Memorize Italian Idioms: 98 Flashcards from In Bocca al Lupo to Fare alla Romana

Italians wish you luck by sending you into a wolf's mouth, pay for dinner "Roman style" and lose their temper by losing their stirrups. The Italian Idioms & Expressions deck on Flip It (deck code OX0006, 98 cards) gives you each idiom on the front and an English equivalent, often with the literal meaning, on the back. Here is how to make them stick.

Ten cards from the deck

What the deck covers

Body idioms (avere le mani in pasta, non avere peli sulla lingua, avere fegato, avere la puzza sotto il naso, dare nell'occhio), animal idioms (dormire come un ghiro, essere come cane e gatto, menare il can per l'aia, avere grilli per la testa, prendere lucciole per lanterne), food idioms (essere come il prezzemolo, avere sale in zucca, essere una buona forchetta, non c'è trippa per gatti), sea and boat images (andare a gonfie vele, essere in alto mare, tirare i remi in barca, essere sulla stessa barca), and proverbs such as l'abito non fa il monaco, meglio tardi che mai and cadere dalla padella alla brace.

Study it in meaning clusters, not in deck order

Many cards share a meaning, and in a random shuffle they blur together. Tag them by meaning and review each group together, then learn the difference in tone inside the group:

• Being in trouble: essere nei guai (neutral), essere nelle peste, essere fritto (colloquial: "done for"), essere con l'acqua alla gola, essere alle strette, essere con le spalle al muro.
• Failing: fare cilecca, fare un buco nell'acqua, non cavare un ragno dal buco, andare in vacca (vulgar-leaning; avoid it at work).
• Talking nonsense / being crazy: parlare a vanvera, dare i numeri, essere fuori come un balcone.
• A problem to solve: avere una gatta da pelare and essere una brutta gatta da pelare are one idiom in two forms. Merge them into a single card.

Two tips the cards leave out

1. Learn the replies. You never answer In bocca al lupo! with "grazie". You say Crepi! ("may the wolf die"). Add that to the back of card 1. Likewise, Italians toccare ferro (touch iron, not wood), so the English gloss "knock on wood" hides the image.
2. Split card 73. Fare le corna has two separate uses: the horn gesture that wards off bad luck, and fare le corna a qualcuno, which means to cheat on someone. Make two cards, each with its own example sentence, so you don't use the wrong one in public.

Once a cluster is solid, flip the direction and practise English → Italian. Recognising Essere al settimo cielo is easy. Producing it when someone says "I'm on cloud nine" is what makes you sound fluent.

Keep going

Search for OX0006 in the Flip It library at flip-it.app. To use these idioms on a trip, pair the deck with our guide to Italian for travel and daily life.