei ragazzi sono belli
We use the adjective to describe not only people, but also things, experiences, ideas, etc.
We recommend watching Daniela's video lessons about bello, buono and bene if you haven't yet!
In English, "beautiful" is already a kind of superlative relative to "pretty" in many cases. But the absolute superlative of bello is bellissimo. It's like saying "very beautiful" or "gorgeous." Another way to say this is bello bello. We discuss this way of forming an absolute superlative in this lesson.
So on a qualitative scale, bello might be closer to "pretty" and bellissimo might be equivalent to "beautiful." But much of the time this adjective is subjective, and the meaning depends on how it's expressed, what it's describing, and who is doing the describing. Let's keep in mind another word that can be used to mean "pretty": carino/carina. But carino can also mean "nice" when talking about a person or an action carried out by a person, so sometimes understanding it needs some context or clarification.
Ah. -Mh mh. -Molto carino da parte tua.
Ah. -Hm. -Very nice/kind on your part.
Caption 42, Il Commissario Manara S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi - Part 12
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Bello can also be used to mean "great," "nice," "enjoyable," "lovely," and more.
Bello stare tranquilli in piscina tutto il giorno, eh?
Nice staying peacefully in the pool all day long, huh?
Caption 56, Acqua in bocca Mp3 Marino - Ep 2
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Mi trovo in Polonia, per festeggiare quello che sarà il giorno più bello della mia vita.
I'm in Poland to celebrate what will be the most wonderful day of my life.
Captions 5-6, Adriano Matrimonio con Anita - Part 1
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Taking into account the fact that "nice" can mean lots of things, here is another example of when we say bello and we mean "nice."
Ma, signora! Che bello vederti. È una vita che non ti vedo.
Oh, Ma'am! How nice to see you. I haven't seen you in a lifetime.
Captions 2-3, Dafne Film - Part 10
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The translation could easily have been "wonderful" or "great," since Dafne says she and the woman hadn't seen each other in a long time. The point is that it had nothing to do with beauty in this context.
Bello can also be used to mean "nice and" or "quite." In other words, it can act as an adverb describing an adjective in order to reinforce the meaning of the adjective.
Il filetto rimarrà bello gustoso e non saprà di affumicato, non saprà di bruciato.
The fillet will remain nice and tasty and won't taste smoked, won't taste burnt.
Caption 37, Cucinare il pesce Filetto di branzino alla griglia
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Bello can also be used as an adjective describing something negative, just as "nice" can in English.
Certo che ci ha fatto prendere un bello spavento, eh!
For sure you gave us a nice scare, huh!
For sure you gave us quite a scare, huh!
Caption 46, Il Commissario Manara S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi - Part 16
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As you can see, bello is used in lots of ways, and we certainly haven't covered all of them here. One thing is for sure: We can't always translate bello with "beautiful." So keep your eyes and ears open for different nuances of the word bello as you listen to conversations, as you try to speak Italian, and as you watch Yabla videos on the handy player where you can pause, repeat a caption, and look up words, as well as do the exercises to reinforce what you are learning.
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