False friends in the Italian language

Everyone knows a few words that are very similar but mean something completely different in one language than in another. So-called 'false friends' also abound in Italian! I have highlighted a few of them.

damn!

From English it seems damn very up accident. However, in Italian you say for accident accident (plural accidents) instead of accident. 

Which means damn then? It's an exclamation of frustration, and a very decent one at that! So you rarely hear him in Italy, unless you move in very respectable circles. What do 'normal Italians' say? Read: the most commonly used Italian swear words.

Bravo...not just for dogs!

For many people who learn the Italian language, it takes a lot of getting used to in the beginning Bravo to use. Lazy and a cuoco bravo. Let's have a direct brava. You're using Bravo en brava, bravi of brave so to say that someone is good at something. That could also be the dog!

Che cane bravo means 'what a good dog'. Un cane buono is a sweet dog. So is un uomo bravo a good man and un uomo buono a sweet/kind/quiet man.

CANTEEN

In the Netherlands and Belgium you eat something in the canteen or have a drink after an hour of exercise. In Italy, in a canteen wine made.

CANTEEN means cellar or if you don't have anything underground, a dark and cool room in a house (the place where people used to keep all food). That was also the place where wine was stored and that has now become a meaning cellar: winery, winery.

In May you will have the Open cellars, a day on which many winegrowers are open to everyone and offer their wine tasting, often with some snacks and music or other entertainment.

Una cava also causes confusion because so many people associate it with a Spanish sparkling wine. Cava however, means quarry in Italian.

Watermelon does not mean cucumber

Normally in Italy a watermelon is a watermelon or also watermelon. A typical false friend! A cucumber is one cucumber. Anyone who has a vegetable garden can understand why these two words are easily confused, because the watermelon and cucumber plants look alike. 

In the north of Italy there are dialects or languages ​​where they call a cucumber watermelon but if you do that in the rest of Italy no one will understand what you mean.

Una discussione...

It sounds so beautifully neutral and open when you have or are having a discussion with someone in the Netherlands and Belgium. In Italy you especially have a discussion when you have an argument with someone. Ho avuto undiscussione con il capo doesn't mean much good, because you've had a fight with the boss. Ho discusso con mio figlio means I had a fight with my son.

In the Dutch language we have 'debatable' and that means that you should have your doubts about it. That also has far from a positive sound.

Patent en license

The patent is the driver's license and therefore not the patent on a brilliant (or not) invention. A patent is a patent and therefore not proof of skill. Confusion everywhere!

To play means to play

In many languages ​​you play outside, but you also play the piano. Not in Italian. To play is playing a game. When you play an instrument you use play. Lei suona il pianoforte. I bambini giocano fuori. Playing football is playing football. Play the guitar is playing guitar.

A fly is a fly

From English, true mosquito is a mosquito, it seems logical that a fly it is, but it's a fly. A mosquito is una zanzara (the word resembles the sound of a flying mosquito).

Campagna, compagna e compagnia

The campaign is Italian for what we call the countryside. That's rarely flat in Italy, so it means the areas outside the city. I live in the countryside is I live out of town.

The partner means the steady girlfriend. Ho avuto una discussione con la mia compagna.

The company is the company. Siamo in buona compagnia – we are in good company. It can also mean a large undertaking, for example where we use society. The Air company = the airline.

A partner in a company is in Italian a partner.

Condom...

In English you have a lot of food condoms are, preservatives. In Italian you really don't want any condom found in your food. It means condom.

What is the correct word? preservative. That does indeed look like a preservative, but also conservative and that is a movement that, roughly speaking, wants to keep everything the same, that does not want things to deteriorate.

What are the best examples of false friends in Italian for you?

By the way, you can find it on Aniek's blog even more fake friends.