TIP

Body language

There are a few Italian words for body parts that do something you probably weren't expecting. A few of them start out as masculine singular nouns, ending in ‑o.

Tu indichi con il dito.
You point with your finger.

But in the plural, these words become feminine and end in ‑a!

Naturalmente ora non posso usare le dita.
Naturally now I cannot use my fingers.

Here are some more examples:

Keep also in mind that in English we often use my, your, her, etc. with body parts, while in Italian you'd use a word like il, la, lo, etc.

Apri la bocca.​
Open your mouth.

TIP

Che mal di testa!

In English, we can add ‑ache to a body part to say something like toothache, headache, etc. In Italian, you'd use the expression mal di plus the part of the body. For example, you can say mal di denti or mal di testa.

Ho un leggero mal di testa oggi.
I have a mild headache today.

Ho mal di denti.
I have a toothache.

As you can see, in English, we use a after the verb. But you don't need to add anything in Italian.

Ho mal di gola.
I have a sore throat. (Literal: I have pain of throat.)

TIP

Ti senti male?

Another expression you can use to say that something of yours hurts is mi fa male plus a body part.

And to say that you feel sick, use expressions like mi sento male, ti senti male, ci sentiamo male, etc.

Io mi sento male.
I feel sick.

Anche lui si sente male.
He feels sick too.