In Italian, as in other languages, sometimes a verb uses the same root as a noun that's related or vice versa. We don't always know which came first, the verb or the noun, but the good news is that there are plenty of verbs like this and they are pretty easy to learn.
The words we discuss in this lesson originally have to do with plants. So let's learn the Italian word for "plant" right off the bat. It's an easy one.
Pianta - piantare
La pianta is the noun and piantare is the verb.
E poi, domenica aveva in progetto di piantare il nuovo vigneto al podere dei Sassi.
And then, Sunday he had planned to plant a new vineyard at the Sassi farm.
Caption 34, Il Commissario Manara S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva - Part 1
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Ehm, in questi vasi sono state piantate delle piante molto belle.
Um, in these pots, very beautiful plants have been planted.
Caption 20, In giro per l'Italia Mazara Del Vallo - Sicilia - Part 3
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As we will see with seminare, further on in this lesson, piantare can also be used figuratively. It often means to stop or quit doing something like complaining or lying. It's a strong word to use when you are fed up with how someone is behaving.
La devi piantare di mentire.
You have to quit lying.
Caption 5, Provaci ancora prof! S1E4 - La mia compagna di banco - Part 21
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In the previous example, the speaker wanted to include the verb dovere (to have to) but otherwise could have just said, Piantala (quit it)! It's as if he wanted to say, "You have to quit it with the lying."
There's more! If you get dropped by a friend or hired help, piantare can be a useful verb.
Pia, la mia colf, mi ha piantato. Dice che non vuole vivere in campagna.
Pia, my nanny, ditched me. She says that she doesn't want to live in the country.
Caption 21, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 1 EP1 - Casa nuova - Part 5
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Seme - seminare
Another noun that goes nicely with its verb is il seme (the seed).
E poi da questo seme che pianti nasce, come per miracolo, una verdura, un pomodoro, ehm, del peperone.
and then from this seed that you plant, like a miracle, a vegetable, a tomato, uhm, a pepper comes up.
Captions 10-11, Professore Antonio L'orto del Vesuvio
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We often use the verb piantare (to plant), as in the previous example, because it's generic for putting something in the ground, and it can apply to both seeds and plants, but the more accurate word to use, especially when talking about seeds for crops, is seminare (to sow).
The verb is seminare (to sow).
E usiamo i semi. Questa idea mi piace. Eccoli qui, Mirò, sono pronti da seminare.
And we'll use the seeds. I like this idea. Here they are, Mirò. They're ready to plant/sow.
Captions 42-44, Gatto Mirò EP 10 Piantiamo un albero
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In a segment of Provaci ancora, Prof!, Camilla is driving when her daughter, Livietta, sees that a car has been following them for a while. Camilla gives her daughter instructions to tenersi forte (to hold on tight) while she tries to lose the other car. She uses the colloquial term, seminare. Think of someone sowing seeds by tossing them or throwing them.
Perché c'è una macchina che ci segue, saranno almeno dieci minuti. -Tieniti forte perché cerco di seminarla adesso.
Because there's a car following us, it must be at least ten minutes. -Hold on tight because I'm going to try to lose it now.
Captions 5-7, Provaci ancora prof! S1E3 - Una piccola bestia ferita - Part 20
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And again, in another episode, Camilla is being followed and it is her daughter who notices that.
Evvai, mamma! Li hai seminati!
Go, Mommy! You lost them!
Caption 66, Provaci ancora prof! S2E4 L'amica americana - Part 19
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Disseminare
A verb related to seminare is disseminare. This is used to mean "to spread out," or "to distribute," "to broadcast."
Smembra il cadavere e lo dissemina in punti che sono tutti riconducibili a Lei, signor Romaniello.
He dismembers the corpse and he spreads it around in places that can be traced to you, Mister Romaniello.
Captions 32-33, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1EP1 L'estate del dito - Part 27
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Here, too, we can imagine someone holding a basket full of seeds that get sown in the field by tossing them out by the handful, scattering them, broadcasting them, so that they get spread out, they get well-distributed.
Can you think of other verbs and nouns that go together?
