Best friend in Italian

How exactly do you say best friend in Italian?

Let’s say you have an Italian friend and they happen to be your best one. You want to let them now! So how do you say you are my best friend in Italian?

Amico
Male friend

Amica
Female friend

This lesson will be useful to learn all the different ways you can translate that in Italian. (Yes, there’s more than one!)

Let’s start! Iniziamo!

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How do you say best friend in Italian

Migliore amico / Migliore amica

The direct translation for best friend in Italian is migliore amico, if your bestie is a boy or a man, and migliore amica if she’s a girl or a woman.

Migliore means best and is one of those adjectives that don’t change in the singular depending on the gender of the noun.

So to say “you are my best friend in Italian you will simply have to say…

Sei il mio migliore amico.
You are my best friend.
(Male)

Sei la mia migliore amica.
You are my best friend.
(Female)

But hold it! What if you have more than one best friend, either male or female? Here’s what you have to say:

Siete i miei migliori amici.
You are my best friends.
(Male)

Siete le mie migliori amiche.
You are my best friends.
(Female)

When it comes to mixed groups, the masculine gender wins. So if there’s only one girl in a group of five people, you will need to say siete i miei migliori amici because the group will have a masculine gender.

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Other ways to say best friend in Italian

Amico/amica per la pelle

Amico per la pelle (male) and amica per la pelle (female) are synonyms for migliore amico/a. They are used to mean very close friends that are fond of each other.

Literally, they would be translated as “friend for the skin”, with pelle meaning skin.

Io e Luana siamo amiche per la pelle.
Luana and I are best friends.

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Amico/amica del cuore

This is yet another synonym for best friend in Italian, and it would literally translate to “friend to the heart”. It can also be translated as BFF.

Chi è la tua amica del cuore, Claudia?
Who is your BFF, Claudia?

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Amico intimo / Amica intima

If you have an amico intimo or an amica intima, it means you have a friend you trust with all your heart. It literally translates to English as “intimate friend”.

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Italian saying with “best friend”

There’s a saying that goes…

It is literally translated as “The dog is the man’s best friend”.

That’s it! Now you know how to pronounce all the different ways to say see you soon in Italian! Remember: all the formulas you have seen in this lesson are suitable to use in informal contexts only.

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What next?

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