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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Insabbiare’

It's up to you to get to the bottom of the meaning of this word...

Published: 1 December 2021 11:52 CET
Updated: 10 August 2022 15:25 CEST
Italian word of the day insabbiare
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

If you have a basic knowledge of Italian vocabulary, you might see a word you recognise in insabbiare: sabbia, or sand.

So if you’re thinking that’s connected to the meaning of today’s word, you’d be right: insabbiare is verb literally meaning to bury something in sand, or to run aground or get stuck in it.

You might insabbiare a large pipe for aesthetic purposes, a plastic spade at the beach, or even (hopefully partially and temporarily) a person.

I bambini si sono divertiti a insabbiare il loro zio fino al collo.
The children had fun burying their uncle up to his neck.

Hanno insabbiato il condotto fognario che sbocca sulla spiaggia.
They covered up the sewage pipe that opens out onto the beach.

Il pesce pietra si insabbia per nascondersi dalla preda.
The stonefish covers itself in sand to hide itself from prey.

Funny Hide GIF - Funny Hide Meme GIFs

Or you can use the verb in the intransitive (no sentence object) pronominal (needing a reflexive pronoun) form to describe, for example, a boat or a car getting stuck in sand, or a pier silting up.

Passando di là la nostra macchina quasi sicuramente si sarebbe insabbiata.
Going that way our car would almost certainly have got stuck.

La barca si è insabbiata a 200 metri dalla riva.
The boat ran aground 200 metres from the shore.

Il porto in basso fondale è diventato inagibile perché si è insabbiato.
The shallow-water port became unusable because it got silted up.

Insabbiare, however, also has darker, metaphorical meaning: to cover up, suppress or bury the truth.

Il governo ha approfittato dell’attenzione mediatica data al crollo del ponte per insabbiare le notizie riguardanti l’aumento delle tasse.
The government exploited the media attention given to the bridge collapse to bury the news about raising taxes.

Il magnate ha fatto pressione ai giornali affinché insabbiassero la storia.
The business tycoon put pressure on the newspapers to sink the story.

Hanno usato la relazione per insabbiare tutte le sue malefatte.
They’ve used the report to cover up all the bad stuff he’s done.

A newspaper headline reads: 'I never covered up the WHO study, says (the organisation's deputy director) Ranieri Guerra

A newspaper headline reads: ‘I never covered up the WHO study, says (the organisation’s deputy director) Ranieri Guerra’

In the same vein, it can also mean to shelve (a bill, policy, trial, etc.).

Hanno insabbiato la proposta di legge per motivi non molto chiari.
They shelved the draft law for reasons that aren’t quite clear.

And as you might guess, the noun insabbiamento means a cover up.

Vuole svelare l’insabbiamento tanto quanto te.
She wants to expose this cover up just as much as you do.

Forse non capite la portata di questo insabbiamento.
Perhaps you don’t understand the scale of this cover up.

Next time you stumble across a high-level conspiracy, you’ll know just how to describe it.

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

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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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