Italian word of the day
Pronunciation | |
English translation | Beer |
Origin | From the German word Bier, “beer” |
Different forms of birra
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
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)
Expressions
There are some common idioms featuring the word birra in Italian. For example:
A tutta birra | At full speed, full throttle | |
Dare la birra a qualcuno | To hand somebody their heads |
The place where beer is made is called birreria, brewery.
Birreria | Brewery |
For example:
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 |
For example:
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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