Italian for your first 48 hours in Italy

At some Italian bars the money moves before the coffee does: you pay at the till, carry the receipt to the counter, and say your order over the top of it. At others you pay afterwards, which is why Pago prima o dopo? earns its place here. That order of operations turns up all over the first two days here: a ticket may need validating, the SIM counter may ask for a tax code, and the queue at a deli may be a question you ask out loud rather than a line you join. This page walks the 48 hours in sequence, from the passport queue to the office on day two, and puts the Italian for each stop beside it. The rows are quoted from our Italian collection, 500 phrases we wrote and reviewed, and the six tables here carry 204 of them from the survive lane and the travel lane next to it.

The first word out of your mouth

Buongiorno. carries you until the middle of the afternoon, though the time when people switch to Buonasera. varies by region and habit. Listen to how the person in the shop greets you. When you cannot judge the hour or the register, Salve. is another option, though buongiorno or buonasera is a straightforward choice in a formal exchange.

Italian splits a job English gives to one word. Scusi. gets attention and apologises. Permesso. is for moving your body through a space that already has people in it: a train corridor, a bar three deep at the counter, somebody's hallway. Scusi can also accompany a request to pass; the two are not mutually exclusive. Working the other way round, Prego. is you're welcome in the English column and go ahead in the note, so the same word opens an exchange and closes it.

Spend Sto imparando l'italiano. early. It tells the other person you are learning. Ask directly for slower speech if you need it; Parla inglese? is also a reasonable request when switching languages would help.

One pair is worth keeping straight while you are tired. Non ho capito. says you missed what was just said. Non capisco can mean you do not understand a specific thing right now. Both are ordinary Italian and can lead into a request to repeat.

From the passport queue to the pavement

Ecco il passaporto. and Sono qui per lavoro. are useful at the desk; give the information that actually applies to your visit. What happens on the pavement outside needs more care. Dove sono i taxi? takes you to the rank and the white cabs, and the safe distinction is the airport's official taxi rank or your verified pre-booked transfer, rather than accepting an unsolicited offer.

In the car, two rows protect the fare. Può accendere il tassametro? is a normal thing to ask, when the trip uses a metered tariff. Some airport routes have official fixed fares; check the published tariff and which route it covers. Posso pagare con la carta? settles the other half. Ask about payment before the ride. A reported terminal fault does not establish the driver's intent; check the operator's arrangements rather than guessing. Ask for Mi può fare la ricevuta? if anyone is paying you back for the ride.

Before you leave the terminal, Dove posso comprare una SIM? is worth asking even if you do not buy one there, because the answer tells you whether the shop upstairs is open and what it will want from you. The SIM section below explains what to check.

The ticket, and whether it needs a stamp

Ask Devo convalidare il biglietto? before you sit down anywhere. Validation depends on the operator and the product. Trenitalia distinguishes paper regional tickets that need stamping from digital regional tickets that activate at the scheduled departure. A bus or another operator's e-ticket may have different steps, so check its instructions. The five-word question is useful precisely because there is no single rule for every ticket.

Buying the thing is its own small trap. Dove si comprano i biglietti dell'autobus? exists because the driver usually does not sell them, and the tobacconist does. A tabaccheria with its blue and white T sign is a ticket office, a stamp counter and a top-up point at once, which is why it is the shop a newcomer walks past for a week.

At a station, ask for the binario with Da quale binario parte? On a bus with no announcements, Mi può dire quando devo scendere? hands the problem to somebody who knows the route. One more row belongs to any Italian travel day: C'è uno sciopero oggi? For a strike, check the operator's notice for affected hours and any guaranteed services; do not assume the usual rush-hour timetable will run.

The SIM, and the documents the provider asks for

Vorrei una SIM ricaricabile con internet. gets you served, and then most counters ask for a passport and a codice fiscale. Check the provider's requirements before assuming this means a separate office visit. Mi serve il codice fiscale. asks for the Italian tax identifier, used in many contracts and procedures. The application route depends on your status; ask Agenzia delle Entrate which documents and process apply.

Ricaricabile means prepaid or rechargeable service. It still has terms and conditions, so check renewal and top-up rules. Quanti giga sono inclusi? is how the data allowance gets discussed out loud, and a top-up in a phone shop or a tabaccheria is a ricarica.

Two rows here are about Italian offices in general rather than phones. Devo prendere il numero? matters because most counters run on a ticket machine sorted by service, and the wrong letter puts you back at the start of a morning. Come faccio ad avere lo SPID? asks about the public digital identity that a lot of paperwork now runs through. It is not automatically a day-one option for a visitor: foreign applicants need an accepted Italian identity document and tax-code documentation, among other requirements.

Bancomat, etti, and the receipt you keep

Dov'è un bancomat? is the first money question, and bancomat is doing double duty: it names the cash machine and the debit card in your wallet. At the till Contanti o carta? is what you will be asked. Contactless is widely available, but acceptance of your card depends on the network and terminal. Check the payment method rather than assuming an arbitrary minimum spend is a general rule.

The deli counter runs on a unit nobody teaches you. Due etti di prosciutto crudo. asks for 100 grams twice over, because etti is common at deli counters. Grammi is also ordinary Italian; due etti and duecento grammi both ask for 200 grams. When the slice runs over, the counter asks whether a bit more is fine and Un po' di più, va bene. is the yes.

