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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Italian word of the day: ‘Meglio’

It’s better to be clear about how this important word is used.

Published: 19 November 2018 13:15 CET

One thing I was totally confused by when I first started learning Italian was the comparative.

In fact, who am I kidding – I still get confused by adjectives and adverbs of all types in Italian. But one word in particular kept tripping me up. Meglio.

e’ meglio 

it’s better

You’d use meglio just as you’d use ‘better’ in English. So I started doing just that, and sometimes I was getting it right. But other times… not so much.

Turns out you can also use migliore to mean better – sometimes. But then, migliore sometimes also means ‘the best’… and so do some other words. Yikes.

No wonder I was confused.

What’s the difference?

Let's go back to bene vs buono.

Buono (good) is an adjective, and the comparative form of buono is migliore.

Bene (well) is an adverb, and the comparative form of bene is meglio.

See the different usages in these two food-related examples:

La pizza è buona ma il risotto è migliore

The pizza is good but the risotto is better

Ho mangiato bene, ma hai mangiato meglio

I have eaten well, but you have eaten better

via GIPHY

Comparatives

When you want to compare two things, you can use migliore in cases where the basic form of the adjective would be buono (good)

Questa pizza e migliore di quella

This pizza is better than that one

But you’ll need meglio instead when you want to compare actions, or in any case where the basic form of the adjective would be “bene” (well)

Lucia suona il violino meglio di Laura

Lucia plays the violin better than Laura

In modern Italian you will often hear meglio used instead of the more grammatically correct migliore after the verb e’ (it is)

e’ meglio partire domani

It’s better to leave tomorrow

Superlatives

Migliore is also used as a superlative form of buono.

Questa è la migliore pizza in città

This is the best pizza in town

via GIPHY

Ottimo (the best) is usually listed as the grammatically correct superlative form of buono but in reality it’s usually used to mean something more like ‘great’

Questa è un'ottima pizzeria

This is a great pizzeria

And the superlative form of the adverb bene is benissimo (very well)

But don’t worry if you only manage to remember one or two of these words. It’s meglio di niente (better than nothing)

And meglio obviously comes in most useful when discussing your Italian language-learning progress:

È meglio parlare un po 'di italiano che niente!

It's better to speak a little italian than none at all!

For members

ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: Metà vs mezzo

These Italian words are both used to talk about 'half' of something, so what exactly is the difference and when should you use them?

Published: 23 April 2024 10:48 CEST
Updated: 23 April 2024 11:49 CEST
Italian word of the day: Metà vs mezzo

It’s often the case in Italy that you’ll find several words that mean something very similar, and it’s not always easy to know which one is appropriate. Our new mini series looks at some of the most common word pairs, and sorts out which should be used and when.

Why do I need to know the difference between metà and mezzo?

Because you’ll need to use both of them in daily conversation if you live in Italy, but the difference in meaning isn’t always clear.

What’s the difference?

When you want to talk about ‘half’ of something in Italian, it may seem as though you have two choices.

Depending on what you’re talking about, you could reach for either metà or mezzo (or mezza, which we’ll come to later) but many language learners say they’re not always sure which one to use in certain situations.

Put simply, the difference between metà and mezzo is much the same as the difference between ‘half’ and ‘middle’ in English.

Metà: a half, as in one of two equal parts of something.

Mezzo: the middle, as in equally distant from two points.

For example:

Ha mangiato metà torta

He ate half of the cake

Facciamo a metà

Let’s split it (in half)

E’ sdraiato in mezzo alla strada

He’s lying in the middle of the street

Non penso che ti dovrebbe mettere in mezzo

I don’t think she should be putting you in the middle of this

READ ALSO: Come stai vs come va

But is anything in Italian ever really that simple?

There are some specific situations where the two words seem to be used interchangeably, or where it’s not clear why one is typically used and not the other.

Confusion arises particularly around telling the time in Italian, as you could say:

Sono le undici e mezzo

It’s half past eleven

Il mio treno arriva alle 5.40: vediamoci dieci minuti prima, alla mezza.

My train arrives at 5.40: let’s meet ten minutes before, at half past.

Why in this case aren’t we using metà for ‘half’? And why is it sometimes mezza rather than mezzo?

The English ‘half past’ doesn’t translate literally into Italian. Mezzo is used here instead, since we’re talking about the ‘middle of’ the hour, the point equally distant between two hours.

This might take some getting used to for English native speakers, but it is pretty logical.

As for why it’s mezza in the second example, this isn’t because it needs to agree with the gender of the noun in the sentence.

In fact, dictionaries tell us it’s always more correct to use mezzo regardless (although many Italians themselves find this rule confusing.)

But, in this case, as the language guardians at Italy’s Accademia della Crusca explain, mezza may (if you prefer) be used instead of mezzo when we already know the time, or at least the hour, being talked about.

So if you had earlier told someone an event would start at 8pm, but it’s now been delayed by half an hour, you could then say:

Comincerà alle otto e mezza

But if you’re inviting someone for the first time, you’d probably stick to:

Alle otto e mezzo

This can be a lot to remember when you’re in the middle of a conversation, but with practice you’ll soon get a feel for which word sounds right in which context. 

Do you have an Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

Make sure you don’t miss any of our Italian words and expressions of the day: download our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Italian Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

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