How exactly do you say river in Italian?
In this lesson, we will take a look at the different words you can use to talk about a river in Italian and you will even learn some expressions featuring this word. Read on to learn them all!
Fiume
River
Let’s get started! Iniziamo!
How do you say river in Italian?
Fiume
Fiume is how you write river in Italian.
Il fiume
The river
It is a masculine noun, so it uses the articles il (definite, the river), and un (indefinite, a river).
Un fiume
A river
Dei fiumi
Some rivers
Il fiume
The river
I fiumi
The rivers
Title: Italian All-in-One For Dummies
Language: English / Italian
Publisher: For Dummies
Pages: 672
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Its pronunciation is similar to fee-oo-meh and it comes from the Latin word fluĕre, “to flow”. Make sure the final -e has a pure sound, because Italian vowel sounds are clean!
Qual è il fiume più lungo del mondo?
What is the longest river in the world?
Il Nilo è lungo più di 6.000 chilometri.
The Nile is more than 6,000 kilometers long.
La foce del fiume si estende per 2.000 chilometri quadrati.
The mouth of the river extends over 2,000 square kilometers.
Domenica siamo andati a pescare al fiume.
On Sunday we went fishing on the river.
Torrente? Ruscello?
Depending on its size, a river is not always translated as fiume.
Torrente and ruscello translate as “creek” or “stream” and are used to describe small rivers. Both are masculine words.
Il torrente
The creek, the stream
Il ruscello
The creek, the stream
The difference between the two is that a torrente depends on the seasonal rains. It is very steep and it can dry up completely during the summer months. A ruscello, on the other hand, is a small river with calm waters.
Estuaries
There are two types of river estuaries in Italian:
- foce a delta (delta mouth)
- foce a estuario (mouth of the estuary)
Foce a delta
Delta mouth
Foce a estuario
Mouth of the estuary
You have a foce a delta when the mouth has a triangular shape, with several small streams dividing the main flow of water. The Po river, the longest river in Italy, has a delta. You have a foce a estuario when the river flows directly into the sea.
Idioms with the word for river in Italian
There are a number of popular idiomatic expressions featuring the word for river in Italian. Among them are:
- versare un fiume di lacrime (to shed a river of tears)
- scorrere a fiumi (to flow freely)
- un fiume / una fiumana di gente (a flood of people)
For example, you could say…
La birra scorreva a fiumi alla festa.
The beer flowed freely at the party.
Quando il semaforo diventa verde, un fiume di gente attraversa la strada.
When the traffic light turns green, a flood of people crosses the street.
And that’s the end of our lesson on how to say river in Italian!
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