Do you know someone who always has his head in the clouds? Then you will love the latest phrase from our study of Il Commissario Manara on Yabla.

Luca and Lara are about to take off on Luca’s motorcycle but Luca has forgotten il pieno, to fill up the tank. But Luca’s sister Teresa knows why and she says:

Ah, ma guarda, ha sempre avuto la testa tra le nuvole, lui.
Ah, but look, he has always had his head in the clouds, that one.

This one is pretty easy, right? It is, in fact, almost exactly as we say it in English. Here’s the exact literal translation:

avere la testa tra/fra le nuvole
to have the head among/between the clouds

Note the meaning of tra/fra, we’ll come back to that in a bit.

Here are some more examples from Reverso:

Maggie aveva sempre la testa tra le nuvole.
Maggie always had her head in the clouds.

Sì, scusa, ho la testa tra le nuvole.
Yes, excuse me, I have my head in the clouds.

Artù ha la testa fra le nuvole.
Arthur has his head in the clouds.

Mi dispiace, credo di avere la testa tra le nuvole.
I’m sorry, I believe I have my head in the clouds.

Dovete scusare mio fratello, ha la testa tra le nuvole.
You must excuse my brother, he has his head in the clouds.

Quel ragazzo ha la testa fra le nuvole ultimamente.
That kid has his head in the clouds lately.

Non lo so, mi sembra uno con la testa tra le nuvole.

I don’t know, he seems like someone with his head in the clouds.

Sei sempre con la testa tra le nuvole!
You always have your head in the clouds.

So, as always with the Italian language, there is an interesting question here. Should you use tra or fra? According to Google, they are about evenly used with tra coming out ahead by a small margin. Fra seems to roll off the tongue easier for me in this instance, but the characters in Il Commissario Manara seem to prefer testa tra le nuvole.

But is there actually a difference?

Well, even some native Italians aren’t sure, as this discussion from Word Reference indicates. But, for the most part Italians agree, they are perfectly interchangeable. So why are there two? Mainly for purposes of euphony. Italians don’t like too many repeated sounds in the same sentence. Hence, if you need to use tra twice in the same sentence, it sounds better to the Italian ear to switch the second one to fra (or vice versa).

For example, there are a few very phrases that use fra or tra and could end up back to back. Fra poco, for example, means in a little while, or soon. Detto fra noi means just between us, between you and me and the fence post so to speak.

Detto tra noi, fra poco tornerò.
Just between us, in a little while I’ll be back.

Ce l’avrò tra le mani fra poco
I will have it in my hands soon.

Who will you be describing this week when you use your new Italian phrase? Chi ha la testa tra le nuvole? Tell us on Facebook!

If you feel your Italian is good enough to watch without Italian (or English) subtitles, this episode of Il Commissario Manara is also available for free from RAI. You will need to fast forward to exactly 48 minutes for the start of Un morto di troppo.

There are some wonderfully useful phrases popping up in our study of the Italian TV show Il Commissario Manara: Un morto di troppo on Yabla. I think this one is essential, especially if you don’t want to run out of gas!

fare il pieno
to fill it up

or more literally

to do the full (tank)

Luca and Lara (wait, Luke and Laura? No, Luca and Lara!) are about to head off on Luca’s motorcycle to follow Brigadiere (Lara’s aunt’s dog), but… the motorcycle won’t start. And knowing Luca well, Lara says:

Hai dimenticato di nuovo il pieno?
Did you forget to fill it up again?

Lara doesn’t say fare here but it’s understood. Here are some more ways you can use this phrase (grazie a Reverso):

Mi fa il pieno per favore?
Can you fill it up for me please?

Sai quanto mi costa fare il pieno al camion?
Do you know how much it costs me to fill up the truck?

Ho dimenticato di fare il pieno a Napoli.
I forgot to fill up in Naples.

Ho fatto il pieno mentre venivo in città.
I filled up while I was on my way to the city.

Ti ho fatto il pieno.
I filled it up for you.

Vi faccio il pieno e potete prenderla subito.
I’ll fill it up for you and you can take it right now.

Faceva il pieno alla Buick anche se aveva ancora metà serbatoio.
He would fill up his Buick even if it still had half a tank.

È lì fuori che fa il pieno.
He’s out there filling up the tank.

This phrase isn’t limited to gassing up cars. You can gas up anything. Like your private jet for instance:

Colin ha fatto il pieno al suo jet a Teterboro.
Colin filled the tank of his jet at Teterboro.

Or your boat:

Devo fare il pieno alla barca, sono a secco.
I have to fill up the boat, I’m out of gas.

And by the way, notice sono a secco in that phrase. That’s a great way to say you’re out of gas. It can also mean you’re out of money. I think of it as running on empty.

