How do you say good job in Italian?

How many ways are there to say good job in Italian?

In this lesson, we will take a look at the different ways you can translate this sentence and also see what kind of jobs are there in Italian. Read on to learn them all!

Let’s start! Iniziamo!

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How do you say good job in Italian?

Ottimo lavoro

Ottimo lavoro is how you most commonly translate good job in Italian. Literally, this translates to excellent job.

Ottimo lavoro, ragazzi. La nostra azienda si sta espandendo.
Good job, guys. Our company is expanding.

Hai fatto davvero un ottimo lavoro. Grazie mille!
You did a really good job. Thank you very much!

The literal translation of good is buono.
You DO NOT say buon lavoro in Italian to congratulate for a job well done.
Buon lavoro is used as an encouragement to people about to start a project or a day’s work, something similar to have a good day at work.

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Bel lavoro

Bel lavoro is another common translation for good job in Italian. It literally means nice job.

Il server è di nuovo funzionante. Bel lavoro!
The server is up and running again. Good job!

If you are somewhat familiar with Italian, you will know that bello means nice. So why did we drop its final -lo here? Lavoro is a masculine word, so it should be bello lavoro, right?

Well, you may not know about this pesky rule: bello gets shortened to bel when…

• it precedes a consonant + vowel cluster or consonant + R/L

For example, we will say…

Bel paesaggio
Nice scenery
(Consonant + vowel)

Bel premio
Nice prize
(Consonant + R)

So we say bel lavoro!, since lavoro starts with a consonant + vowel cluster!

Now let’s see another popular way you can translate good job.

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Ben fatto

Ben fatto! literally translates to well done.

Ben fatto! I tuoi genitori devono essere orgogliosi di te.
Well done! Your parents must be proud of you.

Ben fatto, ragazzi.
Well done, guys.

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Bravo! Brava! Bravi! Brave!

Bravo is used in Italian with the meaning of capable, good at something. There’s a high chance you are already familiar with this word and have actually used it yourself.

The reason why there are four different forms for it is that all Italian adjectives must agree with the gender and the number of the object or person they are referring to.

You will use…

• bravo to talk to one man
• brava to talk to one woman
• bravi to talk to groups of men or mixed groups
• brave to talk to groups of women

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Complimenti! Congratulazioni!

Complimenti literally means compliments and can be used to translate congratulations or good job in Italian.

Congratulazioni is pretty common to use in special occasions such as people getting married, finding the job of their dreams, graduating. It’s often followed by a round of cheers.

Congratulazioni agli sposi!
Congratulations to the newlyweds!

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Ottimo! Eccellente!

Ottimo and eccellente are two adjectives that we could both translate as excellent. If you want to congratulate someone for a job well done, you can use one of these and you will make the person very happy!

Did you know? Eccellente! is also Mr. Burns’s catchphrase in the Italian dubbing of The Simpsons series, as seen in the video below!

And that’s it, now you know how to say good job in Italian in all its forms!

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