In Italia abbiamo molte forze dell'ordine, cioè molte specialità.
In Italy we have many law enforcement branches, that is, many specialties.
Caption 1, Nicola Agliastro Le Forze dell'Ordine in Italia
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For more about law enforcement branches in Italy, see: Cops: Carabinieri, Vigili, or Poliziotti?
In the first example, we're on the street and a uniformed police officer arrives on the scene. He is addressed as agente. Agente, non ho potuto evitarla, mi si è buttata sotto.
Officer, I couldn't avoid her. She threw herself underneath me.
Caption 18, Provaci ancora prof! S2E4 L'amica americana - Part 6
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In the unlikely case we know the officer's name, we can add that.
Agente Cuomo, dimmi.
Agent Cuomo, what is it?
Caption 13, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S1EP3 Vicini - Part 2
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The police have arrived at the home of a witness or suspect. They are in plain clothes and clearly investigators.
Ispettore, ve lo giuro, io non avrei mai fatto del male a Teresa.
Detective, I swear it, I would never have hurt Teresa.
Caption 22, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S1EP3 Vicini - Part 19
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Here, we are at the police station. The person in charge is sitting at a desk, not in uniform. Whatever his actual title, commissario works in addressing him or her.
Signora, risponda alla domanda, era quello il ragazzo? Sì, commissario, era lui.
Ma'am, answer the question, was this the boy? Yes, Inspector, it was him.
Captions 82-84, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 17
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Higher up in rank than a commissario is the questore. Usually, he or she has contact with people within the office, not people who come in for questioning or people on the street. He may be addressed with signor or signora before his title. In this example, an inspector or police chief is speaking to his superior.
Signor questore, abbiamo già una pista.
Mister Commissioner, we already have a lead.
Caption 37, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S1EP5 Misericordia - Part 4
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I carabinieri are the military police force. If you are driving they can signal you to pull over to check your vehicle or documents. You can tell by the dark color of their vehicles, and by the insignia on their hats that they are different from i vigili (the local [traffic] policemen) or i poliziotti (policemen, state troopers).
Senza offesa, maresciallo, lo sa come vanno certe cose.
No offense officer, you know how some things go.
Caption 25, Chi m'ha visto film - Part 25
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In a nutshell:
Il commissario is in charge of a police station or specific department. To address them: Signor commissario, signora commissario. What about commissaria? It does exist and is "correct," but is not used very often.
Un ispettore is involved in investigations or management. -To address them: Ispettore, ispettore + name
Un agente is a general uniformed officer, but might also not be in uniform. To address them: Agente, agente + name
Un maresciallo is an officer of i carabinieri (the military police). To address them: Maresciallo, maresciallo + name
Note that in Italian, these titles are not capitalized. In English, they are. The polite form should always be used in addressing law enforcement officers. See: Being Polite with Dare del Lei, What's the Story on Voi in the Singular?, Getting Someone’s Attention in Italian: Ascoltare and Sentire
What forms of address shall we look at next? Write to us at newsletter@yabla.com.
Some words are very similar between Italian and English, and are often cognates, but sometimes there is a letter that seems to be missing and so if we follow our instincts, we might very well get it wrong. Let's look at some of the words that look like they are missing an N, or at least, if we follow our instincts, we might add it by mistake.
There is an example of this tricky phenomenon in a recent episode of Provaci ancora prof. In fact, little Livietta is still learning and she gets it wrong, so her father corrects her. He clearly understood what she was trying to say, but the word she used actually meant "to inspire."
Dai papà, alza la testa e fai resistenza
Come on Daddy, lift your head and press
mentre io ti spingo giù, ispirando forte.
while I push you down, inspiring deeply.
-Inspirando, con la enne, inspirando, ecco.
-Inhaling with an N, inhaling, that's it.
Captions 18-20, Provaci ancora prof! - S2E3 - Dietro la porta
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It's easy to get mixed up. In English the verb is "to inspire," but in Italian, it's ispirare. No N! To complicate matters, the verb inspirare does exist, as we see in the clip, but it means "to breathe in," "to inhale."
Another word that sounds like the English word — almost — is istruzione (instruction, education). There's no N in the Italian word.
È arrivata oggi dal Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione.
It came today from the Ministry of Public Education.
Caption 23, Non è mai troppo tardi - EP 2
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This one is easy to understand, as it sounds kind of like "instant " but there's no N.
oppure qualcosa di sgradevole
or something unpleasant
da cui stiamo scappando all'ultimo istante.
from which we escape at the last moment.
