Welcome in Italy! Basic italian dictionary for travelers

Finally your holiday is beginning, you are just arrived in Italy, but you have got a little problem: you can not speak Italian! Yes, it is true that you can find people that don’t speak english here, but if you are planning to stay in a touristic place as the Lake Como area is, you don’t have to worry: the majority of the people living here could speak a little of English. Sometimes, you can find places, hotels and restaurants, where the staff can also speak German and French (as into our Hotel Posta, Moltrasio)

But if you are just curios about our very difficult but beautiful language, here we try to help you.

Maybe you have just booked your flight or train without any hotel reservation, so you are looking for a room. Here you can find some helpful sentences if you enter in an Hotel:

• Have you got one free Room? Ha (Hai) una camera libera?
• How much does it cost? Quanto costa?
• Is it with sea view? Ha vista Lago?
• Can I get on the internet? Posso collegarmi con internet?
• Is Internet free of charge? E’ gratis Internet?

Once you found the perfect place where to sleep, you can learn some very important phrases for your spare time:

• Where is the pier? Dov’è l’imbarco?
• Where is the subway? Dov’è la metropolitana?
• Where is the bus stop? Dov’è la fermata del bus?
• Where is the train station? Dov’è la stazione ferroviaria / la stazione dei treni?

If you are in a Restaurant, maybe this could be something interesting for you:

• Is the tip included? Il servizio è incluso?
• Is it a lactose-free product? (gluten-free) Questo prodotto è senza latte / glutine?
• Could I have a bottle of water? Posso avere una bottiglia d’acqua?
• Can you suggest me a good bottle of wine? Può (Puoi) suggerirmi una buona bottiglia di vino?

And if you cannot understand something, use this:

• I don’t understand. Non capisco
• I don’t speak Italian. Non parlo italiano
• Do you speak English? Parla (Parli) inglese?
• Speak slowly, please. Parli (Parla) piano, per favore
• Repeat, please. Ripeta (Ripeti), per favore.

Sometimes, you could need only some generic helpful phrases, like these:

• Can you help me? Mi può (puoi) aiutare?
• Where is the bathroom? Dov’è la toilette?
• Thank you. Grazie
• You’re welcome. Prego
• Please. Per favore
• Yes.Sì
• No. No
• Excuse me. Mi scusi
• I’m sorry. Mi dispiace
• What’s your name? Come ti chiami?
• How are you? Come va?
• Do you speak English? Parla (Parli) inglese?
• Goodbye! Arrivederci
• Hello! Ciao

So, we hope this little dictionary could be important for your Italian Holiday. And if you want to practise your “Italian”, choose our Hotel Posta in Moltrasio, we are waiting for you always with a smile!