And yes, you can use fare il pieno to load up on other things too.

Credo sia andato a fare il pieno di birra.
I believe he went to fill up on beer.

Il trucco è …che devi fare il pieno di carboidrati la notte prima della gara.
The trick is… you have to fill up on carbohydrates the night before the race.

Tanto per scrollarsi le ragnatele di dosso, fare il pieno di endorfine…
Just to shake off the cobwebs, fill up with endorphins…

by the way:

scrollarsi di dosso
to shake off

And now

Devo fare il pieno, sono a secco e voglio guidare fino alla spiaggia.
I have to fill up the tank, I’m on empty and I want to drive to the beach.

Buon quattro luglio a tutti!

If you feel your Italian is good enough to watch without Italian (or English) subtitles, this episode of Il Commissario Manara is also available for free from RAI. You will need to fast forward to exactly 48 minutes for the start of Un morto di troppo.

Ciao a tutti!

Continuing this week with our series of phrases from Il Commissario Manara: Un morto di troppo on Yabla, we have a phrase that actually came up last week in discussions in our group.

Non vedo l’ora!
I can’t wait!

In our episode, Luca’s sister, Teresa, has just been introduced to Lara, Luca’s love interest throughout the season. She lets it slip that Luca has mentioned Lara to her when she says:

Io non vedevo l’ora di conoscere la donna che è riuscita a mettere il guinzaglio…
I couldn’t wait to meet the woman that managed to put a leash…

Teresa uses the imperfect tense here, but we’ll get to that in a minute. First, what exactly does it mean non vedere l’ora? Translated literally it means:

Non vedo l’ora.
I don’t see the time.

How exactly does that translate to I can’t wait? Well, just like in English, this phrase is purely idiomatic. I have managed to find some interesting ideas among the community at WordReference for why this modo di dire has developed.

I like dragonseven’s idea:

Penso sia una metafora che indica la morbosa impazienza dell’evento scandita del fatto che il tempo della venuta si allunga/allontana percettibilmente sempre più verso l’infinito e di conseguenza non se ne vede più l’arrivo.

I think it’s a metaphor indicating the morbid impatience for the event marked by the fact that the time of its arrival elongates perceptibly towards the infinite and consequently you can’t see its arrival anymore.

Very poetic! But Anaiss really makes the point we need to focus on:

…è un’espressione talmente consolidata che non faccio nemmeno più caso al significato letterale.  

It’s an expression so ingrained that I don’t even notice the literal meaning.

And that’s what we have to learn to do, too. It’s just like the many idiomatic phrases we use in English and take so for granted that we don’t even question them anymore.*

It is useful to know what you are saying in a sense because unlike the English version, non vedo l’ora will generally be followed up with di (qualcosa) which won’t make sense if you’re translating as I can’t wait.

Non vedo l’ora di vederti!
I can’t wait to see you!

Or more literally:

I don’t see the time of seeing you!

So, now it makes more sense when we see Teresa’s remark in the imperfect tense.

Non vedevo l’ora di conoscere la donna…
I wasn’t seeing the time of knowing the woman…

Here are some examples of this phrase in action from Reverso:

La gente non vede l’ora di spettegolare sulle disgrazie.
People can’t wait to gossip about misfortunes.

E non vede l’ora di incontrarti.
And s/he can’t wait to meet you.

Scommetto che non vedi l’ora che muoia per tenerti tutto!
I bet you can’t wait for me to die so you can get everything!

E non vedono l’ora di sguazzare nel fango.
And they can’t wait to play in the mud.

Non è giusto, non vedevo l’ora di stare con te.
That’s not true, I couldn’t wait to be with you.

Ieri sera non vedevi l’ora di lasciare tutto questo.
Yesterday evening you couldn’t wait to leave all this.

But what if you want to say you can’t wait until something? In that case, you need to use che, and this gets a little bit more complicated because it requires the subjunctive or the Italian congiuntivo. This really isn’t as hard as it sounds. Say enough phrases out loud often enough and you will come to expect the sound of the congiuntivo. You will find yourself getting it right without knowing how you managed it.

Non vedo l’ora che sia venerdì.
I can’t wait until (it is) Friday.

Ma non vedo l’ora che arrivi quel giorno.
I can’t wait until that day arrives.

But if you’re just beginning your study of Italian, don’t sweat it. For now, just say:

Non vedo l’ora!

E io non vedo l’ora che arrivi la prossima lezione!

If you feel your Italian is good enough to watch without Italian (or English) subtitles, this episode of Il Commissario Manara is also available for free from RAI. You will need to fast forward to exactly 48 minutes for the start of Un morto di troppo.