If you've ever walked down an Italian street, you’ve seen this sign a thousand times: passo carrabile. But have you ever actually stopped to think about what it really means? Passo is pretty clear; it has to do with "passage." Note: The noun passo has multiple meanings, and it's also the first-person singular conjugation of the verb passare.
Mi state bloccando il passo.
You are blocking my way.
Caption 1, Caravaggio EP 2 - Part 18
Play Caption
But what does carrabile mean? It’s not a word we learn in standard language apps, and we don't really need to know what it means, literally. We just need to know we can't block that passageway.
The question that led to this lesson was, upon looking at the passo carrabile sign up close: Does carrabile have anything to do with carreggiata (a word you learn at the scuola guida)? The answer is yes.
But if we unlock the root of these words, lots of other words will come into focus, and we'll even see a connection between ancient Rome and modern Italian life.
As English speakers, we could easily find a hidden cognate-type word in carreggiata: carriage or chariot (by way of French). These words all go back to the same word ancient Romans adopted from the Celtic word for a wheeled wagon: "carrus." The Latin word "carrus" became carro in Italian, the word for "cart," as well as "chariot."
E si vede un'incredibile scena di corsa di carri,
And you see an incredible chariot race scene,
Caption 9, Meraviglie EP. 4 - Part 12
Play Caption
The following example is part of a description of the flooding of the Po River in 1951.
Ma quando il Po si gonfiava e usciva dagli argini rimaneva poco da fare. Caricare sui carri le poche cose e aiutarsi l'un l'altro.
But when the Po would swell and rise above its banks, there was little left to do. Load one's few possessions onto carts and help each other.
Captions 25-26, L'arte della cucina Terre d'Acqua - Part 3
Play Caption
Carro is used today for the floats you see in parades or processions.
Come vedi c'è il carro di Santa Rosalia...
As you can see, there's the Saint Rosalia [patron saint of Palermo] float...
Caption 25, Dottor Pitrè e le sue storie - Part 2
Play Caption
It's also used when talking about funerals. It carries the coffin.
Sarà mica un carro funebre?
It wouldn't be a hearse, would it?
Caption 64, Provaci ancora prof! S1E2 - Un amore pericoloso - Part 12
Play Caption
In Italy, when you do the grocery shopping, you frequently use un carrello.
Se devi acquistare poche cose, non c'è bisogno di prendere il carrello della spesa, ma è meglio utilizzare un cestino.
If you have to buy just a few things, there is no need to get a shopping cart, but it is better to use a basket.
Captions 29-31, Vocaboliamo Supermercato - Part 2
Play Caption
If you do any gardening, you probably use una carriola (a wheelbarrow).
Carreggiata: La carreggiata might not be a word you need to know, unless you are studying to get an Italian driver's license (la patente di guida), but it is useful for understanding what carrabile means.
Do you see the suffix -ata in carreggiata? In Italian, that often means a collection or the space made by something. Historically, la carreggiata was the specific 'wagon track'—the part of the road wide enough for heavy carts. Today, it means the structural roadbed meant only for cars.
Le luci dei lampioni che vede sfilare sul bordo della carreggiata gli sembrano degli oggetti volanti non identificati.
The lights of the street lamps that he sees going past along the edge of the roadway look like unidentified flying objects to him.
Captions 2-3, Fulvio Benelli Crimine Infinito, romanzo - Part 3
Play Caption
Un passo carrabile is a passageway accessible to vehicles. In order to claim that space, you need to have authorization from the town.
If you park in a passo carrabile, you might get a ticket or you might get your car towed away by un carro attrezzi.
Ho capito la situazione, ma non... Chiama il carro attrezzi, il soccorso stradale, qualcosa.
I understand the situation, but I can't... Call the tow truck, the roadside assistance, anything.
Captions 38-39, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 4
Play Caption
You might see this as two words: carro attrezzi, but it is common to see it as one word: carroattrezzi. It's also called il soccorso stradale (roadside assistance).
Carrozza: The translation is "carriage," and it's the way people traveled before there were trains or cars (horseless carriages). The cart became a carriage. The humble carro became the more elegant carrozza. It was bigger, enclosed, and more complex than a cart and was designed for people. Nowadays, the word is used for an individual carriage, coach, or car of a train. On your ticket, you might see the word carrozza and a number. For example, carrozza 04, posto 41 finestrino (car 4, seat number 41, window seat).
There are plenty of words related to carrozza.
The carrozziere fixes up the body of the car.
Va bene, allora parlo un attimo col carrozziere.
All right. So I'll have a quick word with the body shop guy.
Caption 16, Provaci ancora prof! S1E3 - Una piccola bestia ferita - Part 14
Play Caption
The carrozzeria is the body of the car, the outside, as well as the body shop.
Ah, e c'erano anche dei graffi sulla carrozzeria.
Oh, and there were some scratches on the body.
Caption 21, Francesca alla guida - Part 1
Play Caption
Carrozzella is one of the words for wheelchair, and also means "horse-drawn buggy."
Qua, tolto il figlio con la madre in carrozzella non s'è visto nessuno.
Here, apart from the son with his mother in a wheelchair, I didn't see anyone.
Caption 15, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP3 I giardini della memoria - Part 15
Play Caption
When you go to buy or rent una sedia a rotelle (a wheelchair), it is commonly called una carrozzina.
