In English, we have the noun "fruit." It's a collective or uncountable noun, so we rarely use an indefinite article or number before it. When we want to count fruit, we either refer to the fruit in question, for example, an apple or a peach, or we talk about "a piece of fruit."
Things are a little different in Italian. There is an analogous noun to "the fruit," la frutta, which is collective and uncountable.
Io mi ricordo che a casa mia si mangiava, allora, il, a mezzogiorno si mangiava: il primo, la carne, il contorno e la frutta, e la sera si mangiava la minestra.
I remember that at my house we'd eat, then, the, at noon we'd eat: the first course, meat, vegetable [side dish] and fruit, and the evening we'd eat some soup.
Captions 33-36, L'arte della cucina La Prima Identitá - Part 14
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When we want to talk about "fruits and vegetables," we say la frutta e la verdura. We're talking about two categories of plant food. Note that we use the singular in Italian. Sometimes an article is used, but not always.
Ci troviamo al piano inferiore, al piano terra del Mercato Centrale di Firenze. Qui, di solito, tutti i giorni si vendono frutta e verdura e anche altre cose.
We're on the lower level, on the ground floor of the Central Market of Florence. Here, usually, every day, fruits and vegetables are sold, along with other things, too.
Captions 26-28, In giro per l'Italia Firenze - Part 2
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Just as in English we can say "some fruit," in Italian we use un articolo partitivo (a partitive article) which combines a preposition and an article to mean "an indefinite quantity of something." In the example, la frutta is a feminine noun, so we use della.
"Della": devo comprare della frutta.
"Della": I have to buy some fruit.
Caption 18, Marika spiega Articoli partitivi - Part 2
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For more about partitive articles, see Marika's video lessons.
When we do want to talk about a piece of fruit in Italian, we turn to another noun, il frutto. It also means "the fruit," but this time it's countable and refers to one exemplar or specimen. Here, we can also use an indefinite article, or a number. We can form the plural.
Per capire se l'anguria è pronta da gustare, basta bussare sulla buccia. Un suono cupo e basso è il segnale che il frutto è maturo.
To figure out if the watermelon is ready to eat, just knock on the rind. A dull, low sound is the signal that the fruit is ripe.
Captions 5-8, Pomodori Vulcanici Pomodori del Vesuvio - Part 3
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In the previous example, a particular watermelon exemplar has been singled out, so il frutto makes sense. In the following example, the kind of fruit is not mentioned. It could be any fruit, such as una mela (an apple), una pesca (a peach), una pera (a pear), or un'albicocca (an apricot).
"Le guardie sono cadute a terra", scrive Roberto Longhi, come quattro spicchi di un frutto tagliato di netto e sono sprofondate in un sonno pesante".
"The guards fell to the ground," writes Roberto Longhi, like four wedges of a cleanly cut piece of fruit, and sank into a heavy sleep."
Captions 7-9, La pittura più bella del mondo La Resurrezione di Piero della Francesca - Part 10
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While the plural of frutta doesn't exist, we can use the plural of frutto, in other words, frutti.
E poi perché le olive vengono più piccole, le piante tendono, quando si inselvatichiscono, a fare i frutti molto più piccoli.
And also because the olives come out smaller. Plants tend, when they become wild, to produce much smaller fruit.
Captions 16-18, Gianni si racconta L'olivo e i rovi
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Frutto is also used figuratively to mean "result," just as in English.
È il frutto di una generazione artistica geniale e audace.
It is the result of a brilliant and daring artistic generation.
Caption 14, Meraviglie S2 EP3 - Part 1
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It's often employed with no article at all.
...perché tutto quello che vedete è frutto di un lavoro lentissimo.
...because everything you see is the result of a very slow process.
Caption 18, Meraviglie S2EP1 - Part 8
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Note: Frutta is not used figuratively in the same sense as frutto, and would not be appropriate here.
In a future lesson, we'll talk about different kinds of fruit and their peculiarities.
Did you know there are different ways to say "that" in Italian?
*One is with quello/quella/quelli/quelle when you are pointing something out, as in "this" and "that." It can be an adjective or a pronoun.
E quindi cade una quantità d'acqua superiore a quella che può essere sopportata da un determinato luogo,
And therefore a quantity of water falls that is superior to that which a given place can absorb,
Captions 46-47, Marika spiega Il clima e i suoi eventi - Part 3
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*Then we have the conjunction che, which can be translated as "that," "which," or "who."
Ali, ti ho già detto che non voglio parlarne.
Ali, I already told you that I don't want to talk about it.
Caption 62, JAMS EP 6 - Part 5
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*But there is also ciò and we use it when we say something like, "That which is born from flesh is flesh, and that which is born from the Spirit is spirit" (from the Bible). In English, using "that" this way might be kind of outdated, and in Italian, it may not be used as much as quello, but it is used in certain contexts.
These days, we don't use the outdated "that which" very much. We often replace it with "what."
Questo oceano rappresenta la distanza tra ciò che dici e ciò che fai.
This ocean represents the distance between what you say and what you do.
Captions 35-36, Marika spiega Espressioni legate al mare e al mondo nautico - Part 4
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And in the case of the common expression tutto ciò, we just translate it as "everything."
Silicio, ferro, manganese, sono alcuni degli elementi che rendono saporito e pregiato tutto ciò che cresce su questo nero territorio.
Silicon, iron, manganese are some of the elements that make flavorful and valuable everything that grows in this black territory.
Captions 24-26, Pomodori Vulcanici Pomodori del Vesuvio - Part 3
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In fact, in an interview with Pierpaolo Pasolini, recently posted on Yabla, he uses ciò repeatedly, so it jumped out from the page and we wanted to share it with you.
Appena apre bocca, contesta qualcosa al conformismo, a, a ciò che è ufficiale, a ciò che è statale, a ciò che è nazionale, a ciò che, insomma, va bene per tutti.
As soon as he opens his mouth, he challenges something of conformism, to, to what is official, to what is governmental, to what is national, to what, in short, is fine with everyone.
Captions 3-6, La super storia Via Pasolini - Part 4
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Ciò is often used in the compound conjunction perciò (for that reason, because of that, so, thus).
Perciò quando i soggetti sono diversi, questo potrebbe portare un po' di confusione.
So when the subjects are different, this could bring about a bit of confusion.
Captions 25-26, Corso di italiano con Daniela 3) Proposizioni subordinate finali - Part 2
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If you would like us to dive deeper into using one or more of these ways of saying "that," let us know by writing to [email protected].
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