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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Quanto ti devo?’

We owe you this one.

Italian expression of the day quanto ti devo
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

The first time someone asks you quanto ti devo? in Italian, you might be a little confused.

The verb dovere usually means ‘to have to’, ‘must’, or ‘ought to/should’ in English, while quanto means ‘how much’ and ti is the object pronoun for tu, the singular ‘you’ – so if you’re translating as you go along, you’ll likely understand something along the lines of ‘how much should I to you?’

Of course, that makes no sense – but reaching for the dictionary, you’ll find one more, less widely-used definition of dovere: to owe.

Quanto ti devo?, then, simply means ‘How much do I owe you?’

You’ll most often hear this meaning of dovere used in reference to money, or favours.

Ho pagato per i bigliettimi dovete 10 euro a testa.
I paid for the tickets, you owe me 10 euros each.

Chiederò ad Angela di darci un passaggio, mi deve un favore.
I’ll ask Angela to give us a ride, she owes me a favour.

Viperissima A Te Non Ti Devo GIF - Viperissima A Te Non Ti Devo Uomini GIFs
Gif reads: I don’t owe you any explanation.

But – just like ‘owe’ – dovere can also be used in a more abstract sense, to talk about something being ‘owing’ to something or someone else.

Deve a me tutta la sua carriera, potrebbe essere più riconoscente.
He owes his entire career to me, he could be more grateful.

Questa organizzazione deve la sua intera esistenza a lei.
This organisation owes its entire existence to her.

If you want to say ‘I owe you one’, you can say te ne devo una (ne being a pronoun that means ‘of it’ or ‘of them’, and una of course meaning ‘one’).

Grazie Ale, te ne devo una.
Thanks Ale, I owe you one.

Remember that dovere should conjugate with the person or people who are doing the owing (the subject), rather than the person who is owed (the object). 

Though it can be used with other tenses, the vast majority of the times dovere is used in this sense, it’s in the present simple or past continuous forms.

Gli doveva parecchi soldi.
She owed them a lot of money.

Le dobbiamo delle scuse.
We owe her an apology.

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

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For members

ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Rimorchiare’

Here's an Italian word you'll want to pick up.

Italian word of the day: 'Rimorchiare'

If you’ve ever studied for your foglio rosa (provisional driver’s licence) exam in Italy, you’re sure to have come across the word rimorchio (trailer).

Theory test T/F question: ‘The width of the trailer must never exceed that of the vehicle pulling it.’

Credo che dovremo noleggiare un rimorchio per trasportare tutta la merce.
I think we might need to rent a trailer to transport all the goods.

And rimorchiare, along with the more formal trainare, means to haul or tow.

La barca è stata rimorchiata a riva.
The boat was towed to shore.

But rimorchiare isn’t just used to talk about vehicles. It also means to pick or chat someone up, or hook up with them.

Sono usciti per rimorchiare.
They’ve gone out on the pull.

Se n’è appena andata con un tipo che ha rimorchiato.
She just left with some guy she picked up.

A rimorchiatore is a tugboat, but can also mean a player/persistent flirt, and rimorchione/a also describes someone who’s constantly chatting people up.

got talent nina GIF by Italia's Got Talent

In some parts of the country, meanwhile, you might hear someone described as a provolone – a big tryhard or wannabe player.

That’s a wordplay based on the reflexive verb provarci, meaning ‘to try it on with’, and the famous Italian cheese. 

È un gran provolone ma non riesce mai a rimorchiare.
He’s a real tryhard but he never manages to pull.

Do you have a favourite Italian word or expression 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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