Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | Smoke |
| Origin | From the Latin word fūmus, “smoke” or “steam” |
Different forms of fumo
Like most nouns in Italian, fumo has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
Il fumo is also used to translate “smoking” as a noun, the act of smoking cigarettes.
Un fumo
A smoke
Dei fumi
Some smokes
Il fumo
The smoke
I fumi
The smokes
Examples
| Odio il fumo di sigaretta. | I hate cigarette smoke. |
| Il fumo nuoce alla salute. | Smoking is harmful to health. |
| Vedi il fumo nero laggiù? | Do you see the black smoke over there? |
| Cercate di non inalare i fumi. | Try not to inhale the fumes. |
Related words
From fumo you get fumare, the verb “to smoke”. For example, you can say:
| Mio nonno fuma un pacchetto di sigarette al giorno. | My grandfather smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. |
To say that something is giving off smoke, you can say fare fumo or emettere fumo.
| La stufa sta facendo fumo, dobbiamo aprire la finestra! | The stove is emitting smoke, we need to open the window! |
Quitting smoking is hard, so we will say…
| Non è facile smettere di fumare. | It is not easy to quit smoking. |
You might also hear…
| Il vizio del fumo | The smoking habit | |
| Il rilevatore di fumo | The smoke detector | |
| Il fumo di sigaretta | Cigarette smoke | |
| Il fumo di tabacco | Tobacco smoke | |
| Il fumo passivo | Passive smoke | |
| Segnale di fumo | Smoke signal |
For example, you can say:
| Stiamo diventando molto consapevoli dei pericoli del fumo passivo. | We are becoming very aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke. |
| Si può comunicare attraverso segnali di fumo? | Can people communicate through smoke signals? |
Expressions
There are a number of idiomatic expressions featuring the word fumo in Italian. For example:
| Andare in fumo | To go up in flames, to go up in smoke |
| Mandare in fumo | To ruin |
| Vendere fumo | To be full of hot air, to rip off |
| Tutto fumo e niente arrosto | All hat and no cattle |
| Essere come il fumo negli occhi | To annoy |
| Gettare fumo negli occhi | To pull the wool over someone’s eyes, hoodwink |
| Venditore di fumo | Crook, conman |
More free Italian resources
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