Italian word of the day
Pronunciation | |
English translation | Today |
Origin | From the Latin word hodie, the shortened form for hoc die, which means “on this day” |

Examples
Ti chiamo oggi verso sera. Ora devo andare! | I’ll call you today around the evening. I have to go now! |
Oggi sei impegnato? Vorrei che mi aiutassi a riparare la rete. | Are you busy today? I would like you to help me repair the net. |
Avevo intenzione di andare al mare oggi, ma poi ha iniziato a piovere. | I wanted to go to the beach today, but then it started to rain. |
Today with parts of the day
You can use oggi together with pomeriggio, afternoon, to say this afternoon, which literally as “today afternoon”.
You can also say questo pomeriggio, literally “this afternoon”.
Oggi pomeriggio | This afternoon |
Oggi pomeriggio ho da fare. Posso venire da te domani mattina. | I’m busy this afternoon. I can come over tomorrow morning. |

➡️ Learn how to say tomorrow in Italian!
Expressions with oggi in Italian
If for some reason you want to emphasize that you’re going to do something today, there are a number of expressions (modi di dire, “ways of saying”) that you can use, for example…
Oggi stesso | Today | |
Proprio oggi | Today | |
Quest’oggi | Today | |
Al giorno d’oggi | Nowadays | |
Oggigiorno | Nowadays |
Non posso aspettare fino a domani. Devo svuotare la libreria oggi stesso. | I can’t wait until tomorrow. I must empty the bookshelf today. |
Perché hai deciso proprio oggi di ridipingere camera tua? | Why did you decide today to repaint your room? |
La lezione di quest’oggi sarà molto più interessante delle precedenti. | Today’s lesson will be much more interesting than the previous ones. |
Oggi can also mean nowadays.
Al giorno d’oggi non è facile crescere un figlio. | Nowadays it is not easy to raise a child. |
Oggigiorno è difficile scegliere cosa comprare. | Nowadays it is difficult to choose what to buy. |

Sayings with oggi
Let’s wrap up our lesson with some proverbs (proverbi, from the singular proverbio) that feature the word for today in Italian. For each expression, you will find the translation into English and a literal meaning.
Non rimandare a domani quello che puoi fare oggi | Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today | |
Meglio un uovo oggi che una gallina domani | A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush | |
Oggi a me, domani a te | Your day will come | |
Oggi qui, domani là | Here today, gone tomorrow | |
Dall’oggi al domani | All of a sudden, within a single day |
More free Italian resources
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