Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | Rude |
| Origin | From the prefix mal- and the Latin word educĕre, “to lead out, to bring up” |
Don’t confuse the English rude with the Italian rude. Rude (ROO-deh) as an Italian word means “rough, coarse”!
Different forms of maleducato
Like all other adjectives in Italian, maleducato needs to match the gender (masculine or feminine) and the number (singular or plural) of the noun.
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | Maleducato | Maleducati |
| Feminine | Maleducata | Maleducate |
Examples
| Il bambino maleducato parla con la bocca piena. | The rude child speaks with his mouth full. |
| Il cliente è stato maleducato con il personale del negozio. | The customer was rude to the store staff. |
| Dei ragazzi maleducati hanno imbrattato il muro del municipio. | Some rude boys soiled the wall of the City Hall. |
| La ragazza è stata maleducata nel rifiutare l’invito. | The girl was rude in declining the invitation. |
Maleducato can also be a noun.
| Lei, signore, è un gran maleducato! | You, sir, are very rude! |
Maleducato comes from maleducazione, which can be translated as “rudeness” or “bad manners”. It’s a compound word made up of mal, bad, and educazione, education.
| È maleducazione interrompere le persone. | It is rude to interrupt people. |
Related words
There are a number of synonyms for maleducato in Italian that you can use. The most common ones are…
| Sgarbato | Rude (from sgarbo, rudeness) | |
| Scortese | Rude (from cortese, curteous) | |
| Volgare | Rude |
For example, you can say…
| Sei stato molto sgarbato con Gabriele. | You were very rude to Gabriele. |
| Quell’uomo ha modi molto scortesi. | That man has very rude manners. |
| La sua risposta è stata volgare e offensiva. | His response was rude and offensive. |
Rude behaviors to avoid in Italy
If you ever come to Italy for a vacation, you might want to learn this list of rude behaviors not to attempt in public spaces:
- making loud calls on public transport
- listening to music without earphones on public transport
- jumping the queue
- eating with your mouth open
- not giving priority to a pedestrian waiting to cross
- sneezing without covering your mouth
- not taking off your sunglasses when someone talks to you
- starting to eat before all the people at your table are seated
- picking your nose in public
- slurping your spaghetti
More free Italian resources
You might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
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