Salve everyone!
I'm wondering if you know some verbs that change in meaning from English to Italian or vice versa.
So for example, in English we would say:
"I missed the train."
But in Italian we would use the verb "Perdere":
"I lost the train."
Does anyone know other verbs that change in meaning like this?
I can't remember the (?) others, but "take/have a shower" = fare (do) una doccia.
"have a coffe": prendere (take) un caffè.
"catch (I think xD) a cold": prendere (take) il raffreddore.
Good question!! ^_^ <3
Nadia
The reason why those things happen is because in Italian some verbs are used in different situations with different meaning. I think the only way to understand what verb to use in what case is : practice.
Example: if I say "I miss you" in italian would be "mi manchi " so I use the verb "mancare", which has other meaning depending of which sentence you put it in... " Luigi è venuto a mancare il 28/12" means that Luigi died ! "Luigi è mancato alla lezione" means "Luigi missed the lesson"... I have some problems too with some verbs when I have to translate them from Italian to English...It's all about practice! :)
It's interesting you asked this, because I just read Ilene Spinger's article 'Make, Take, Give or Do: Which to Use?' and thought that it would be great to see an Italian version of it. http://www.italki.com/article/67/make-take-give-or-do-which-to-use#.U09IOpK9KSM
What would you say in Italian if you missed someone's call or missed seeing someone? Not as in "I miss you", but you came by and I wasn't here or you called and I missed the call. Would you use perdere or mancare?
Here's one that's not a verb, but it's worth noting because the meanings are quite opposite: "Egregious" in English means very bad, horrible, but "egregio" in Italian means a person who is eminent or excellet (ie very honored). Also, the English "terrific" means extremely good or wonderful, but in most Latin languages it means the same as terrifying or terrible.
