Let's check out this great Italian two-word adverb: a malapena. We rarely, if ever, see malapena without its preposition, so we can almost think of it as one word. Let's look at some examples in context to absorb its meaning, and then we'll unpack it.
In this first example, Imma, the deputy public prosecutor of the city of Matera, is at a dinner party at the home of one of her colleagues, the last place she wanted to be, and in fact, some of the other guests are making disparaging remarks about her.
Pensare che parlava a malapena l'italiano e mò [lucano: ora] è diventata pure PM [Pubblico Ministero].
Just think that she barely spoke Italian and now she has even become a public prosecutor.
Captions 55-56, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP2 Come piante fra sassi - Part 10
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In this wonderful film for TV, based on a true story about teaching adults how to read and write on TV, Antonio argues with the school principal criticizing his teaching methods. He defends himself by asking her why his methods work, while hers clearly don't.
Mi sa spiegare perché a malapena sanno leggere e scrivere?
Can you explain to me why they can barely read and write?
Captions 62-63, Non è mai troppo tardi EP 2 - Part 5
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In La tempesta, a comedy set in the Venetian city of Treviso, Paolo, a photographer, knocks at the door of his new neighbor (a woman), wanting a favor. She doesn't want to open the door.
No, io a malapena ti conosco. No. -Va bene, allora facciamo le presentazioni:
No. I hardly know you. No. -All right, then let's introduce ourselves.
Captions 50-51, La Tempesta film - Part 1
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In the next example, the context is a bit different, as we are talking about the number of bottles of wine a new winery has produced.
Cavour impiega almeno una quindicina di anni per riuscire a produrre le prime bottiglie. Sono a malapena cento.
Cavour takes at least fifteen years to succeed in producing the first bottles. There were barely a hundred of them.
Captions 38-40, Meraviglie EP. 5 - Part 2
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If we look up a malapena in the dictionary, we find some synonyms: a stento, a fatica, con fatica. But if we do a little more digging, we see it also means appena. If we look for the etymology, we find that malapena is malo (an adjective meaning "bad" or an adverb meaning "badly") plus pena. While la pena is a noun meaning "suffering," a malapena likely comes from appena, from the Latin "ad paene," meaning "almost." In addition, the verb penare means "to struggle." One translation of a malapena is "with difficulty." The evolution of a word, as we have seen on many occasions, is not a straight line!
So we could say a malapena means "almost" but in the negative sense, in other words, "barely." We can use it when we have gone further than "almost," but just by a hair. You made it, but you almost didn't make it! And it took an effort, a struggle, to make it by that small margin.
So if we take our video examples, one by one, we could give these alternative (though inelegant) translations:
"She almost didn't speak Italian." "She struggled to speak Italian."
"They almost don't know how to read and write." "They struggle to read and write."
"I almost don't know you."
"There were almost less than a hundred bottles." "It was a struggle to reach one hundred bottles."
We could use appena in place of a malapena in our video examples (see above):
Pensare che parlava appena l'italiano...
Mi sa spiegare perché sanno appena leggere e scrivere?
No, io ti conosco appena.
Sono appena cento [bottiglie].
Using a malapena instead of appena gives the idea more weight, more effort to reach a limit. With mal as a sort of prefix (meaning malo), there is also a hint of a negative connotation.
In a previous lesson, we looked at the adverb appena in a different context to mean "as soon as" and "just as." But we also use appena to mean "a small amount." Almost nothing!
In the following example, we can keep to the "almost" meaning by thinking that they almost didn't know each other!
Lui e lei si sono appena conosciuti, ma già si amano.
He and she just met, but they already love each other.
Captions 6-7, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep. 1 - Part 19
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Appena in tempo, translated as "just in time," could also be interpreted as "almost late."
"Basta!" -Appena in tempo.
"Stop!" -Just in time.
Caption 33, Dixiland Coppa di cioccolato
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Here is an example of appena used just like a malapena.
Lo conoscevo proprio appena, perché vivo in Italia da un anno e...
I barely knew him, because I've been living in Italy for a year, and...
Caption 8, Il Commissario Manara S1EP7 - Sogni di Vetro - Part 3
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I almost didn't know him, because...
To round out this lesson about a malapena and appena, let's just add that when you are talking about something very, very slight, it's common to repeat the adverb appena.
Qui ci sono ancora le tracce del colore originario che si riescono appena appena a vedere.
Here, there are still traces of the original color which one can just barely see.
Captions 13-14, In giro per l'Italia Asciano - S. Giuliano Terme: Villa Bosniascki - Part 2
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For sure, appena is used more often than a malapena, but now we see where they cross paths. Do a Yabla search of appena on the videos page and you will see scores of examples. See if you can single out the nuances of meaning.
Have questions or comments? Write to us. We love to hear from you!
Marika explains all about the verb mettere (to put) in this video lesson.
As you will see, there are dozens of different ways to use mettere. But what can sometimes be tricky is that in English we don’t generally use “put” without some sort of preposition or adverb. We always think of “put in,” “put on,” or “put up,” but in Italian, at least in casual speech, we might hear:
Metti un po’ di sale.
Put [in] a bit of salt.
In a recent episode of Stai lontana da me, there is a discussion between two guys in a couple. One is criticizing the cooking methods of the other:
No, allora cuciniamo per terra
No, so let's cook on the floor
come nel Medioevo. -Ma che c'entra?
like in the Middle Ages. -But what does that have to do with it?
Metti meno olio, no, scusami. -Sì, nella Preistoria.
Put in less oil, right? Excuse me. -Yes, in prehistoric times.
Captions 88-90, Stai lontana da me - Rai Cinema
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The grammatically correct way to say this would be by attaching an indirect pronoun at the end of the verb to mean “in it”:
Mettici meno olio, no?
