In this short lesson, we will learn the meaning of the Italian idiom Allungare il brodo along with its pronunciation. If you like to add fluff to your essays to fatten them up, this expression is for you!
Let’s start! Iniziamo!
Allungare il brodo
Meaning of the idiom
Allungare il brodo can be translated literally as “to dilute the broth”. Its meaning is the same as the English expression to string something out or the verb to talk/write at length, so it’s used to mean to speak or write more than what is necessary to get the message across.
Linguistically speaking, this idiom can be broken down into…
- allungare (to dilute)
- il (masculine definite article)
- brodo (broth)
The primary meaning of allungare is to lengthen, from the adjective lungo, long. In this case, it means to dilute, to water down.
For example, you could say…
Ho allungato un po’ il brodo per raggiungere la lunghezza di 500 parole richiesta dal compito.
I strung the text out a bit to reach the length of 500 words required by the assignment.
Se imbocchiamo la via a destra, allungheremo il percorso di 10 km.
If we take the road to the right, we will increase the distance by 10 km.
Pronunciation of Allungare il brodo in Italian
Now let’s hear how this idiom is pronounced.
Allungare il brodo.
To string something out.
Literally: To dilute the broth.
If you need help with Italian pronunciation, check out the lesson on the Italian alphabet and pronunciation.
Where does Allungare il brodo come from?
Broth is a very nutritious food. For example, Italian nonne (grandmothers) will often give you some hot broth when you are sick to help you fight the infection and feel better.
When you dilute broth, you’re adding something unnecessary because water has no nutritional value. By the same reasoning, flowery language doesn’t convey any additional information in a message.
And that’s the end of our lesson on the Italian idiom Allungare il brodo!
What next?
See all the other Italian idioms!
Now that you’ve seen what the meaning of the idiom Allungare il brodo is in Italian, you might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
Title: Italian All-in-One For Dummies
Language: English / Italian
Publisher: For Dummies
Pages: 672
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