You asked, we'll try to answer! Are there differences between scordare and dimenticare, both of which mean "to forget?" If so, what's the difference? That is the question we'll set out to answer in this lesson. Yabla videos should provide us with plenty of examples to see and hear.
There is a long article (in Italian) on the website of L'Accademia della Crusca, but the upshot is: La scelta dell’uno o dell’altro è dovuta a ragioni e abitudini linguistiche personali, di contesto o di gusto, in parte legate alla regione di provenienza (the choice of one or the other is due to personal linguistic reasons and habits, context, and taste, partly tied to the region one is from).
So, in a way, we could say, "We're done here." But let's explore a bit further.
In our previous lesson about the song Quando sarai piccola, we discussed the etymology of the two verbs in question. Even though etymology does not define the current use of a word, it can be meaningful and help remember the verbs themselves. Knowing that dimenticare comes from mente (mind) and scordare comes from cuore (heart) is an enrichment for those who care.
Philosopher and historian Benedetto Croce felt this difference: Croce scriveva in Conversazioni critiche (1950-1951, p. 69):
L’italiano rammentare (e dimenticare) si riferiscono piuttosto alla mente, e il ricordare (e scordare), si riferiscono piuttosto al cuore".
The Italian rammentare (and dimenticare) refer rather to the mind, and ricordare (and scordare), refer rather, to the heart.
Some Italians do feel there's a difference, as you can see in this forum discussion. It may be felt in certain regions or in certain (older) generations. In our previous lesson, we did mention that dimenticare was more neutral and scordare more personal. That is the opinion expressed in various sources, but certainly, L'Accademia della Crusca says it best. They both work just fine.
Now that we have no particular concerns about meaning, we can move on to using the verbs.
In this first example, the infinitive form of the verb is used as a sort of imperative.
Non dimenticare di prendere lo scontrino dopo aver pagato.
Don't forget to take the receipt after having paid.
Caption 52, Vocaboliamo Supermercato - Part 6
Play Caption
When we want to use the verb as a plain, transitive verb, dimenticare is a solid choice, and the easiest.
Alle volte dimentico che sei un uomo, con dei bei baffi.
Sometimes I forget you're a man, with a nice moustache.
Captions 50-51, La compagnia del cigno S2 EP 2 - Part 4
Play Caption
Even in compound tenses, where we have the participle, we use the auxiliary avere (to have). In the following example, the important element is la luce (the light).
Eh, hai dimenticato la luce in bagno.
Hey, you forgot the light in the bathroom.
Caption 71, Provaci ancora prof! S3EP1 - Due americane a Roma - Part 17
Play Caption
There are also more complicated ways to use dimenticare (and scordare) in compound tenses with and without pronouns, but we'll look at them in a future lesson. See this lesson about remembering and forgetting in Italian.
E non lo scorderò mai.
And I'll never forget it.
Caption 18, Acqua in bocca La pizza Margherita - Ep 7
Play Caption
Scordare takes the auxiliary avere when used in a straightforward construction as below.
Ho scordato gli agrumi.
I forgot the citrus fruit.
Caption 11, La Ladra EP. 11 - Un esame importante - Part 1
Play Caption
But it is very common to hear scordare (or scordarsi) in a compound tense in its reflexive or pronominal form.
Non mi dire che ti sei scordato la banconota da cinquecento.
Don't tell me that you forgot the five-hundred banknote.
Caption 50, La Ladra EP. 11 - Un esame importante - Part 6
Play Caption
And there is a great expression using this verb. It's the equivalent of "Forget about it." "You wish!" "No way!"
Se stai cercando di farmi cambiare idea sul fatto che ti voglio sposare, scordatelo. Chiaro?
If you're trying to make me change my mind about wanting to marry you, forget about it. Clear?
Caption 29, Il Commissario Manara S2EP1 - Matrimonio con delitto - Part 15
Play Caption
Note: In scordatelo, the stress is on the first syllable.
🎻 Keep in mind that in music, scordare also means to be or to go out of tune.
La corda di mi del mio violino si è scordata, la devo riaccordare prima di cominciare a suonare (the e string on my violin is out of tune, I have to tune it again before starting to play).
Here we have the verb accordare (to tune) from the noun la corda (the string). But when someone is singing out of tune, or when referring to poor intonazione (intonation), the verb is stonare with stonato being the adjective.
