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 | |
| awesome | fantastico | |
| guy, dude | tipo | Informal for a person; friendly, not insulting in casual speech. |
| to hang out | passare il tempo | |
| to chill, relax | rilassarsi | |
| No way! | Neanche per sogno! | |
| Awesome, right? | Forte, vero? | |
| 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 | |
| more or less | più o meno | |
| What a mess! | Che casino! | |
| Are you kidding? | Stai scherzando? | |
| no worries | tranquillo | |
| awesome time | uno spasso | |
| 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 | |
| to mess up | fare una gaffe | |
| step by step | passo dopo passo | |
| It's worth it | ne vale la pena | |
| so-so | così così | |
| to keep an eye on | tenere d'occhio | Idiom: to watch or monitor, not literal eye. |
| Get it?, Understood? | Chiaro? | |
| Okay, alright | va bene | |
| to be worth nothing | non valere niente | |
| hurry up! | sbrigati! | |
| to be in a hurry | avere fretta | |
| for real, seriously | sul serio | |
| That's life | così è la vita | |
| Better late than never | meglio tardi che mai | |
| 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. - 339 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.