Stanare and scovare: more S-prefixes!

By Sigrid Lee

The Italian verbs stanare and scovare are very similar, often used as synonyms. Both generally mean to force an animal (or person) out of its lair or hiding place, or, figuratively, to discover or track something down after a search.

Stanare comes from the noun la tana, meaning "the den." Scovare comes from the noun il covo, meaning "the lair" or "the den." Snidare (less common, but perhaps interesting to know), comes from the noun il nido, meaning "the nest."

E allora questa è la tana del lupo.

And so this is the wolf's den.

Caption 54, Volare - La grande storia di Domenico Modugno Ep. 1 - Part 22
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Perché questa scuola è un covo di nazisti in erba, te lo dico.

Because this school is a den of budding Nazis, I'm telling you.

Caption 45, La Tempesta film - Part 11
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banner2 PLACEHOLDER

L'hanno stanata la particella

They unearthed the particle

Caption 9, Ritratti Fabiola Gianotti - Part 1
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OK. Cami, tu mi accompagni a stanare quel farabutto vero?

OK, Cami, you're coming with me to hunt down that scoundrel, right?

Captions 53-54, Provaci ancora prof! S3 EP2 Doppio imprevisto - Part 23
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È un ambiente riservato, nel senso che si conoscono tutti, ma uno non dice mai all'altro quanti tartufi ha trovato, giusto per non dare troppe indicazioni ai concorrenti amici nello scovare, diciamo, questi posti segreti.

It's a private environment, in the sense that everyone knows one another, but one never tells the other how many truffles he has found, just so as not to give too many tips to friendly competitors in tracking down, shall we say, these secret places.

Captions 7-10, L'Italia che piace Esperienze Gastronomiche - Part 4
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The following words convey the same or similar meanings of "flushing out" or "discovering" something:

Scoprire means "to discover" or "to uncover."

Dovevamo scoprire cosa le stava succedendo.

We had to find out what was happening to her.

Caption 49, JAMS S1 EP5 - Part 6
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Trovare means "to find" or "to discover."

È così che pensate di trovare mio figlio?

Is that how you think you're going to find my son?

Caption 38, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S1 EP6 Buio - Part 5
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Rintracciare means "to trace," "to track down," or "to locate."

Sa dove lo posso rintracciare?

Do you know where I can find him?

Caption 16, Provaci ancora prof! S3EP1 - Due americane a Roma - Part 27
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Reperire means "to find," "to locate," or "to source".

Cucina non significa soltanto alimenti, ma cottura: servono pentole, utensili che non era facile reperire in quegli anni.

Cooking doesn't just mean ingredients, but cooking: one needs pans, utensils that weren't easy to find in those years.

Captions 42-43, L'arte della cucina Terre d'Acqua - Part 13
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Thanks for reading. We hope you know more now, having read this lesson, than you knew before! Write to us at [email protected].