Put in less oil, can’t you?
If we look carefully, however, we see that earlier in the discussion, they actually do say things the right way:
Chi cucina? Ah, sì,
Who cooks? Ah, yes,
con tutto l'olio che ci metti
with all that oil that you put in,
me l'incrosti da matti, guarda, ogni volta.
you cake them up like crazy, look, every time.
Captions 86-87, Stai lontana da me - Rai Cinema
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In the previous example ci stands for “into them,” where it represents the baking pans. For more on metterci, see this lesson. The lesson also talks about using mettere to say how long something takes—how much time you “put into something” (Marika will talk about this in part 2 of her lesson on mettere).
Here’s another thing to remember with mettere. In an episode of Commissario Manara, there's a dicey situation, and Luca lifts Lara up to help her. She exclaims:
Aiutami. Ah, ah, ah... mettimi giù!
Help me. Ah, ah, ah... put me down!
Captions 40-41, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva
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In the example above, a single word is formed from the verb and object pronoun together. In this case Lara is using the informal imperative and she’s using herself as the direct object.
In the following example, however, mettimi looks identical, but means something different. This time mi at the end of mettimi is an indirect object and means in this case, “for me.” The direct object is questo (this).
No, mettimi questo sulla scrivania per favore, io vado con la Rubino.
No, put this on the desk for me please. I'm going with Rubino.
Caption 42, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP8 - Morte di un buttero
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And just to add a little something more to the pot, we have the word smettere. An “s” attached to a verb often shifts its meaning to the opposite.
Mi metto al lavoro alle dieci e smetto alle tre di pomeriggio.
I start working at ten and I quit at three in the afternoon.
So a way to ask someone to stop doing something is smettila (stop it)!
In fact, in a recent episode of La Tempesta, Paolo’s neighbor is telling him off.
Terzo, la devi smettere di parcheggiare la Porsche
Third, you have to stop it with parking the Porsche
davanti al pettine delle bici.
in front of the bike rack.
Captions 72-73, La Tempesta - film - Part 1
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Learn more:
Direct object pronouns
Particelle (little words like mi, ci, ti...)
The word prego is commonly used in many aspects of Italian life.
Perhaps the best known use of prego is after someone says, "Thank you." One polite answer is: Prego (you’re welcome).
But prego is also used to let someone pass, as in “go ahead.” This happens, for example, when you are in line at the supermarket and you let a person go ahead of you for whatever reason. Imagine the gesture you make when saying, “After you!” That’s when you might say prego (please, go ahead).
The original meaning of the verb pregare is “to pray.” It's used when pleading or begging, and it stands to reason that it's used in actual prayers (preghiere) as well. There’s a good example of this basic meaning of pregare in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello. Desdemona says her prayers, and sings the Ave Maria in Italian: prega per noi (pray for us), she says, using the familiar imperative form. It’s one of Verdi’s most beautiful arias for soprano.
Check out this Maria Callas recording of the aria.
See the text and translation for this aria at the bottom of the lesson.
In a new film on Yabla Italian pregare is used in a sticky situation.
Manuela, ti prego, mi fai entrare?
Manuela, I'm begging you, will you let me in?
Caption 48, La Tempesta - film - Part 1
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The translation says, “I’m begging you,” but what we would likely say in English in this situation is simply “please.” The urgency is in the tone. When we want to roll our eyes and say "Oh please!" we can also use ti prego all by itself.
Italian uses the verb pregare in making formal requests. One important situation where you’ll hear the word pregare/prego is when taking a train or plane, or in any situation where you have to show a ticket or passport. In this case, it means “please:”
Biglietto, prego.
Ticket, please.
-Non ce l'ho.
-I don't have one.
-Centoventi euro di multa.
-A fine of a hundred and twenty euros.
-Non ce l'ho.
-I don't have it.
Captions 35-38, Ma che ci faccio qui! - Un film di Francesco Amato
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It can also mean “you are kindly requested...”
I viaggiatori sono pregati di scendere dal treno.
Passengers are kindly requested to get off the train.
We can use it in the impersonal, too:
Si prega di non fumare.
You are kindly requested to refrain from smoking.
We have seen that pregare means to pray, but it also means to beg, to kindly request, to say "please," and to say "you’re welcome."
Attenzione: Prego does not mean “please” when asking for something like a cappuccino, or asking someone to do a favor. For this kind of “please” we need per favore or per cortesia.
Un caffé per cortesia.
A coffee, please.
Un biglietto per Venezia, per favore.
A ticket to Venice, please.
Mi passi il sale per favore?
Please pass the salt.
These are the words to Desdemona's aria from Otello.
Ave Maria, piena di grazia,
eletta fra le spose e le vergini sei tu,
sia benedetto il frutto,
o benedetta, di tue materne viscere, Gesù.
Prega per chi adorando a te si prostra,
prega nel peccator, per l'innocente,
e pe 'l debole oppresso e pe 'l possente,
misero anch'esso, tua pietà dimostra.
Prega per chi sotto l'oltraggio piega la fronte
e sotto la malvagia sorte;
per noi tu prega,
sempre e nell'ora della morte nostra.
Ave Maria... nell'ora della morte. Ave! Amen!
Hail Mary, full of grace
You are blessed amongst wives and maidens
and blessed be the fruit, o blessed one
of thy maternal womb, Jesu.
Pray for those who kneeling adore thee
Pray for the sinner, for the innocent
and for the weak oppressed;
and for the powerful,
they are also wretched.
Show your sweet compassion.
Pray for him who bows beneath injustice
and beneath the blows of cruel destiny;
Pray for us,
always, and at the hour of our death,
Hail Mary ... and at the hour of our death.
Hail! Amen!
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