Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | Filth, grime |
| Origin | From the Latin word spurcum, “dirty” or “unclean” |
Different forms of sporco
Like most adjectives in Italian, sporco has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | Sporco | Sporchi |
| Feminine | Sporca | Sporche |
Examples
| La maglietta è sporca di salsa. | The shirt is dirty with sauce. |
| Il papà infila i panni sporchi in lavatrice. | Dad stuffs the dirty clothes into the washing machine. |
| Hai le unghie davvero sporche! | Your nails are really dirty! |
| Il pavimento è molto sporco. Devo pulirlo. | The floor is filthy. I need to clean it. |
Related words
To translate “to be dirty” as a synonym for “obscene”, use the adjectives volgare and osceno.
| Ho letto un libro molto volgare. | I read a very dirty book. |
Another less common word you can use to translate dirty in Italian is the adjective sudicio. Sudicio has a stronger meaning than sporco, so use to describe something that is really dirty.
| Luca mette a lavare un maglione sudicio. | Luca launders a filthy sweater. |
| Quella maglietta è sudicia, cambiala subito! | That shirt is filthy, change it now! |
To translate to dirty as a verb, use sporcare, from sporco, or insudiciare, from sudicio.
| Stai sporcando tutto il pavimento! | You are soiling the whole floor! |
To say that you soiled yourself, use the reflexive verbs sporcarsi or insudiciarsi.
| Se cammini nel fango, ti sporcherai le scarpe. | If you walk in mud, you will get your shoes dirty. |
More free Italian resources
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