Ciao a tutti! We’re still studying phrases from the first 3 minutes of an episode of Il Commissario Manara, un poliziesco on RAI.tv with our new series La Frase Della Settimana. We are studying with Yabla, an excellent learning tool that shows you verbatim subtitles in both Italian and English AND allows you to slow down or stop the video when needed. This is an excellent way to develop your ear for spoken Italian, but it also allows you to take note of idiomatic phrases. And there are plenty!

So, last week we learned how to say:

 

Che ci fai qui?
What are you doing here?

 

This is what Luca (il commissario) says to his sister, Teresa, when she surprises him by coming to visit. Now we’re going to focus on what he says right after that:

 

Teresa, ma che ci fai qua? Ma che sei pazza?
Teresa, but what are you doing here? But what are you nuts?

 

I feel pretty confident you are all going to find a good use for this one. 🙂

The only thing you’ll need to remember here is to change the ending of the word pazzo which means crazy, to match the gender of the crazy person. Not too difficult. So, for example if Teresa was the one asking Luca, she would say:

 

Ma che sei pazzo?
But what are you nuts?

 

Of course, you can call people nuts in a variety of ways. Instead of asking you can just be direct.

 

Sei pazzo!
You’re nuts!

 

Here are some more examples:

 

Delilah ha ragione, sei pazzo.
Delilah is right, you’re crazy.

 

La gente penserà che sei pazzo.
People will think you’re crazy.

 

Lo so già che sei pazza.
I already know that you’re crazy.

 

If you’re talking about someone else you might say something like this:

 

Non ascoltare nulla di ciò che dice Ben perché è pazzo.
Don’t listen to anything Ben says because he’s crazy.

 

Madre Natura è pazza.
Mother Nature is crazy.

 

Questi hippies sono pazzi.
Those hippies are crazy.

 

Or perhaps you are talking to yourself?

 

Ma che cosa faccio? Sono pazza?
But what am I doing? Am I crazy?

 

So, who will be your target for this week’s phrase? Post your examples to our Facebook page.

 

!!! Remember to use your new phrase about THREE TIMES this week to express your own PERSONAL THOUGHTS. And you won’t forget it.

 

Alla prossima volta!

 

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.