Come operatore socio sanitario, il mio lavoro consiste nel [sic: nello] stare vicino ai pazienti, nel lavarli, nel vestirli, nel portarli in carrozzina...
As a public healthcare worker, my job involves being there for patients, in washing them, dressing them, in taking them around in a wheelchair...
Captions 22-26, COVID-19 1) Il contagio
Play Caption
La carrellata is a term used in cinema for dolly or tracking shots.
Un bacio al piccolo Robertino e il film motoristico di Rossellini si conclude con una carrellata verso il focolare domestico.
A kiss for the little Robertino and Rossellini's car film concludes with a tracking shot towards the home fires.
Captions 50-51, La Mille Miglia del passato per vivere quella di oggi - Part 2
Play Caption
Even the verb caricare (to load, to charge) comes from that same root, "carrus." Originally, it was "to load up a cart or wagon."
E abbiamo... l'abbiamo caricato nel bagagliaio dell'auto.
And we... we loaded it into the trunk of the car.
Captions 9-10, Provaci ancora prof! S2E6 La strana ossessione - Part 22
Play Caption
Look at all the words from just one root: carro, carrello, carriola, carrabile, carreggiata, carrozza, carrozziere, carrozzeria, carrellata, caricare. Rather than thinking of the English word, try visualizing what they are or what they do.
We close this collection of related words with an Italian saying: mettere il carro davanti ai buoi (to put the cart before the oxen), which is also popular in English, but with horses in place of oxen — Il risultato non cambia (the result is the same).
Thanks for reading. You can write to us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you.
There have been a number of videos on Yabla that refer to fumetti, but what are they? Fumetti are comic books and comic strips. A graphic novel is called un romanzo a fumetti or un romanzo grafico and sometimes the English term "graphic novel" is used for these. They consist of a complete story, not a continuing story as we often have in comic books.
Why do we call comics fumetti? Fumo is smoke, and the speech bubbles or word balloons you find in comics are kind of like puffs of smoke. The suffix -etto means "small" and the puffs of smoke, or speech bubbles, are relatively small. These speech bubbles are sometimes called nuvolette (little clouds).
Senti, tu vedi di fargli leggere almeno un fumetto quest'estate eh.
Listen, you see to it that he at least reads a comic book this summer, huh.
Caption 52, Provaci ancora prof! S2E6 La strana ossessione - Part 22
Play Caption
Comic books are very popular in Italy. There is an entire convention dedicated to comics, Lucca Comics, the largest in Europe.
Che stai facendo? -Sto leggendo un fumetto. -Com'è? -Fichissimo.
What are you doing? -I am reading a comic book. -How is it? -Super cool.
Captions 18-20, JAMS S1 EP2 - Part 4
Play Caption
On an Italian quiz show this question was asked about the fumetto Diabolik:
In quale luogo Angela Giussani trovò l'ispirazione per creare il fumetto "Diabolik"?
In which place did Angela Giussani find inspiration for creating the cartoon, “Diabolik”?
Caption 18, L'Eredità -Quiz TV La sfida dei sei. Puntata 2 - Part 12
Play Caption
Subscribers can find the true answers to this question in this video!
There are two different documentaries on Yabla about fumetti:
Guido Crepax, Cercando Valentina and Fumettology.
Guido Crepax is the pen name of Guido Crepas, whose best-known character was Valentina. She was created in 1965 and her last appearance was in 1996. In the documentary, we discover where the author's ideas came from and what his techniques were in designing the panels and thinking up the stories.
Nel Sessantadue, mettono in piedi una casa editrice che, che si mette a pubblicare Diabolik, il fumetto più scandaloso di quegli anni.
In nineteen sixty-two, they set up a publishing house that, that set to publishing Diabolik, the most scandalous comic book of those years.
Captions 22-24, Fumettology Diabolik - Part 3
Play Caption
"Fumettology" is a documentary about various popular Italian fumetti.
The first episode is about Diabolik. Read about this fumetto here on Wikipedia. You'll also find the answer to the quiz show question above.
All'inizio, quando loro partirono, non ci fu un distributore che volle distribuire il fumetto.
In the beginning, when they started out, there was no distributor who wanted to distribute the comic book.
Captions 1-2, Fumettology Diabolik - Part 4
Play Caption
Both Valentina and Diabolik were created for adults, but the second fumetto featured in "Fumettology" is aimed at a general audience, and is an Italian take on the American Wild West. Read about Tex Willer here.
Tex è un eroe capace di modificare il mondo attorno a sé con la sola sua presenza.
Tex is a hero capable of changing the world around him solely by means of his presence.
Captions 1-2, Fumettology TEX - Part 2
Play Caption
In an episode of Imma Tataranni, we even see her husband, Pietro, on the couch, reading Tex. Whoever watched the episode knowing about Tex probably let out a chuckle. Pietro might have been in "don't bother me" mode.
Italians got some of their ideas from American comics, and had them translated, but during the Fascist period, there were bans, except for Topolino (the Italian version of Mickey Mouse). Italian comics were allowed, but there were restrictions as to content. Once World War II was over, fumetti became very popular once again and that is when Tex was created.
Reading fumetti can be an enjoyable way to learn some Italian! Take it from someone who did that and whose daughter did, too!
Spanish
French
German
Chinese
English
English 
Español
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
