Italian slang and idiom vocabulary: 448 words
Sound like a local — common colloquial words and idioms with their natural equivalents in each language (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese). This page lists 40 of them with their Italian translations, then lets you practise the full set in either direction with spaced repetition.
English to Italian: the first 40 words
| English | Italian | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| cool | figo | Impressively good, stylish or admirable in casual praise. Not about low temperature. |
| awesome | fantastico | Extremely good, said with enthusiasm about something you really like. |
| guy, dude | tipo | Informal for a person; friendly, not insulting in casual speech. |
| to hang out | passare il tempo | To spend unhurried free time somewhere, usually with friends. |
| to chill, relax | rilassarsi | To let go of tension and rest calmly after effort or stress. |
| No way! | Neanche per sogno! | An emphatic refusal meaning absolutely not, under no circumstances. |
| Awesome, right? | Forte, vero? | A casual tag inviting the listener to agree that something is great. |
| It's a piece of cake | è un gioco da ragazzi | Idiom: very easy to do, not about actual cake. |
| It's raining cats and dogs | piove a catinelle | Idiom: heavy rain, not animals falling. |
| to cost an arm and a leg | costare un occhio della testa | Idiom: extremely expensive, not literal body parts. |
| to pull someone's leg | prendere in giro | Idiom: to tease or joke with someone, not physical. |
| to be broke | essere al verde | Having no money, not damaged or injured. |
| Speak of the devil | parli del diavolo | Idiom: person arrives just as you mention them. |
| not my cup of tea | non fa per me | Idiom: not something you like or enjoy. |
| to hit the nail on the head | colpire nel segno | Idiom: to say or do exactly the right thing. |
| Good luck! | in bocca al lupo! | Said before a performance or challenge. |
| little by little | poco a poco | Gradually, in small amounts or stages over time. |
| more or less | più o meno | Approximately, roughly true but not exactly. |
| What a mess! | Che casino! | An exclamation about a scene of great disorder or muddle. |
| Are you kidding? | Stai scherzando? | Said in disbelief, asking whether the speaker is joking. |
| no worries | tranquillo | A casual reassurance that everything is fine and nobody should fret. |
| awesome time | uno spasso | A hugely enjoyable stretch of fun. |
| to be fed up | essere stufo | Very annoyed or tired of something; impatient. |
| on the dot | in punto | Exactly on time. |
| big deal, a lot | un sacco | A very large amount or quantity of something. |
| to mess up | fare una gaffe | To blunder and spoil something through your own clumsiness. |
| step by step | passo dopo passo | Proceeding one stage at a time in careful order. |
| It's worth it | ne vale la pena | Said when the effort or cost is repaid by the result. |
| so-so | così così | Neither good nor bad, only middling. |
| to keep an eye on | tenere d'occhio | Idiom: to watch or monitor, not literal eye. |
| Get it?, Understood? | Chiaro? | A short question checking that the listener has grasped what you said. |
| Okay, alright | va bene | A word expressing agreement or consent to what was proposed. |
| to be worth nothing | non valere niente | To have no value or usefulness whatsoever. |
| hurry up! | sbrigati! | A command telling someone to move or act faster right now. |
| to be in a hurry | avere fretta | To have too little time and need to act quickly. |
| for real, seriously | sul serio | Genuinely and truly, without any joking. |
| That's life | così è la vita | A resigned remark that such unwelcome things simply happen. |
| Better late than never | meglio tardi che mai | A saying that doing something behind time beats not doing it at all. |
| little by little the bird builds its nest | chi va piano va sano e va lontano | Proverb: steady progress achieves goals over time. |
| to be on cloud nine | essere al settimo cielo | Idiom: extremely happy, not literally in sky. |
408 more words in the full “Slang & Idioms” library, each aligned across seven languages and scheduled for you by spaced repetition. Add it to your account and start drilling English to Italian in one click.
What to watch out for in Italian
- Accents count. Answers are graded accent-sensitively, so you need
àèéìòóù— LinguaSwap shows a one-tap keypad for them while you type. - 448 words carry a usage note in the full library, for the cases where a direct translation would mislead you.
Practise Italian slang and idiom vocabulary
Words come back just before you would forget them, and every language direction is tracked separately.