Quindi  is a word you will hear thousands of times a day when listening to Italians talk. Just think how many times a day you use the word "so" in English. "So" is what quindi  means, much of the time.

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So

Siamo quattro persone, supponiamo, quindi useremo quattro uova.

We're four people, we're assuming, so we'll use four eggs.

Caption 11, Adriano Pasta alla carbonara - Part 2

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Italians often use quindi at the end of a sentence. It can turn into a question (just like "so"). In English, we might even end our question with "and...?" and mean the same thing.

Possiedo diverse aziende nel novarese. Sì, sappiamo che Lei è molto potente e quindi?

I own various businesses in the Novara area. Yes, we know that you are very powerful, and so?

Captions 57-58, Adriano Olivetti La forza di un sogno Ep. 1 - Part 8

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Therefore

Quindi can also mean "therefore," or "in other words." Even though we don't use the word "therefore" in everyday English all that often, it might be helpful to think of quindi meaning "therefore," because as opposed to "so," which has its own position in a sentence or subordinate clause (usually at the beginning), we can insert "therefore" just about anywhere, often enclosed by commas. Quindi works much as "therefore" does, in practical terms. Therefore, we at Yabla often translate quindi with "therefore" when we want to retain the word order in the caption. 

Eh, per quanto riguarda la nostra azienda, noi siamo in particolare localizzati nell'alto casertano, e quindi tutta la nostra produzione è incentrata in, in questa zona. In quali città, quindi?

Uh, regarding our company, we happen to be located in the upper Caserta area, and so our entire production is centered in, in this area. In which city therefore? / So, in which city?

Captions 55-57, Anna e Marika La mozzarella di bufala - La produzione e i tagli - Part 2

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La mozzarella, per noi campani, è solo quella di bufala. Quindi, prodotta con latte delle bufale.

Mozzarella for us Campanians, is solely the buffalo kind. Therefore, made with milk from buffaloes.

Mozzarella for us Campanians, is solely the buffalo kind. In other words, made with milk from buffaloes.

Captions 26-27, Anna e Marika La mozzarella di bufala - La produzione e i tagli - Part 1

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Quindi as "filler"

Lots of times, a sentence ends with quindi plus an ellipsis... as if the speaker wanted to go on but leaves the rest of the sentence to our imagination. Or, the speaker has no idea what to say next.

Guarda, ho letto sul menù che guarda caso fanno le fettuccine ai funghi porcini, quindi...

Look, I read on the menu that, as fate would have it, they make fettuccini with porcini mushrooms, so...

Captions 27-28, Anna e Marika Trattoria Al Biondo Tevere - Part 1

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Synonyms and pet words

If you watch Yabla videos, or have listened to Italian conversation, you will likely have noticed that people have pet words. They may not even realize they always use a particular word. So some people say quindi a whole lot. Others might pepper their conversation with perciò (for this reason).  In Tuscany sicché (the informal version of cosìcché)  is very popular. These are alternate ways to say "so."

Note that when "so" means "to such an extent," we can't use quindi. In that case, we'll use a word like talmente or così.

Quindi as "then"

Quindi can also mean "then" when talking, for instance, about what to do next. Some GPS systems with a voice use quindi to say "then, turn right..." quindi girate a destra...

This can also happen in recipes or instructions, where there is a sequence of actions to be taken.

In current, everyday Italian, it's more common to use poi when we talk about the next in a series of actions.

Poi... quindi avvolgiamo l'alice con mezza fetta di prosciutto, poi mettiamo [sic: lo mettiamo] nel pangrattato, si tuffa così, ecco qui.

Then... then, we roll the anchovy in half a slice of prosciutto, then we'll put it in the breadcrumbs, we immerse it like so, here we are.

Captions 29-31, L'Italia a tavola Involtini di alici - Part 2

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You might be thinking of the word allora, which is also used to mean "so" as well as "then," but the  interesting thing is that allora has more to do with the past and present than the future, whereas quindi can be about the future (the next thing). 

For more about allora, see our lesson: The Underlying Meaning of Allora

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