If you've ever walked down an Italian street, you’ve seen this sign a thousand times: passo carrabile. But have you ever actually stopped to think about what it really means? Passo is pretty clear; it has to do with "passage." Note: The noun passo has multiple meanings, and it's also the first-person singular conjugation of the verb passare.
Mi state bloccando il passo.
You are blocking my way.
Caption 1, Caravaggio EP 2 - Part 18
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But what does carrabile mean? It’s not a word we learn in standard language apps, and we don't really need to know what it means, literally. We just need to know we can't block that passageway.
The question that led to this lesson was, upon looking at the passo carrabile sign up close: Does carrabile have anything to do with carreggiata (a word you learn at the scuola guida)? The answer is yes.
But if we unlock the root of these words, lots of other words will come into focus, and we'll even see a connection between ancient Rome and modern Italian life.
As English speakers, we could easily find a hidden cognate-type word in carreggiata: carriage or chariot (by way of French). These words all go back to the same word ancient Romans adopted from the Celtic word for a wheeled wagon: "carrus." The Latin word "carrus" became carro in Italian, the word for "cart," as well as "chariot."
E si vede un'incredibile scena di corsa di carri,
And you see an incredible chariot race scene,
Caption 9, Meraviglie EP. 4 - Part 12
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The following example is part of a description of the flooding of the Po River in 1951.
Ma quando il Po si gonfiava e usciva dagli argini rimaneva poco da fare. Caricare sui carri le poche cose e aiutarsi l'un l'altro.
But when the Po would swell and rise above its banks, there was little left to do. Load one's few possessions onto carts and help each other.
Captions 25-26, L'arte della cucina Terre d'Acqua - Part 3
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Carro is used today for the floats you see in parades or processions.
Come vedi c'è il carro di Santa Rosalia...
As you can see, there's the Saint Rosalia [patron saint of Palermo] float...
Caption 25, Dottor Pitrè e le sue storie - Part 2
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It's also used when talking about funerals. It carries the coffin.
Sarà mica un carro funebre?
It wouldn't be a hearse, would it?
Caption 64, Provaci ancora prof! S1E2 - Un amore pericoloso - Part 12
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In Italy, when you do the grocery shopping, you frequently use un carrello.
Se devi acquistare poche cose, non c'è bisogno di prendere il carrello della spesa, ma è meglio utilizzare un cestino.
If you have to buy just a few things, there is no need to get a shopping cart, but it is better to use a basket.
Captions 29-31, Vocaboliamo Supermercato - Part 2
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If you do any gardening, you probably use una carriola (a wheelbarrow).
Carreggiata: La carreggiata might not be a word you need to know, unless you are studying to get an Italian driver's license (la patente di guida), but it is useful for understanding what carrabile means.
Do you see the suffix -ata in carreggiata? In Italian, that often means a collection or the space made by something. Historically, la carreggiata was the specific 'wagon track'—the part of the road wide enough for heavy carts. Today, it means the structural roadbed meant only for cars.
Le luci dei lampioni che vede sfilare sul bordo della carreggiata gli sembrano degli oggetti volanti non identificati.
The lights of the street lamps that he sees going past along the edge of the roadway look like unidentified flying objects to him.
Captions 2-3, Fulvio Benelli Crimine Infinito, romanzo - Part 3
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Un passo carrabile is a passageway accessible to vehicles. In order to claim that space, you need to have authorization from the town.
If you park in a passo carrabile, you might get a ticket or you might get your car towed away by un carro attrezzi.
Ho capito la situazione, ma non... Chiama il carro attrezzi, il soccorso stradale, qualcosa.
I understand the situation, but I can't... Call the tow truck, the roadside assistance, anything.
Captions 38-39, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 4
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You might see this as two words: carro attrezzi, but it is common to see it as one word: carroattrezzi. It's also called il soccorso stradale (roadside assistance).
Carrozza: The translation is "carriage," and it's the way people traveled before there were trains or cars (horseless carriages). The cart became a carriage. The humble carro became the more elegant carrozza. It was bigger, enclosed, and more complex than a cart and was designed for people. Nowadays, the word is used for an individual carriage, coach, or car of a train. On your ticket, you might see the word carrozza and a number. For example, carrozza 04, posto 41 finestrino (car 4, seat number 41, window seat).
There are plenty of words related to carrozza.
The carrozziere fixes up the body of the car.
Va bene, allora parlo un attimo col carrozziere.
All right. So I'll have a quick word with the body shop guy.
Caption 16, Provaci ancora prof! S1E3 - Una piccola bestia ferita - Part 14
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The carrozzeria is the body of the car, the outside, as well as the body shop.
