When we distinguish between adjectives and nouns, the presence or absence of an article plays its part. Certainly, in the Vocabulary Review exercise, included with all Yabla videos, a noun will have either a definite or indefinite article to distinguish it, and we add an article to the English translation for the same reason. But in real life, the distinction can be kind of fuzzy.
When you're just speaking Italian, without translating, the difference doesn't matter all that much, but when we translate we have to decide whether a word is a noun or an adjective.
In English, too, the line can be a bit fuzzy. Take the word "elderly." It's an adjective, but we can also use it as a noun, to identify a group: the elderly. We don't think about it, we just use the word correctly.
If we talk about an old person in Italian, we can use the adjective vecchio [m] or vecchia [f].
Passati i settant'anni, ormai è vecchio.
Being over seventy, he's already old.
Caption 29, Corso di italiano con Daniela Ormai
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But we can use the adjective as a noun by using an article with it.
È un vecchio.
He's an old guy.
Caption 29, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP1 I Bastardi - Part 16
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When we translate it into English, we need a noun after the adjective.
Allora le faccio entrare le tre vecchie? -Signore, le... chiamiamole signore. -Le tre vecchie signore.
So should I have the three old [women] come in? Ladies, the... let's call them ladies. The three old ladies.
Captions 68-70, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP2 Rabbia - Part 20
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The sergeant was describing the elderly women in a somewhat pejorative way and Lojacono corrected him. So he just turned the word he was using as a noun into an adjective. We could follow the same model with the adjective giovane (young).This adjective ends in e, so we don't immediately know the gender of the young person. As a noun in the context of the following clip, it usually refers to a male.
No. -Dio bono, Dio... -Eh... giovane, stai molto calmo, eh!
No. -Dear God... -Uh... young man, stay super calm, huh!
Caption 23, Il Commissario Manara S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva - Part 10
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When we add a noun after the adjective, we sometimes have a clue as to gender, but after that, we have to use the context to choose our noun wisely. In Italian, there are suffixes that can enhance the noun. Instead of saying una vecchia, we can say una vecchietta. That way it's clear it's a noun. We can say, instead of un giovane, un giovanotto.
We often find this noun-adjective correlation when describing people and their traits.
Pazzo (crazy)
E certamente, quello è pazzo di me.
And of course, that guy is crazy about me.
Caption 20, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP1 I Bastardi - Part 16
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Aragona, guidi come un pazzo.
Aragona, you drive like a maniac.
Caption 13, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP1 I Bastardi - Part 4
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Malato (ill)
E sapevate che era malato?
And did you know that he was ill?
Caption 1, Il Commissario Manara S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto - Part 4
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Molti dei malati vennero ricoverati nel vicino ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala,
Many of the sick were admitted to the nearby Santa Maria della Scala hospital,
Caption 42, Meraviglie EP. 3 - Part 6
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In this particular case, we use "the sick" to mean "sick people" in English, but we can't do it with all adjectives.
È un bastardo.
He is a bastard.
Caption 27, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP1 I Bastardi - Part 24
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Se fossi più grande, andrei al cantiere, da quel geometra bastardo e gli darei un sacco di botte.
If I were older, I would go to the construction site, to that bastard of a construction supervisor and I'd throw a bunch of punches at him.
Captions 3-5, La Ladra EP. 7 - Il piccolo ladro - Part 3
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Most of us have heard or uttered the adjective stupido (stupid). But we can use it as a noun, too, just like adjectives idiota, cretino, and scemo.
Sì. Sara, io sono uno stupido.
Yes, Sara, I'm an idiot.
Caption 40, Stai lontana da me Rai Cinema - Part 16
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When people call other people names, it's not always clear how to translate them, whether as nouns or adjectives. But in either case, the insult is clear.
Stupido! Cretino! Deficiente!
Stupid! Idiot! Dumbass!
Caption 44, La Ladra EP. 6 - Nero di rabbia - Part 7
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One word leads to another. Since some of Yabla's videos have included scenes of construction, the topic of scaffolding has come up from time to time, even though it's certainly not a topic you run into every day. But there is a false cognate we may run into whenever we go to a supermercato (supermarket) or grande magazzino (department store), so a closer look might be merited.
One word for "scaffolding" is il ponteggio or, more often, i ponteggi. We can detect the noun il ponte (the bridge) in the word, and can easily imagine the wooden planks as "bridges" from one set of poles to the next.
Ha ceduto un ponteggio.
Some scaffolding collapsed.
Caption 35, Volare - La grande storia di Domenico Modugno Ep. 1 - Part 3
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Impalcatura is often used in the singular, as a generic term, but can also be used in the plural. Here, we might detect the noun il palco, which can mean "the stage" (as in a theater) or "the platform." L'impalcatura is a series of platforms on top of each other.
È caduto da un'impalcatura del cantiere.
He fell from a scaffold at the construction site.
Caption 9, La Ladra EP. 7 - Il piccolo ladro - Part 3
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No, Spartacus, non credo che gli faccia piacere avere un ricevimento in mezzo a impalcature e betoniere.
No, Spartacus, I don't think he is happy to have a reception in the middle of scaffolding and cement mixers.
Captions 66-67, Sposami EP 4 - Part 24
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"Platform" has a cognate, too: la piattaforma (the platform, the board).
