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Exams: How do we talk about exams in Italian?

There is an Italian cognate for the noun exam: It's esame, but there are a few basic things to know about using the word.

 

First of all, if you are in college (which is always called università in Italy), you take exams, right? Well in Italy, first of all, exams are generally oral exams, where you have to speak and answer questions at length, and often in public, before your peers. The final exam of high school is called l'esame di maturità, or just la maturità

Cioè, come ho potuto io, che alla maturità ho preso sessanta?

That is, how could I have, when I got sixty in the finals?

Caption 16, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 1 EP1 - Casa nuova - Part 8

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Second of all, instead of taking an exam, you give it: dare un esame. At least this is how it is in colloquial speech.

Che importa se non ha dato nessun esame.

What does it matter if he didn't take any exams?

Caption 16, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP3 - Il tarlo del sospetto - Part 5

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That's one way to say it. We can also use the more "correct" verb sostenere. Sostenere means plenty of things as you can see in the link (including a close cognate — "to sustain"), but in the case of exams, it means "to undergo."

Per avere l'elenco degli esami che ha sostenuto tuo nipote, ci vuole il [sic: la] password, no, eh. -Ah, sì, sì, ho capito. -Ecco.

To have the list of the exams your nephew took, you need the password, right? -Ah, yes, yes, I get it. -Here.

Captions 44-45, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3 EP2 - Un nuovo medico in famiglia - Part 8

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And sometimes Italians use the all-purpose verb fare (to make, to do).

Ma mi avevi detto che era una freccia, era... faceva gli esami, uno dopo l'altro.

But you told me that he was as fast as an arrow, he was... he took the exams one after another.

Captions 54-55, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3 EP2 - Un nuovo medico in famiglia - Part 5

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When you pass an exam, the right word is superare l'esame but people use the verb passare, too.

 

Non ho mai visto Alberto dispiaciuto di aver passato un esame.

I've never seen Alberto unhappy to have passed an exam.

Caption 46, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3 EP2 - Un nuovo medico in famiglia - Part 6

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Che se non superi quegli esami non puoi fare gli altri esami che poi ti permettono di passare al secondo, al terzo, al quarto e poi al quinto anno e prendere la laurea.

That if you don't pass those exams you can't do the other exams that then allow you to go on to the second, third, fourth, and then to the fifth year and get your degree.

Captions 36-38, Serena sistema universitario italiano

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If you flunk an exam, sei bocciato  or  bocciata.

Invece, all'università, se prendi un voto inferiore al diciotto sei bocciato e non passi l'esame.

Instead, at the university, if you get a grade below eighteen, you fail, and you don't pass the exam.

Captions 49-50, Serena sistema universitario italiano

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Check out the video where Serena and Martina talk about how the university system works in Italy. And here they talk about high school.

 

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There are also the exams you do for your health (and sometimes when you are already dead). 

Non ti consegno il rapporto perché ho richiesto un esame necroscopico.

I won't give you the report because I requested a post-mortem exam.

Caption 19, Il Commissario Manara S1EP11 - Beato tra le donne - Part 4

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In the U.S. we make an appointment to see a doctor. In Italy, prediamo un appuntamento (we take an appointment) and a visit to the doctor is called una visita, but when the doctor examines you, he or she "visits" you: visitare.

 

Dopo che sei stato accolto o accolta dagli infermieri e visitato o visitata dal dottore del Pronto Soccorso, ti diranno cosa è meglio per la tua salute.

After you have been asked to come in (m) or come in (f) by the nurses and examined (m) or examined (f) by the emergency room doctor, they will tell you what's best for your health.

Captions 55-57, Marika spiega Il pronto soccorso

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...tanto che una volta andai da un medico a farmi visitare...

...so much so that once I went to a doctor to get a checkup...

Caption 3, L'arte della cucina I Luoghi del Mondo - Part 3

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