How do you translate the expression to catch fire in Italian?
In this lesson, we’ll take a look at this very expression, also known as collocation, and we will even talk about what kind of different fires there are in Italian and what words you can use to describe them.
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To catch fire in Italian
First of all, let’s translate to catch fire in Italian.
Prendere fuoco
To catch fire
To catch fire in Italian – Let’s break it down!
Prendere fuoco could literally be translated as to take fire.
Prendere
To take
Il fuoco
The fire
Le case di legno prendono fuoco facilmente.
Wooden houses catch fire easily.
Prendere is a verb of the second -ere group. Its indicativo presente conjugation is as follows.
| io | prendo |
| tu | prendi |
| lui, lei | prende |
| noi | prendiamo |
| voi | prendete |
| loro | prendono |
Title: Italian All-in-One For Dummies
Language: English / Italian
Publisher: For Dummies
Pages: 672
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Prendere is a very versatile verb in Italian and you will find it in other collocations with “to catch”. Here are a few:
Prendere l’autobus
To catch the bus
Prendere l’influenza
To catch the flu
Prendere un raffreddore
To catch a cold
Prendere un ladro
To catch a thief
For example, you could say:
Al mattino prendo sempre l’autobus per andare a scuola.
In the morning I always take the bus to go to school.
Un mio collega ha preso l’influenza. Ha contagiato altre due persone.
A colleague of mine had the flu. He infected two other people.
La polizia non è ancora riuscita a prendere il ladro.
The police have not yet been able to catch the thief.
Fuoco
We said that the translation for to catch fire in Italian is prendere fuoco. Fuoco is a masculine noun. It is often followed by certain adjectives.
Un fuoco
A fire
Dei fuochi
Some fires
Il fuoco
The fire
I fuochi
The fires
Il fuoco è acceso nel camino.
The fire is lit in the fireplace.
I ragazzi hanno acceso un bel fuoco e hanno arrostito i marshmallow.
The boys made a nice fire and roasted the marshmallows.
There’s more than one kind of fire in Italian. When we talk about a fire that sparks on its own, we use incendio instead of fuoco.
Incendio gigantesco
Huge fire
Incendio devastante
Devastating fire
Incendio boschivo
Forest fire
Incendio in cucina
Kitchen fire
Incendio doloso
Arson
Falò
Bonfire
For example, you could say…
Un incendio devastante ha bruciato ettari di foresta.
A devastating fire has burned acres of forest.
Le autorità sospettano che l’incendio sia di natura dolosa.
The authorities suspect that the fire was malicious.
Si vede una colonna di fumo. Qualcuno deve avere acceso un falò.
I can see a column of smoke. Someone must have lit a bonfire.
To catch fire in Italian – Examples
Le case di legno prendono fuoco molto facilmente.
Wooden houses catch fire very easily.
La padella ha preso fuoco mentre stavo friggendo alcune strisce di pancetta.
The pan caught fire while I was frying some strips of bacon.
Il pollaio ha preso fuoco, ma le galline sono riuscite a scappare.
The henhouse caught fire, but the chickens managed to escape.
Cosa facciamo se l’edificio prende fuoco?
What can we do if the building catches fire?
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