It's coming on winter, at least in the northern hemisphere, where Italy is located.
In many places in Italy, people heat their houses using wood. Or, In the country and in small villages, lots of people have fireplaces in their kitchens.
Right and wrong. In English, we think of wood as wood, whatever its use. But in Italian, there are two similar but different words, depending on what we do with the wood.
To construct something we use legno (wood), a masculine noun. This has its root in the Latin noun "lignum."
Interestingly, Italians use two basic prepositions with legno to correspond to "wooden": in and di which can both mean "of."
Questo meraviglioso piano in legno
This marvelous wooden surface
si chiama spianatoia
is called a pastry board
e serve proprio per impastare la nostra pasta fresca.
and it's used exactly for making our fresh pasta dough.
Captions 90-92, L'Italia a tavola - Culurgiones D'Ogliastra
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Veniva impastato in casa,
The dough was worked at home,
proprio su quella superficie di legno
right on that wooden surface
e poi messa [sic: messo], questo impasto,
and then this dough was put
su quella specie di tavola, veniva portato al forno,
on that type of wooden board and brought to the oven,
perché in casa non c'erano dei forni.
because there were no ovens in houses.
Captions 64-68, Meraviglie - EP. 1 Part 12
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To build a fire for heating or cooking, we use the feminine noun la legna. This comes, again from the Latin, from the plural of "lignum": "ligna." In fact, la legna, just like the collective noun "firewood," usually refers to a collection of pieces of wood to be used for burning.
If we ask what kind of wood is used, then we can use legno. In the following example, someone is asking the pizzaiolo what kind of wood he uses in his forno a legna.
Quello è il forno a legna. Che legno usate?
That's the wood oven. What kind of wood do you use?
Captions 39-40, Antonio - presenta la Pizzeria Escopocodisera
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To be even more specific, we can expand on legna: legna da ardere (wood for burning/firewood). The following example is from a fascinating video on Yabla about olive trees and making olive oil.
Quando avveniva questo distacco delle due parti dell'ulivo,
When this detachment took place of the two parts of the olive tree,
una della due parti veniva sacrificata come legna da ardere.
one of the two parts was sacrificed as firewood.
Captions 47-48, Olio Extra Vergine Pugliese - Introduzione e cenni storici
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The fireplace is often called il camino (note the single M) and more often than not, the diminutive is used: il caminetto. The chimney is the canna fumaria (the smokestack).
In place of la caldaia (furnace, hot water heater), some people have una stufa a legna (wood stove).
And let's not forget that the best pizza is said to be made in a forno a legna (wood-burning oven). In these cases the preposition a is used, referring to the function. What makes it run?
Peppe ha infornato la pizza nel forno a legna, che è un forno tradizionale.
Peppe has put the pizza in the wood oven, which is a traditional oven.
Caption 48, Antonio - presenta la Pizzeria Escopocodisera
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This goes for bread, too.
Antico a lievitazione naturale, cotto a legna, ci sono altri tipi...
Traditional sourdough, baked in a wood oven, there are other kinds...
Caption 64, Anna e Marika - Il pane
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Now you know the difference between legno and legna. They are both right; you just need to know the context.
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Ecco (here it is), from the Latin ecce or eccum, is about presenting a person, thing, or idea and inviting you to perceive it at the very moment it appears.
Ecco la primavera is a 14th century song by Francesco Landini. It’s a song about the coming of spring. We might translate the title as “Behold, Spring Has Come!” The entire Italian text with a non-literal English translation opposite may be viewed here.
So this way of calling our attention to something goes way back. Despite its very ancient origins, it’s a popular word that Italians use constantly. We say ecco to call attention to something or someone arriving, or when we find something we were looking for.
We no longer use the word “behold” in English, but we might say, “well, will you look at that,” “there you go!” In the following example, Anna gets her question about long-lasting bread answered before she asks it, so she says ecco, to acknowledge the fact.
È un pane che dura tantissimo.
It's a kind of bread that lasts a very long time.
Ah ecco! Perché volevo appunto chiedere,
Ah, there you go! Because I wanted to ask you just that,
qual è il tipo di pane che dura di più.
what type of bread lasts the longest?
Captions 61-62, Anna e Marika - Il pane
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Ecco can stand alone (just about anywhere in a sentence) as in the above example, or can precede a noun to present it, as in ecco la primavera. When a pronoun is used, on the other hand, ecco gets attached to it. This goes for all the different direct object pronouns (mi, ti, lo, la, ci, vi, li, and le).
Aha. Sì. Eccolo, eccolo, è arrivato. Sì, sì.
Aha. Yes. Here he is, here he is, he's here. Yes, yes.
Captions 13-14, Francesca - alla guida
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One common way ecco is used is with perché (why, because) to mean “that’s why” or “you see why” or even “here’s why.”
Ecco perché io non me ne voglio andare.
That's why I don't want to leave it.
Caption 5, Basilicata Turistica - Non me ne voglio andare
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Another common usage is ecco qua (here you are). It calls your visual attention to what is being presented. In the following example, a pizzaiolo (pizza maker) is removing a mouth-watering pizza from his forno a legna (wood oven)!
È quasi pronta... Ecco qua!
It's almost ready... Here it is!
Captions 26-27, Antonio - presenta la Pizzeria Escopocodisera
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Ecco is also a filler word much like “OK,” “you know,” or “that's all” that can wrap up what one has said so far:
Io vorrei semplicemente che ognuno avesse la sua porzione, ecco.
I would simply like everyone to have his portion, that's all.
Caption 19, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 1 - EP2 - Il mistero di Cetinka
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Or it can introduce what one is about to say, much like “look,” “this is how it is,” or “here’s the thing.”
Però, ecco, per quanto mi riguarda,
But, there you go, from my point of view,
io vedo lì una cassata siciliana!
I see a Sicilian Cassata there!
Caption 11, Susanna Cutini - Dolci delle tradizioni di Pasqua
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Ecco is often difficult or even impossible to translate accurately. But once you start listening for the word and noticing it, you'll get a feel for it, and it will start creeping into your conversation naturally. Doing a Yabla search will display a very long list of examples from videos, so you can see the different contexts in which it’s used.
Ecco! (And there you have it!)
P.S. If you neglect to pronounce the double "c" in ecco, you'll obtain eco which means "echo."