Sporco

Italian word of the day

Pronunciation
English translationFilth, grime
OriginFrom 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).

SingularPlural
MasculineSporcoSporchi
FeminineSporcaSporche
woman with a smudged shirt

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.
filthy office room

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.
two kids playing in mud

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