How do you say DIRTY in Italian?
Sporco
Use sporco to say dirty in Italian. Sporco can also be used as a noun, translating into English as “filth” or “grime”.
| Origin | From the Latin word spurcum, “dirty” or “unclean” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsporko/ |
Sporco
Dirty
Dirty in Italian: Different forms
Like all other adjectives in Italian, sporco needs to match the gender (masculine or feminine) and the number (singular or plural) of the noun.
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | Sporco | Sporchi |
| Feminine | Sporca | Sporche |
Dirty in Italian: Examples
La maglietta è sporca di salsa.
The shirt is dirty with sauce.
Il papà infila i panni sporchi in lavatrice.
Dad stuffs the dirty clothes into the washing machine.
Hai le unghie davvero sporche!
Your nails are really dirty!
Il pavimento è molto sporco. Devo pulirlo.
The floor is filthy. I need to clean it.
Dirty in Italian: Related words
To translate “to be dirty” as a synonym for “obscene”, use the adjectives volgare and osceno.
Ho letto un libro molto volgare.
I read a very dirty book.
Another less common word you can use to translate dirty in Italian is the adjective sudicio. Sudicio has a stronger meaning than sporco, so use to describe something that is really dirty.
Luca mette a lavare un maglione sudicio.
Luca launders a filthy sweater.
Quella maglietta è sudicia, cambiala subito!
That shirt is filthy, change it now!
To translate to dirty as a verb, use sporcare, from sporco, or insudiciare, from sudicio.
Stai sporcando tutto il pavimento!
You are soiling the whole floor!
To say that you soiled yourself, use the reflexive verbs sporcarsi or insudiciarsi.
Mi sono insudiciato la cravatta!
I have soiled my tie!
Se cammini nel fango, ti sporcherai le scarpe.
If you walk in mud, you will get your shoes dirty.
More free Italian resources
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