Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | Fork |
| Origin | From the Italian word furca, and the Italian forca; literally, “small pitchfork” |
Different forms of forchetta
Like most nouns in Italian, forchetta has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
Una forchetta
A fork
Delle forchette
Some forks
La forchetta
The fork
Le forchette
The forks
Examples
| La forchetta va a destra o a sinistra? | Does the fork go on the right or on the left? |
| Queste forchette sono sporche di sugo di pomodoro. | These forks are stained with tomato sauce. |
| La forchetta cadde dal tavolo. | The fork fell off of the table. |
The parts of a fork in Italian
The handle of a fork is translated as impugnatura or manico. The first is a feminine word, while the second is masculine.
| L’impugnatura | The handle | |
| Il manico | The handle |
The tines of a fork also have two names: denti, which usually means teeth, and rebbi, tines or prongs.
Denti comes from dente and is the word you will hear in colloquial speech.
Rebbi, which comes from the singular rebbio, is the most accurate term but it’s very rare in the spoken language. I have only found it in books.
| I denti | The teeth | |
| I rebbi | The tines, prongs |
Examples:
| I rebbi di questa forchetta sono tutti storti! | The tines of this fork are all bent! |
| Si è rotto un dente della forchetta. | One tine of this fork broke. |
Common adjectives with forchetta in Italian
There are a number of materials that a fork can be made of. The most common types of fork in Italian are:
| Forchetta d’acciaio | Steel fork | |
| Forchetta di plastica | Plastic fork | |
| Forchetta d’argento | Silver fork | |
| Forchetta usa e getta | Disposable fork |
For example, you can say…
| Dovremmo ridurre l’utilizzo delle forchette usa e getta per salvaguardare l’ambiente. | We should reduce the use of disposable forks to save the environment. |
| Mia nonna è gelosissima del suo set di forchette d’argento. | My grandmother is extremely jealous of her set of silver forks. |
| Le forchette d’acciaio sono molto resistenti. | Steel forks are very resistant. |
Verbs and expressions
Forchettata is a word that has two meanings in Italian.
It can be translated as forkful, and it can also mean a strike someone’s skin with a fork.
| La forchettata | The forkful |
Consider the examples:
| Cristina si infilò in bocca una forchettata di spaghetti. | Cristina stuffed a forkful of spaghetti in her mouth. |
| Il bambino, offeso, diede una forchettata alla mano della sua vicina. | Offended, the child struck his neighbor’s hand with a fork. |
Literally, the last example goes, “The child, offended, gave a forkful to his neighbor’s hand”. This doesn’t mean that he offered his neighbor a forkful of food…
Forchetta can also be used figuratively in the expression essere una buona forchetta, which can be translated into English as to be a good eater or to be a foodie. There’s no direct translation for it, because the literal meaning is “to be a good fork”.
| Essere una buona forchetta | To be a good eater |
More free Italian resources
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