Pulire

Common Italian verb

Pronunciation
MeaningTo clean, to wash
ConjugationIrregular (-ISC- group: io pulisco)
Transitive or intransitive?Transitive

Different meanings

1) To remove dirt from sth

Hai pulito lo specchio del bagno?Did you clean the bathroom mirror?
Mio figlio non pulisce mai camera sua.My son never cleans his room.

Use the preposition da if you want to say “to clean sth of sth else”.

Michele pulisce il ripiano dalle briciole.Michele cleans the shelf of crumbs.
Sto pulendo gli scarponi dal fango.I am cleaning the boots of mud.

2) To do chores around the house

Ho passato tutta la mattina a pulire!I spent the whole morning cleaning up!

3) To polish/perfect sth

Devi pulire il testo, hai inserito troppi avverbi.You need to clean up the text; you added too many adverbs.

Reflexive forms

Pulirsi

Use pulirsi to translate “to clean oneself up”. Examples:

Pulisciti, sei tutto sporco.Clean yourself up, you’re all dirty.
Pulisciti la bocca dalla marmellata!Wipe the jam off your mouth!

Collocations and expressions

Pulire casaTo tidy one’s home
Pulire una feritaTo clean a wound
Pulire il pesceTo gut/clean a fish
Pulirsi le unghieTo clean one’s fingernails

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