La parte centrale del Colosseo, dove accadeva tutto, era una piattaforma lignea che veniva, eh, riempita di sabbia,
The central part of the Colosseum, where everything took place, was a wooden platform that was, uh, filled with sand,
Captions 25-27, Marika e Daniela Colosseo, interno - Part 1
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But, when we find the word scaffale in Italian, it doesn't mean "scaffolding." It is, instead, the kind of shelving you find in a store, supermarket, or department store.
Se andate a fare la spesa in un supermercato italiano, vi troverete davanti allo scaffale del riso indecisi sul tipo di riso da comprare,
If you go grocery shopping in an Italian supermarket, you'll find yourselves facing the rice shelf, uncertain about the type of rice to buy,
Captions 1-3, L'Italia a tavola Risotto alla milanese - Part 2
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It's used a lot in the plural as a general term: gli scaffali.
Se voi mangiaste meno, il supermercato sarebbe sicuramente più pieno e io non troverei gli scaffali vuoti. -Esagerata, eh!
If you ate less, the supermarket would surely be fuller and I wouldn't find the shelves empty. -Over the top, huh!
Captions 44-45, Daniela e Francesca Il verbo mangiare
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We can also use the noun lo scaffale in a house. If the shelves are for books, we'll usually say, una libreria.
False friend alert: Una libreria is also a bookshop! A library, on the other hand, is una biblioteca. If you have a dedicated room or lots of shelves for books, you can talk about una biblioteca in your house, too.
When we are speaking generically, we can use scaffale. Marika talks about lo scaffale, because, as she mentions, it contains all kinds of things.
A fianco alla televisione, ho un mobile. Questo mobile si chiama scaffale. Io lo uso per conservare tantissimi oggetti.
Alongside the television, I have a piece of furniture. This piece of furniture is called a shelving unit. I use it to store many objects.
Captions 26-28, Marika spiega Il salone
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If this web of words has brought you more confusion than anything else, just stick with learning gli scaffali. That's where you will find food and products at the supermarket, and eating is essential.
When we want to talk about going or being upstairs or downstairs, we're not going to find a direct translation in Italian. We have to use other words.
We start out with the words sopra and sotto, which basically mean "above" and "below," respectively. We insert the preposition di (of, from) before either one.
No, vado di sopra a prendere la borsa e le chiavi e scendo giù subito.
No, I'm going upstairs to get my bag and the keys, and I'll be right down.
Caption 88, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP3 - Il tarlo del sospetto - Part 1
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If you are upstairs and want to go downstairs, you could just as well say,
Vado di sotto a prendere la borsa...
I'm going downstairs to get my bag...
When we are talking about the other room, or another room, or "over there," then we use the same little preposition di (of, from), but we use là (there) instead of above or below.
Vado di là (I'm going in the other room, I'm going over there).
Pietro è di là (Pietro is in the other room).
Using the above formula to talk about "upstairs," "downstairs," or "in the other room," is one way to express this. You might also hear simply su and giù.
È su (he/she is upstairs), sta su (he/she is upstairs).
Vado su, vengo giù (I'm going up, I'm coming down).
If we imagine an apartment building where you have to go downstairs to go out of the building, it's easier to imagine the Italian use of sotto casa (right in front of the house). I may have a little market right near my house. It's sotto casa. It implies "very close by" or "in front of."
Fortunatamente ci hanno messo un bidone sotto casa.
Fortunately, they put a garbage can in front of the house.
Caption 25, COVID-19 6) La guarigione
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Sono sotto casa tua. Scendi un attimo?
I'm in front of your house. Will you come down a moment?
Caption 30, La Ladra EP. 7 - Il piccolo ladro - Part 3
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When we want to say, "down here," or "down there," then we can use qui sotto or qua sotto. They are interchangeable and can refer to either "here" or "there," depending on one's point of view.
E qua sotto c'è il fiume Tevere.
And down there is the river Tiber.
Caption 19, Anna e Marika Trattoria Al Biondo Tevere - Part 1
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Infatti, vedi le strutture che sono qui sotto, qui sotto a questo monumentale... -Sì.
In fact, do you see the constructions that are down here, below this monumental... -Yes.
Caption 44, Marika e Daniela Colosseo, interno - Part 1
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While sopra and sotto with di often refer to "upstairs" and "downstairs" as we have shown above, su and giù can also be used to indicate the direction of where someone or something is or where someone or something is going. They often go hand in hand with qui or qua (here) and là (there).
Qui and qua basically indicate something that is close to the person who is speaking. Su basically means "up" and giù basically means "down." If we want to refer to something far away in an upward or downward direction, we can say, lassù (up there) or laggiù (down there).
E tu che ci fai lassù?
What are you doing up there?
Caption 8, Dafne Film - Part 5
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E poi si vede in fondo, laggiù sull'Arno, il ponte più caratteristico di Firenze, uno dei simboli della città, che è il Ponte Vecchio.
And then you can see, down there, on the Arno, the most characteristic bridge of Florence, one of the symbols of the city, which is the Ponte Vecchio [the old bridge].
Captions 36-38, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 4
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Sopra and sotto are also used to mean other things, also figuratively, and hopefully, they will come up by and by in videos and lessons. Meanwhile, you now have some ways to describe where you are going or where you are in a house, or what you can see from your house or what you'll find in front of your house. As you will have noticed, there are various ways to say the same thing. Let us know if you have questions! You can write to us at newsletter@yabla.com.
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