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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Maleducato’

It's only polite to learn this word.

Italian word of the day: 'Maleducato'
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

“Maleducata!”

A voice resounded from the other side of the particularly crowded Roman tram I was riding, in the tone of righteous indignation that Italians have mastered like few others.

Thankfully the term wasn’t directed at me: maleducato (for a male) or maleducata (female) means ‘rude’ or ‘bad-mannered’.

As my fellow passengers squabbled loudly over whether someone had pushed someone else, and as I exchanged exasperated eye rolls with the woman next to me and breathed a private sigh of relief not be involved, I thought about just how damning a term maleducato is. 

It essentially means ‘badly brought up’, so it’s an implicit diss on your parents too. 

Se i bambini sono maleducati, la colpa è dei genitori.
If children have bad manners, it’s the parents’ fault.

In its most condemnatory form – the one used by the irate passenger on my tram – un/a maleducato/a means ‘a yob’ or ‘a lout’: you use it as an insult to imply that someone is categorically, irreversibly a rude person.

Sei proprio un maleducato!
You’re a real yob!

You can soften the tone slightly by telling someone they’re acting rude, rather than that they are rude. You say that with the construction fare il maleducato.

Ora stai facendo la maleducata.
Now you’re just being rude.

Dai, non fare il maleducato.
Come on, don’t be rude.

Of course, maleducato has an opposite we can all aspire to: educato, ‘polite’ or ‘well-mannered’. 

È una ragazza molto educata.
She’s a very polite girl.

And with that in mind, I made sure to say permesso (‘excuse me’) and grazie (‘thank you’) as I squeezed my way off that tram. 

See our Word of the Day archive here. Do you have a favourite Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

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Member comments

  1. I’ve found that the opposite of “maleducato” is more often “beneducato” rather than just “educato “.

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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

We’re sure you’ll learn this Italian phrase in no time.

Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

If you’ve ever found yourself at an Italian airport and looked up at the departure board, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the word volo, which is the Italian equivalent of ‘flight’ – but also the first person singular of the verb volare (to fly) in the present tense.

And if you’re a fan of classical music, you may of course have heard of Italy’s famous opera trio Il Volo (‘The Flight’).

But what do Italians mean when they say they’re going to do something al volo (hear it pronounced here)? 

Much like its closest English equivalent, ‘on the fly’, al volo has very little to do with aircraft or flying as it’s one of the most common Italian phrases to say that you’re doing something ‘quickly’ or ‘readily’, often without having prepared it or thought about it much beforehand.

Facciamoci una pasta al volo e poi usciamo.

Let’s cook some pasta on the fly and then get out.

Ho dovuto preparare la presentazione al volo perché non mi avevano avvisato della riunione.

I had to put the presentation together on the fly as I’d not been notified of the meeting. 

But usage of al volo is not limited to practical actions or tasks you may do quickly and without much thought. 

In fact, you can also pair it with the verb capire (understand), comprendere (comprehend) or imparare (learn) to say that you grasped something ‘immediately’ or ‘in no time’, meaning you won’t need any further explanation. 

Tuo figlio capisce tutto al volo. Ha un grande futuro davanti a lui, a mio parere.

Your son understands everything in no time. He’s got a great future ahead of him, in my opinion.

And if you haven’t fully understood or grasped something on your first try (which is painfully likely when dealing with Italy’s infamous red tape, even for locals), don’t worry: you’ll always have the option to ask a domanda al volo, or a ‘quick question’, to clear up your doubts. 

Another popular way to use the phrase is in relation to big opportunities, whether that be in life, in education or at work. So an opportunity that va presa al volo must be seized immediately as it’s too good to be missed. 

Finally, if you’re planning on watching Euro 2024 matches on Italian TV over the next month, you may hear football commentators use al volo multiple times while analysing a match as colpire la palla al volo means to strike it while it’s in the air, or ‘volley’ it.

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

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

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