How do you say beer in Italian?
Birra
Use birra to say beer in Italian.
| Origin | From the German word Bier, “beer” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbirra/ |
La birra
The beer
Beer in Italian: Different forms
Like most nouns in Italian, birra has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
Una birra
A beer
Delle birre
Some beers
La birra
The beer
Le birre
The beers
Beer in Italian: Examples
Ti piace la birra?
Do you like beer?
Abbiamo finito la birra. Devo andarne a comprare un po’.
We ran out of beer. I have to go buy some.
Ci sono ancora tre casse di birra nel seminterrato.
There are still three cases of beer in the cellar.
Mi piace bere la birra ghiacciata.
I like drinking cold beer.
Types of beer in Italian
Two really common beer brands in Italy are Birra Peroni and Birra Moretti, but you will find a number of different beers in Italian to cover each and every taste. Some of these are…
Birra alla spina
Draft beer
Birra chiara
Light beer
Birra artigianale
Craft beer
For example, you can say…
Posso offrirti una birra alla spina?
May I buy you a draft beer?
Vorrei una birra artigianale, grazie.
I would like a craft beer, please.
When ordering a beer at an Italian bar or restaurant (potrei avere una birra, per favore?), you should know that beers come in three sizes:
- birra piccola (small)
- birra media (medium)
- birra grande (large)
Beer in Italian: Expressions
There are some common idioms featuring the word beer in Italian. For example:
A tutta birra
At full speed, full throttle
Literally: At full beer
Dare la birra a qualcuno
To hand somebody their heads
Literally: To give somebody the beer
The place where beer is made is called birreria, brewery.
Birreria
Brewery
Lavoro in una birreria. Per Natale ho ricevuto una cassa di birra gratis!
I work in a brewery. For Christmas, I got a case of beer for free!
When you enjoy a beer, you can use the expression scolarsi una birra, to knock back a beer.
Scolarsi una birra
To knock back a beer, to down
Michele si è appena scolato mezzo litro di birra.
Michele has just downed half a liter of beer.
More free Italian resources
You might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
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