Thanks for reading. Write to us at [email protected]
We're talking about the expression: sbarcare il lunario. At first glance, it isn't easy to figure out.
Let's begin our discussion with the noun la luna (the moon). That may help us guess that lunario has something to do with the moon. Originally the month was the interval between one new moon and the next (a sense gleaned from late Old English). The Italian word for "month" is mese from the Latin "mensis," which signified both "month" and "moon."
Il Lunario is well known in Italy as a kind of almanac, aimed at an agricultural readership, providing the phases of the moon of a given year and information about when to plant certain crops, when to cut one's hair to make it grow faster, according to the phases of the moon. Il lunario could be bought at any newsstand and likely still is. There are different editions of the Lunario, each appropriate to the region, since the planting seasons differ from area to area. A famous lunario in Florence is Il vero sesto Cajo Baccelli, named after a 16th-century astrologist. The almanac covers an entire year, month by month, and by extension, the phases of the moon. Loosely interpreted, il lunario is a period of time.
We need another piece of the puzzle to fully understand sbarcare il lunario. The verb sbarcare comes from the noun la barca (the boat). Sbarcare is what can be called "a parasynthetic verb," or un verbo parasintentico because it comes from a different part of speech (in this case, the noun la barca) and has a suffix or prefix (in this case, S) and becomes a verb, in this case, sbarcare.
These days, we use the verb sbarcare to mean the opposite of imbarcare (to board), in other words, to disembark or to go ashore. That implies you have reached the shore. In the context of the expression, you make it to the end of the year or month (and give a sigh of relief). You have made it.
That is certainly one interpretation of sbarcare, and the one found in dictionaries. But there is another interpretation, which took a bit of hunting. This interpretation first came up in a search for the expression sbarcare il lunario. The Accademia della Crusca answers questions, and apparently, plenty of people wanted to know about this expression. But then, Wiktionary also gave this alternate definition of sbarcare.
Sbarcare can also be used in its reflexive form: sbarcarsela, and as a pronominal verb, sbarcarla, to mean cavarsela (to manage, to get by), to overcome an obstacle or critical moment, to survive, more or less. Other similar expressions are:
tirare a campare (to take it one day at a time)
tirare avanti (to hobble along)
riuscire a campare a stento (to barely manage, with great effort, remaining poor)
tirare avanti la baracca or, more commonly mandare avanti la baracca — Here is the Italian explanation from Accademia della Crusca with an English translation following it, and connecting it to our expression:
...dove ‘baracca’ “ha il significato di famiglia, impresa, amministrazione mal organizzata, in cattive condizioni economiche. La baracca infatti è una costruzione provvisoria, di legno o metallo, per ricovero di persone, animali, materiale, ed anche, in senso spregiativo, una casupola, una casa malandata”, proprio come la vita di chi sbarca il lunario. (...where baracca (shack) has the meaning of poorly organized family, business, or administration, in poor economic conditions. In fact, the shack is a temporary construction, made of wood or metal, for sheltering people, animals, material, and also, in a derogatory sense, a shack, a run-down house," just like the life of those who have trouble making ends meet.)
In the expression sbarcare il lunario, the sense of sbarcare is this: trascorrere per lo più stentatamente e faticosamente, vivendo di espedienti, un periodo di tempo, l’esistenza stessa (to laboriously scrape through, living by expedients, a period of time, existence itself).
In English, we talk about living paycheck to paycheck. That's the idea.
For a more-in-depth explanation of sbarcare il lunario (in Italian), see this article from the Accademia della Crusca.
Finally, here is the clip from Provaci ancora, Prof. It's part of a news broadcast on TV that Renzo is listening to as he cooks dinner.
Il commissario Gaetano Berardi, che conduce l'inchiesta {è...} -Ehm... risalito a lui dopo un'attenta indagine tra un gruppo di aspiranti attori... -Ah. -che sbarcano il lunario vestiti da antichi Romani... -Ciao amore, dov'è papà?
Chief Gaetano Berardi, who is leading the investigation, has... -Um. traced it to him, after a careful investigation into a group of aspiring actors... -Ah. -who make ends meet dressed as ancient Romans... -Hello love, where's Dad?
Captions 3-6, Provaci ancora prof! S3EP1 - Due americane a Roma - Part 17
Play Caption
Thanks for reading. Write to us at [email protected].
Spanish
French
German
Chinese
English
English 
Español
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
