italian
Italian phrase of the day: Oggi sono un po' in ritardo
Oggi sono un po' in ritardo
Today I am a bit late
Literally: 'Today (I) am a little in lateness'
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Dr B. was disappointed not to find a new Italian phrase upon waking up. Well, it's Sunday for me too.
Domani sarò puntuale
Tomorrow I will be on time
Literally: 'Tomorrow (I) will-be punctual'
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If you want to find out more
'A little' is translated with 'un poco' but more often than not it is shortened to un po' (the apostrophe shows that something has been dropped).
'Poco' only translates 'little' in expressions like the one here (a little late, a little patience, a little bread, a little time…). In other phrases, when the word 'little' in English can be replaced by small (a little house, a little man, a little car…), you must use 'piccolo' instead of 'poco'. Piccolo is used to describe the size, poco is used with quantities.
Unlike English, the future in Italian is not expressed with an auxiliary (='helper') verb (I will + verb). Instead, the ending of the verb changes to indicate a future form. Sarò = I will be. Just like the present tense (sono), the 'I' is almost always dropped because the ending (-ò) already shows who performs the action.
Sunday 20 January 2008 at 1:59 PM
And you must emphasise the Ro!