Captions 38-39, Marika spiega - Espressioni con i capelli
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Or we have the adjective istantaneo. Plenty of N's there, but not at the beginning between the I and the S.
È un effetto chimico istantaneo, temporaneo,
It's an instant chemical effect, temporary.
Caption 24, Andromeda - Marmellata anti spreco
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Però il mio istinto mi dice che non è così.
But my instinct tells me that's not how it is.
Caption 13, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP5 - Mondo sommerso
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Let's not forget the adjective form istintivo (instinctive) and the adverb istintivamente (instinctively).
Yet another one, not exactly the same word as in English, but close enough, is iscriversi (to register). We might expect there to be an N (inscriversi), but that would be wrong. Also, if we think of the word "inscription" we get a closer match. Your name is "inscribed" in the register.
Olga ha deciso di iscriversi all'università
Olga has decided to enroll at the university
Caption 64, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E1 - Il regalo di Babbo Natale
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"Registration" or "enrollment" can be called l'iscrizione.
Dopo la morte della mi' moglie, avrei dovuto metterlo in un istituto.
After the death of my wife, I should have put him in an institution.
Caption 52, Marika commenta - L'ispettore Manara - Espressioni toscane
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Note that istituto can mean either "institute" or "institution." Also, istituzione exists, as well as adjectives such as istituzionale.
There may be other words we haven't covered here. Feel free to write to us with suggestions, and we will add them to this lesson.
Here's another word, sent in by a Yabla subscriber.
Poi settemila di materiale edile:
Then seven thousand in construction materials,
vernici, cemento, tegole... -Voleva costruire una casa, no?
paints, cement, roof tiles... -He wanted to build a house, right?
Captions 13-14, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP7 - Sogni di Vetro
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We also have the noun form costruzione.
Questa è una delle più importanti chiese della zona di Pisa,
This is one of the most important churches of the Pisa area,
la cui prima costruzione risale al decimo [sic: nono] secolo.
whose first construction dates to the tenth century [sic: ninth].
Captions 7-8, In giro per l'Italia - Pisa e dintorni
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Lo Stato Italiano ha una costituzione,
The Italian State has a constitution,
Caption 17, Nicola Agliastro - Le Forze dell'Ordine in Italia
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The verb costituire (to constitute) also exists:
Ma anche delle ville che potessero
But also villas that could
costituire un vero e proprio rifugio...
constitute a real refuge...
Captions 16-17, Meraviglie - EP. 5 - Part 13
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As soon as we start thinking of words that have unexpected spellings and pronunciations, we think of words that start with E.
One common one that comes to mind is, of course, espresso, where we want to use an X instead of an S. In fact, there are numerous words like this one, so in a future lesson, we'll take a look at those.
We talked about making either/or choices in a previous lesson, but in this lesson, we'll talk about when we want to be inclusive. When we use "both" in English, we are talking about 2 things, not more. There are various ways to express this in Italian and we've discussed one of these ways, using tutti (all). Read the lesson here. Here are two more ways, which are perhaps easier to use.
Entrambi is both an adjective and a pronoun, depending on how you use it.
Avevamo entrambi la febbre e i bambini da accudire.
We both had fevers and kids to take care of.
Captions 20-21, COVID-19 2) I sintomi
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When the nouns are feminine, we use the feminine ending: entrambe.
Per fortuna, avevo entrambe le cose nella mia cassetta degli attrezzi.
Luckily, I had both things in my toolbox.
Caption 13, Marika spiega Gli attrezzi
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This way of saying "both" is considered literary, but people do use it. Think of ambidextrous and you'll get it!
Hanno ambedue smesso, quindi devo superare questo record ed è... sono in caccia del mio sesto mondiale.
They've both quit, so I have to break this record and it's... well, I am chasing my sixth World Cup.
Captions 49-50, Valentina Vezzali Video Intervista
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Just like entrambi, ambedue can be used as both an adjective and a pronoun. The advantage of this word is that it doesn't change. It's invariable. The only thing you have to remember is that when you use it as an adjective, you need a definite article after it and before the (plural) noun, as in the example below.
Ecco, questa, questa arma, ehm... rimane e fa ambedue, ambedue le funzioni, sia... è riconosciuta a livello di Esercito Italiano,
So, this, this force, uh... is still in force and carries out both, both [the] functions, whether... it's recognized on the level of the Italian Army
Captions 35-37, Nicola Agliastro Le Forze dell'Ordine in Italia
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There's more to say about choices, but we'll save it for another lesson. Meanwhile, as you go about your day, try thinking of ways to practice using entrambi and ambedue to mean "both." There are so many choices!
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