Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Andare a manetta’

Today's phrase has us firing on all cylinders.

Published: 11 July 2022 15:42 CEST
Italian expression of the day andare a manetta
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Are you ready to put pedal to the metal and go full bore when it comes to learning this expression?

Andare a manetta (and-AH-rreh a mann-ETT-ta) in fact means just that: to go at top speed, flat out, at full pelt. 

Conveniently for English speakers, it translates pretty directly from the phrase ‘to go full throttle’. Andare is of course the verb ‘to go’ and manetta is the Italian word for a throttle, an old-fashioned sort of lever used in vehicles to regulate the amount of fuel being fed into the engine. 

To go full throttle was to channel the maximum amount of petrol possible into the motor so that the car could reach top speed, which is where both phrases come from.

Running Late On My Way GIF by Minions

Like in English, it can be used refer literally to, e.g., F1 drivers, but is often used in a metaphorical sense. It’s the kind of colloquial phrase that you’re more likely to hear in spoken conversation than see written down in a book, and is most widely used among young Italians.

Se vuoi arrivare entro un’ora dovrai andare a manetta.
If you want to get there in an hour you’ll have to go full tilt.

Stiamo andando avanti a manetta con questo progetto, non mi importa quello che dice Stefania.
We’re going full steam ahead with this project, I don’t care what Stefania says.

You don’t need to restrict yourself to the verb andare: there are various actions that could be done a manetta, such as parlare a manetta (talk at top speed), alzare il volume a manetta (turn the sound up to top volume – e.g. on the TV or radio), or piovere a manetta (tip it down with rain).

Parla sempre a manetta, è estenuante.
She always talks at full throttle, it’s exhausting.

È la mia canzone preferita, alza la radio a manetta!
This is my favourite song, turn the radio up as loud as it’ll go!

Relaxing Season 3 GIF by The Simpsons

You might wonder if there’s a connection to manette (handcuffs) but the two aren’t to be confused: the etymological link comes simply from the word hand (mano), a manetta being a hand-controlled thrust lever and manette being, well, handcuffs.

To help you differentiate, aside from context, you’ll almost always only see manette in the plural form, whereas a manetta is only used in the singular form.

Toglietemi immediatamente queste manette!
Take these handcuffs off me at once!

Parlavi a manetta ieri sera.
You were talking at a 100 miles an hour yesterday evening.

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

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
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.

SHOW COMMENTS