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Italian phrase of the day: La mia pancia è piena di gas

Graffiti with Italian flag

La mia pancia è piena di gas
My belly is full of gas
Literally: 'The my belly is full of gas'.

I happen to be quite lucky because I love fruit. I dig vegetables too, not in a 'I can't live if I don't have a tomato in my salad NOW' kind of way, but I can definitely tell that my body craves them on a daily basis.

So it's not too much of an effort for me to get my 5-a-day. In fact, most days I'm getting at least eight: five piece of fruit as a snack in between meals, a pack of cherry tomatoes with my lunch and a mixed salad and/or cooked vegetables with my dinner.

Which leads me to today's phrase, originating in the fact that yesterday I was hissing like a Slitheen all day. I was going to go for a run in the evening but I felt sorry for anyone who'd be in my way. And that's a pity, because I think the extra propulsion would have helped me break my personal best.

Forse mangio troppa frutta
Maybe/perhaps I eat too much fruit
Literally: 'Maybe/perhaps (I) eat too-much fruit'.

If you want to find out more

There is no difference between 'too much' and 'too many' in Italian: you always use 'tropp-', followed by an ending that matches the word it refers to (i.e. one or many, masculine or feminine):

  • too much time = troppo tempo (singular, masculine)
  • too much fruit = troppa frutta (singular, feminine)
  • too many days = troppi giorni (plural, masculine)
  • too many shoes = troppe scarpe (plural, feminine)

Likewise, there is no difference between 'maybe' and 'perhaps', they are both translated with 'forse'. Actually, I'm not even sure there is a difference of meaning in English between 'maybe' and 'perhaps'. And there is an extra expression in Italian: 'Può essere', which means 'It may be', but it is not used as frequently as 'forse'.

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