• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sos Italian – Learn Italian online

Online Italian lessons, Italian culture, Italian translation

  • About
    • Awards
  • Choose me
    • Online Italian Lessons
    • English > Italian Translations
    • Proofreading of Italian Texts
  • Resources
    • Teaching aids
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Translation
  • About
    • Awards
  • Choose me
    • Online Italian Lessons
    • English > Italian Translations
    • Proofreading of Italian Texts
  • Resources
    • Teaching aids
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Translation
  • Home
  • My Blog
  • Learn Italian
    • Test your Italian
    • Exercises
  • Italian books
    • Grammar books
  • Online Italian courses
  • Contacts
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • My Blog
  • Learn Italian
    • Test your Italian
    • Exercises
  • Italian books
    • Grammar books
  • Online Italian courses
  • Contacts
  • Subscribe

Learn Italian animal idioms

Last Modified: October 22, 2016

Learn Italian animal idiomsIdioms are one of the most problematic areas for language learners. In fact, since idioms’ meaning isn’t literal but figurative, it’s not usually easy to guess nor to
remember.

So, if you believe that the italian idiom sputare il rospo – literally to spit the toad – means to have a toad in your troad or, worse, to use the restroom, you’d better keep on reading.

In a previous article – Learn Italian color idioms – I explained some Italian color idioms. Today, instead I want to introduce some Italian animal idioms.

TORO

Tagliare la testa al toro means to clinch the question once and for all

+ Allora, è da due ore che siamo in negozio, hai deciso? Preferisci il vestito rosso, o quello blu?
– Non lo so, mi piacciono tutti e due!
+ Senti, tagliamo la testa al toro! Te li compro tutti e due.

CAVALLO

Essere a cavallo means to be on the right track

Siamo a cavallo! Ci mancano due esercizi e poi abbiamo finito I compiti per le vacanze.

Campa cavallo che l’erba cresce means that you will wait a very long time before – if – anything happens

+ Anna mi ha assicurato che domani pulirà la sua stanza
– Sì, campa cavallo che l’erba cresce!

CIVETTA

Fare la civetta means to flirt

Ho visto Fabiola l’altro giorno. Era in un bar del centro e faceva la civetta con un uomo sposato!

LUPO

In bocca al lupo means good luck

+ In bocca al lupo per il tuo esame!
– Crepi!

PULCE

Mettere una pulce nell’orecchio means to arouse someone’s doubts

Le ho messo una pulce nell’orecchio. Oggi farà installare una telecamera per accertarsi che nessuno rubi dalla cassa.

ROSPO

Sputare il rospo means to spit something out

Forza, sputa il rospo! Dove hai nascosto la refurtiva?

Ingoiare un rospo means to accept something very unpleasant

La sua idea non mi piaceva per niente, ma era pur sempre il mio capo, così ho dovuto ingoiare il rospo.

BESTIA

Andare in bestia means to get angry

Quando ho scoperto che mio figlio sarebbe stato bocciato, sono andando in bestia.

Mandare qualcuno in bestia means to drive somebody up the wall

Mi manda in bestia sapere che ha continuato a mentirmi per tutto questo tempo.

 

Do you want to learn some other Italian idioms? Have a look at some of my posts: Ten Italian idioms, Learn Italian color idioms, Ten Italian idioms about animals.

In alternative, you can buy the book Italiano per modo di dire.

How many of these Italian animal idioms did you know?
Are there similar idioms in your language?


Credits

Original image by petri

Related Posts:

  • Ten Italian insults
    Ten Italian insults
  • Ten Italian idioms about animals
    Ten Italian idioms about animals
  • Ten common Italian idioms
    Ten common Italian idioms

Category: Learn ItalianTag: Italian, italian animal idioms, learn Italian, Sos Italian

Previous Post: «Pietà - Michelangelo Famous Italian artists – Michelangelo
Next Post: Authentic Italian pizza – history, curiosities, and recipes Italian pizza»

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

20 − 5 =

Primary Sidebar

Italian grammar: beginner to advanced

Newsletter

Join my newsletter and get a piece of Italy delivered right into your inbox!

Learn Italian with my online courses

Sos Italian - Online Italian classes

Categories

  • Culture
  • English-Italian texts
  • Grammar
  • Italian food and drinks
  • Italian Language Certifications
  • Learn Italian
  • Learning
  • Teaching
  • Translation
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • Popular

Footer

Terms and Conditions

© Copyright En

Privacy Policy

Termini e Condizioni

© Copyright It

P. Iva: 02736390028

Copyright © 2023

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

This website uses Pixel Facebook to better measure, optimize, and retarget our marketing campaigns.

This website uses AdSense to enable an analysis of the use of the website and to allow third party vendors, including Google, to use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites.

Keeping these cookies enabled helps us improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Cookie Policy

More information about our Privacy and Cookie Policy

Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance