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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Ci penso io’

This is a phrase that's nicer to hear than to say.

Italian expression of the day: Ci penso io
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Whether it’s someone offering to negotiate with an obstinate landlord on your behalf or the rare bureaucrat who tracks down that missing form so you don’t have to, it’s always a relief to be told ci penso io – ‘I’ll take care of it’.

Pronounced “chee pen-so ee-oh”, the phrase literally means ‘I’ll think of it’, and it suggests that whoever’s saying it is so far ahead of you that you don’t even need to consider whatever task they’re talking about, let alone do it yourself.

Non preoccuparti, ci penso io.

Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.

In effect, pensare a qualcosa can mean ‘to handle’ or ‘to deal with something’.

When you’ve established what it is you’re talking about, instead of repeating yourself you can use the pronoun ci to replace a [qualcosa] – just like saying ‘with it’ rather than ‘with [the thing we’re talking about]’ in English.

Dovrei pensare al pagamento.

I should deal with the payment.

Ci dovrei pensare.

I should deal with it.

And while most language learners will have had it drummed into them that Italian verbs don’t require subject pronouns – ‘I’, ‘you’ ‘she’, ‘we’, etc – sometimes you do actually use them, usually when it’s important to emphasise who is doing something.

Think of it as the equivalent of stressing the pronoun with your voice in English.

Basta! Ci penso io.

That’s enough! I’ll take care of this.

For further stress, Italians often place the subject pronoun behind the verb itself – so it’s the very last thing you hear in the sentence (and presumably, the word that makes the biggest impression). 

Non puoi decidere tu.

You don’t get to decide.

Vado io.

I’ll go.

So while it’s perfectly correct to say “io ci penso”, flipping the word order means you’re really underlining the fact that you’ll handle something so someone else doesn’t have to. 

Though of course, the case could be quite the opposite.

Al resto ci pensi tu!

You take care of the rest!

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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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