Ah, e c'erano anche dei graffi sulla carrozzeria.
Oh, and there were some scratches on the body.
Caption 21, Francesca alla guida - Part 1
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Carrozzella is one of the words for wheelchair, and also means "horse-drawn buggy."
Qua, tolto il figlio con la madre in carrozzella non s'è visto nessuno.
Here, apart from the son with his mother in a wheelchair, I didn't see anyone.
Caption 15, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP3 I giardini della memoria - Part 15
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When you go to buy or rent una sedia a rotelle (a wheelchair), it is commonly called una carrozzina.
Come operatore socio sanitario, il mio lavoro consiste nel [sic: nello] stare vicino ai pazienti, nel lavarli, nel vestirli, nel portarli in carrozzina...
As a public healthcare worker, my job involves being there for patients, in washing them, dressing them, in taking them around in a wheelchair...
Captions 22-26, COVID-19 1) Il contagio
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La carrellata is a term used in cinema for dolly or tracking shots.
Un bacio al piccolo Robertino e il film motoristico di Rossellini si conclude con una carrellata verso il focolare domestico.
A kiss for the little Robertino and Rossellini's car film concludes with a tracking shot towards the home fires.
Captions 50-51, La Mille Miglia del passato per vivere quella di oggi - Part 2
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Even the verb caricare (to load, to charge) comes from that same root, "carrus." Originally, it was "to load up a cart or wagon."
E abbiamo... l'abbiamo caricato nel bagagliaio dell'auto.
And we... we loaded it into the trunk of the car.
Captions 9-10, Provaci ancora prof! S2E6 La strana ossessione - Part 22
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Look at all the words from just one root: carro, carrello, carriola, carrabile, carreggiata, carrozza, carrozziere, carrozzeria, carrellata, caricare. Rather than thinking of the English word, try visualizing what they are or what they do.
We close this collection of related words with an Italian saying: mettere il carro davanti ai buoi (to put the cart before the oxen), which is also popular in English, but with horses in place of oxen — Il risultato non cambia (the result is the same).
Thanks for reading. You can write to us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you.
Since the wheel was invented, carts have been used for transporting goods. But carts and similar vehicles come in all shapes and sizes and are used for so many different things, so it's natural for there to be variants depending on the size and function.
The basic noun in Italian is carro. Its definition in Italian is this:
Veicolo a trazione animale o meccanica, costituito da un piano sostenuto da due o quattro ruote, usato per il trasporto di materiali e merci.
Vehicle that is mechanical or pulled by animals, constisting of a flat bed supported by two or four wheels, used to transport materials and goods.
The noun carro by itself generally indicates a rather large-sized cart. But what it's used for is usually in the form of a second noun used as an adjective, an adjective, or as an alteration of the word carro.
Carro is used together with a modifier describing its function:
Ho capito la situazione, ma non... chiama il carro attrezzi, il soccorso stradale, qualcosa.
I understand the situation, but I can't... call the tow truck, the roadside assistance, something.
Captions 38-39, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 4
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Essentially, you are loading a car on a big "cart" equipped to do that. It's attrezzato (equipped) with gli attrezzi (equipment).
In a parade or procession, called una sfilata, un corteo, un corteo storico, or una processione, the floats are called i carri.
Come vedi c'è il carro di Santa Rosalia e al posto della Santa... -E lui lì sopra.
As you can see, there's the Saint Rosalia [patron saint of Palermo] float and in place of the Saint... -And him on top of it.
Captions 25-26, Dottor Pitrè e le sue storie - Part 2
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For a funeral procession, as well, the noun carro is used. Even today, with a motorized hearse, the same term is employed.
Sarà mica un carro funebre?
It wouldn't be a hearse, would it?
Caption 64, Provaci ancora prof! S1E2 - Un amore pericoloso - Part 12
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Literally, "the armed cart."
Me lo dici che premio è? Un carro armato vero, nuovo nuovo.
Will you tell me what the prize is? A real tank, brand new.
Captions 20-21, Trailer La vita è bella - Roberto Benigni
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We can use diminutive suffixes to indicate a smaller carro.
È su un carretto trainato forse da una pecora, comunque da un ovino ed è un momento felice, anche se per molti esperti, si tratta di un viaggio simbolico verso l'aldilà, il regno dei morti.
He is on a cart drawn by perhaps a sheep, in any case by an ovine and it is a happy moment, even if for many experts, it involves a symbolic journey to the afterlife, the kingdom of the dead.
Captions 53-55, Meraviglie EP. 2 - Part 6
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The constellations we call "the Big Dipper" and "the Little Dipper" are called respectively il Grande carro and il Piccolo carro in Italian.
