Fantasma

Italian word of the day

Pronunciation
English translation	Ghost
Origin	From the Greek word phántasma, which comes from phaínō, “monster”

Different forms of fantasma

Like most nouns in Italian, fantasma has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).

Examples

I fantasmi non esistono.	Ghosts don’t exist.
Hai mai visto un fantasma?	Have you ever seen a ghost?
La villa sulla collina è infestata dai fantasmi.	The mansion on the hill is haunted by ghosts.
Si dice che ci siano dei fantasmi in quel cimitero.	It is said that there are ghosts in that graveyard.

Expressions

There are a number of idiomatic expressions featuring the word for ghost in Italian. For example:

Arto fantasma	Phantom limb
Governo fantasma	(A government that is not officially recognized, a shadow government)
Città fantasma	Ghost town

There is also the expression essere il fantasma di sé stessi, to be the shadow of one’s self.

Dopo la lunga malattia, Michele è diventato il fantasma di se stesso.

After the long illness, Michele became the ghost of himself.

We also describe people as being ghosts when they are exceptionally pale with the expression sembrare un fantasma, “to look like a ghost”.

Perché sei così pallido? Sembri un fantasma!

Why are you so pale? You look like a ghost!

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