Baracca sounds somewhat similar to "barrack." Barracks (a plural word often expressed in the singular) refer to a building or group of buildings that house large groups of people, often military personnel. It comes from the 17th-century French word "baraque," which in turn comes from the Catalan "barraca" (hut), of uncertain origin. The Italian word is baracca. It's a humble word about a humble place, but Italians use the word to mean a variety of things and not always humble ones.
It's hard to know what uses came before others, but let's first look at a very common Italian expression that might not make sense to a non-native.
We can imagine, perhaps, street performers who set up a little theater (baracca) with puppets or marionettes (burattini). Then the police come their way and they have to fold it up quickly and skedaddle. Or, perhaps the audience is booing. The puppeteers grab their things and hightail it. So in this case, la baracca is another word for teatro di burattini (marionette theater).
So when you up and leave with your stuff, you can say:
Chiudo baracca e burattini e me ne vado. I'm closing up shop and leaving.
Note that some people use the verb piantare, which aside from meaning "to plant," can also mean "to abandon."
Pia, la mia colf, mi ha piantato. Dice che non vuole vivere in campagna.
Pia, my nanny, ditched me. She says that she doesn't want to live in the country.
Caption 21, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 1 EP1 - Casa nuova - Part 5
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Piantare baracca e burattini. Using the verb piantare really gives the idea of just up and leaving: abandoning ship.
If we look at some Italian dictionaries they mention that the expression chiudere/piantare baracca e burattini implies a brusque interruption of whatever the status quo is, for example, leaving a job all of a sudden, quitting school, or leaving one's family. On a broader, figurative level, it can mean completely changing the horizons of one's existence.
Baracca e burattini e si torna a casa, hai capito?
Theater and puppets [leave the whole shebang] and you go home, you get it?
Caption 54, Moscati, l'amore che guarisce EP1 - Part 6
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The nurse left off the first word of the expression, which would have been either chiudi or pianta. In English, we might even say, "You take your toys and go home..."
With this common and beloved expression out of the way, let's look at situations where the word baracca is used on its own.
In the following example, we're talking about a state-run health center:
Intanto questa baracca ha un responsabile e si dà il caso che sia io.
In any case this shack has a person in charge and it happens to be me.
Caption 33, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 1 EP1 - Casa nuova - Part 6
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In this example, la baracca represents a business:
Poi Bianciardi muore, viene ammazzato, e Lei diventa proprietario di tutta la baracca, che dice?
Then Bianciardi dies, he gets killed, and you become owner of the whole shebang, what do you say?
Captions 16-17, Il Commissario Manara S1EP9 - Morte in paradiso - Part 10
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Here, it's a household:
Come farà Libero con i piccoli? Eh, hai fatto bene a pensarlo, perché non è facile qua, la baracca...
How will Libero manage with the little ones? Uh, you were right to think about that, because it's not easy here, the shack...
Captions 25-27, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3 EP1: Ciao famiglia - Part 8
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Here, it is another business:
Melody non ha la responsabilità di mandare avanti la baracca.
Melody isn't responsible for keeping the shack [things] going.
Caption 31, Sposami EP 4 - Part 6
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The expression mandare avanti la baracca is a very common expression with the word baracca, meaning "to keep the show going." Literally, "to send it along."
Keep your eyes and ears open for more expressions with baracca. Now you know what it means!
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The verb or the noun? Does it matter? No, it doesn't really matter in speaking Italian, but knowing the verb a noun comes from, or the noun a verb comes from can sometimes help us figure out a word we don't know. Or, it can help us remember a new word. In the case of the words discussed in this lesson, we start with a noun.
Il poggio the noun is likely less well-known than the verbs that stem from it. A little research on the etymology tells us that poggio comes from the Latin noun "podium" — a raised platform. Hey! We know the word "podium" in English! Poggio is synonymous with colle or collina (hill), but often refers to a rather small, rounded hill — perhaps a podium-shaped hill, like a bluff...
Sorge isolata su di un poggio la chiesa di Santa Maria a Mevale,
Emerging on a bluff is the remote church of Santa Maria in Mevale
costruita nell'undicesimo secolo in stile romanico,
built in the eleventh century in the Romanesque style,
in cui spicca un portale rinascimentale e il portico a cinque arcate.
in which a Renaissance portal and a five-arch portico stand out.
