Every language has different ways to say "a lot." Let's look at what Italian has to offer. We covered some of the ways in a previous lesson, but let's look at a few more.
Ricci mi ha chiesto un mucchio di soldi.
Ricci asked me for a pile of money.
Caption 19, Il Commissario Manara S2EP4 - Miss Maremma - Part 13
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Un mucchio is a heap, a pile. Think of a pile of dirty laundry, a pile of leaves, heaped one on top of the other.
perché t'ha raccontato una marea di frottole. -No!
because he told you a bunch of tall tales. -No!
Caption 23, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP3 - Il tarlo del sospetto - Part 6
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La marea is "the tide." A tide of tall tales.
Considerate che di colle ce ne sono una marea: colla per il tessuto, colla per le pietre, corla [sic], corla [sic], eh, colla per, per la pelle.
Consider that there are a bunch of different glues: glue for fabric, glue for stone, glue, glue, uh, glue for, for skin.
Captions 61-63, Professioni e mestieri Belle Arti - La pasta modellabile
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Ho speso una valanga di soldi per questa macchina fotografica (I spent an avalanche [a whole lot] of money for this camera).
Sto facendo il viaggio più bello della mia vita, mamma. Ci divertiamo un casino.
I'm having the best trip of my life, Mom. We're having a lot of fun.
Captions 16-17, Ma che ci faccio qui! Un film di Francesco Amato - Part 13
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Casino is a colloquial term that originally meant "brothel." It currently means, colloquially, "mess," "a lot of noise and confusion," or "a lot of trouble," but it has also come to mean "a whole lot." It's best to use it exclusively among friends, in view of its original meaning.
In a future lesson, we'll talk about ways to say "a lot," when it's used as an adverb.
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