There are small carts, too, for transporting things by hand.
Un carrello can be the kind you use at the supermarket, but it can be any kind of cart, trolley, or dolly for transporting relatively small items.
Una rana in servizio non dovrebbe spingere il carrello delle clienti.
A frog on duty shouldn't push the customers' carts.
Captions 65-66, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP4 Lo stagno del ranocchio - Part 6
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Be'? Che state a fa' co' 'ste carriole?
Well? What are you doing with these wheelbarrows?
Caption 2, Spot pubblicitario TIM Tribù
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A wheelbarrow with only 2 wheels might be called una carretta, but this word might also refer to a wreck of a car, a jalopy.
Signore? Sono qua, nella carrozza. Dico a Voi.
Sir? I am here, in the carriage. I'm talking to you.
Captions 32-33, Caravaggio EP1 - Part 9
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But the car of a train might also be called un vagone, an Italianized version of "wagon."
Ferma solo a Guidonia, Firenze, Genova e c'è un vagone ristorante per bambini belli che mangiano tutta la pappa.
It stops only in Guidonia, Florence, Genoa, and there is a dining car for nice children who eat all their mush.
Captions 16-18, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 1 EP3 Un cugino in fuga - Part 2
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La carrozzella in this day and age usually refers to a wheelchair, but once, it referred to a buggy.
Qua, tolto il figlio con la madre in carrozzella non s'è visto nessuno.
Here, apart from the son with his mother in a wheelchair, I didn't see anyone.
Caption 15, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP3 I giardini della memoria - Part 15
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Una carrozzina may refer to a baby carriage, but some people use it to mean "wheelchair." It's important to consider the context!
La carrozzeria is the chassis of a car, as well as the place where a chassis is repaired.
I fanalini della macchina rotti, le ruote bucate. -Fanalini della macchina rotti. -Per non parlare della carrozzeria.
The taillights of my car broken, the tires slashed. -Taillights broken. -Not to mention the body.
Captions 42-43, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 20
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The person who repairs the chassis of a vehicle is called il carrozziere.
Va bene, allora parlo un attimo col carrozziere.
All right. So I'll have a quick word with the body shop guy.
Caption 16, Provaci ancora prof! S1E3 - Una piccola bestia ferita - Part 14
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There are undoubtedly more words stemming from il carro, and feel free to let us know, so we can add them to this lesson!
In the English language, with some exceptions, history is told in the past. The historical present does exist, however. In English grammar, the historical present is the use of a verb phrase in the present tense to refer to an event that took place in the past. In narratives, the historical present may be used to create an effect of immediacy. It’s also called the historic present, dramatic present, and narrative present.
But in Italian and other romance languages the historical present is commonly used to recount events in the past, especially when referring to history.
Context is very important, and translating can present some challenges.
Here’s an example of how Italian uses the historical present for something that clearly happened in the past. In English, it would sound a bit strange in the present tense, and the first phrase would be well nigh impossible to express in the present tense.
Pitrè nasce nel milleottocentoquarantuno a Palermo,
Pitrè was born in eighteen hundred forty-one in Palermo,
in una famiglia di pescatori.
in a family of fishermen.
Il padre, un povero marinaio del rione di Santa Lucia,
The father, a poor sailor from the Santa Lucia district,
è costretto, come tanti, ad emigrare in America,
was forced, like many, to emigrate to America,
dove muore di febbre gialla.
where he died of yellow fever.
Captions 28-32, Dottor Pitrè - e le sue storie
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In the documentary about Fascism currently available on Yabla, the historical present is used in several instances. Sometimes it makes sense to use it in English, too, as in the following example. By using the historical present, we set the scene. We seem to observe the events from close up, as they happen.
Sono gli anni delle campagne di stampa contro le parole straniere.
These are the years of the publishing campaigns against foreign words.
Parole straniere e borghesia sono mali da estirpare.
Foreign words and the bourgeoisie are evils to be rooted out.
Captions 5-6, Me Ne Frego - Il Fascismo e la lingua italiana
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La "Gazzetta del Popolo" di Torino
Turin's “Gazzetta del Popolo” [The People's Gazzette]
inaugura la rubrica "Una parola al giorno".
launches the feature “Una Parola Al Giorno” [A Word a Day].
Captions 14-15, Me Ne Frego - Il Fascismo e la lingua italiana
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The use of the historical or narrative present in Italian is just something to be aware of. Deciding whether or not to maintain the same tense in translation is a subjective one, based on the tone to be set, or based on clarity. Much of the time, using the past tense in English will be preferred, but not always.
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