Captions 1-3, Itinerari Della Bellezza - Umbria
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An expression Tuscans like to use is: poggio e buca fan pari (hill and hole come out even).
Fan is short for fanno (they make).
poggio=salita (hill = climb)
buca=discesa (hole = descent)
salita + discesa = pianura (uphill + downhill = flatland)
There are places that take their name from the noun poggio. They are usually on a hill.
A very famous town (with a famous villa) near Florence is called Poggio a Caiano and one of our Yabla videos takes place in a town called Poggiofiorito (flowering hills):
Scusami, ma c'ho avuto il trasloco da Poggiofiorito e ho fatto male i calcoli.
I'm sorry, but I've moved to Poggiofiorito and didn't gauge it well.
Caption 27, Un medico in famiglia - S1 EP1 - Casa nuova
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You can go a long time in Italy without hearing the noun poggio, but the verbs that come from this noun are much more common. Sometimes verbs are made from nouns by simply adding a verb ending such as -are, -ire, or -ere.
Poggiare certainly exists as a verb. It means "to place."
Marika uses this verb when describing how she stays safe as she looks out from her balcony.
Per affacciarmi al balcone, io poggio le mani sulla ringhiera.
To look out from the balcony, I place my hands on the railing.
Caption 13, Marika spiega - Il balcone
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But appoggiare also exists. In this case the prefix a has been added, with the conventional doubling of the first consonant in the original noun. Appoggiare is a more complex verb and has several literal and figurative meanings. Appoggiare is more about support, about leaning, propping. Think of a ladder you prop against a wall. In the following example, Manara uses it reflexively.
E le impronte sul furgone come le spieghi?
And the fingerprints on the truck, how can you explain them?
Mi ci sono appoggiato così, per caso.
I leaned on it, just like that, by chance.
È reato?
Is that a crime?
Captions 57-59, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP7 - Sogni di Vetro
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And here, Anna, who is talking about her new baby, uses the verb appoggiare three times in the same sentence!
Un altro regalo molto utile che ho avuto dal papà è questo.
Another very useful gift that I had from dad [the baby's dad], is this.
È il cuscino da allattamento,
It's a nursing cushion.
ed è utile perché lo utilizzi sia quando allatti,
And it's useful because you use it both when you nurse,
te lo appoggi qui e non fai fatica con le braccia mentre allatti,
you rest it here, and your arms don't get tired while you nurse,
che per appoggiare il bambino,
and for laying the baby on,
che si appoggia qui come un principino e sta molto comodo.
who leans back here like a little prince and is very comfortable.
Captions 42-47, Anna presenta - La gravidanza
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Rather than using the more general mettere (to put) appoggiare is used to mean "to put down" or "to set down." We could also say "lay something down," implying a certain gentleness.
Posso entrare?
May I come in?
Sì, ecco, ecco.
Yes, here we go, here we go.
Uè, Ada... grazie. Appoggialo pure là, va. -Luca!
Hey Ada... thanks. Go ahead and set it down over there, go ahead. -Luca!
Captions 4-6, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP3 - Delitto tra le lenzuola
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If you play music, you might have heard of the term "appoggiatura": a note of embellishment preceding another note and taking a portion of its time. Now you know where it comes from!
And now we come back to a noun that comes from the verb that comes from the noun. Just like in English, "support" is both a noun and a verb.
In the following example, it's used in a physical way.
Mezzo passo avanti, sbilanci l'avversario
A half a step forward, get the opponent off balance,
e via la gamba d'appoggio.
and away with the supporting leg.
Captions 24-25, L'oro di Scampia - film
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But it can also be figurative.
Proprio perché uomini di sinistra,
Precisely because men of the left,
noi stiamo facendo una battaglia in Parlamento,
we're waging battle in Parliament,
abbiamo anche avuto l'appoggio del ministro Brambilla.
we've even had the support of minister Brambilla.
Captions 48-49, Animalisti Italiani - Walter Caporale
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We've gone from the Latin noun "podium" to the ups and downs of Tuscan hills, to propping up a baby, setting down a tray, to playing music, to judo, and to politics. Whew!
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