At a market, check whether produce is self-service. Posso toccare? asks whether you may handle it. At some stalls the seller picks the fruit, so pointing is useful. The queue is a spoken thing too: say Chi è l'ultimo? as you walk in, remember whoever answers, and go after them. We put the same habit in six languages side by side in Who is last? The queue phrase in six languages.

Take Lo scontrino, per favore. and keep the paper. Keep proof of purchase for a return or complaint. The applicable rules and accepted evidence depend on whether the goods are faulty or you simply changed your mind. Expect Ha la tessera? at every supermarket till, which is the loyalty card question, and no grazie ends it.

The bar counter, then the table

Pago prima o dopo? is the most useful sentence on this page. In some bars you pay at the till first, and the scontrino becomes your ticket: you put it on the counter, weight it with a coin, and say the order over the top of it, and the barista serves whoever has paid. In others you order first and settle on the way out. Asking costs you four words and removes the guessing.

Al banco o al tavolo? is the question coming back at you. Standing at the counter is normal and table service may cost more, which is why an espresso taken on your feet in thirty seconds is the ordinary Italian version of a coffee break.

Order Un caffè, per favore. and you get an espresso, since caffè means espresso and anything larger has its own name. Un cappuccino e un cornetto. is breakfast, with brioche as the north western word for the same pastry. Cappuccino after lunch marks you as a visitor and nobody will stop you drinking it.

At dinner the bill has a line the English column cannot explain. Il coperto è incluso? asks about the per-head charge for bread and the table that is printed on the menu, and tipping sits separately from it. When you are ready to pay, Il conto, per favore. asks for the bill. Its arrival without a request does not prove you are being hurried out. If nuts are a problem, say Sono allergico alle noci. and then say more, because noci is strictly walnuts and the words for peanuts and hazelnuts are different again.

The room, and the heating schedule

Ho prenotato una camera a nome Rossi. opens check-in. If something in the room is wrong, heating is one possible problem to describe. Il riscaldamento non funziona. is the sentence, and heating schedules can be regulated by climate zone and building type, with exceptions and local adjustments. Ask whether there is a fault or a scheduled shut-off; the phrase alone cannot tell you which.

For everything else, listen for how Italians say broken. L'aria condizionata non va. uses non va, the spoken version, with non funziona a shade more formal and equally correct. Signals get their own verb: Il wifi non prende in camera. because prendere is what reception does, for wifi and for a phone.

If you have keys to a flat rather than a room, two more rows arrive early. È saltata la luce. means the power has tripped, and the meter switch is often out in the hallway rather than inside. Può lasciare il pacco al portiere? is for the building's doorman, who in a lot of city blocks is also the parcel service, the noticeboard and the person who knows which bin goes out tonight.

Nine in the evening, and the pharmacy rota

Something hurts and the shops have shut. Qual è la farmacia di turno? is the row for that hour: check the local duty rota and its access instructions. Night service may be on call or use a bell, rather than an unlocked shop door.

Inside, these sentences help explain what you need. Mi serve un antidolorifico. asks for a painkiller. Ci vuole la ricetta? asks whether a medicine needs a prescription. It does not tell you how urgently a symptom needs care, and ricetta means both prescription and recipe, so the context does the work. When the pharmacist asks how long it has been going on, the answer has no verb in it: Da due giorni. is a complete sentence.

112, said as one word

Chiami il centododici. is how you would ask a stranger to call. Italians say the number as a single word, centododici, and our note tells you the fallback for a bad line: uno uno due, digit by digit. One number reaches police, ambulance and fire.

What you say next is short. Qualcuno è ferito. says that someone is injured. The operator needs the actual location and details of what happened. Dov'è il pronto soccorso? is the other route, and worth knowing before you need it: triage staff assess urgency and assign priority. The health ministry explains the triage system; a phrase or colour alone cannot predict the wait or tell you it is safe to delay. Anything stolen ends with Devo fare una denuncia. because the denuncia is the police report that an insurer and an embassy will both ask for a copy of.

Here is the part the collection cannot do for you. An operator needs the actual location of the emergency. Follow their questions and give the street, number, town and any useful access details. Put the address of wherever you are sleeping into your phone tonight, in Italian word order, and the emergency rows become usable.

Day two: the office, the ticket machine and the letter on it

If you need an Italian tax identifier for the arrangements you are making, Mi serve il codice fiscale. is the sentence to use. Agenzia delle Entrate handles applications, but other routes can apply to particular immigration or consular procedures. Check the current process and required documents before spending a morning at an office.

Two rows shorten the queue. Devo prendere il numero? asked at the door puts you in the right ticket stream. Quali documenti servono? asked on the phone the day before saves the trip you would otherwise make twice.

If you are staying, one question belongs in the first conversation with a landlord. Il contratto è registrato? asks whether the lease is registered, a question worth checking before signing, and Posso prendere la residenza? follows it. A proposed restriction on residenza is a reason to pause and clarify the arrangement with the comune or a tenant-advice service. Do that before signing rather than treating the landlord's statement as the rule.

Where this page stops being useful

Start with a gap in our own collection. The Italian collection has no eSIM row. Our French list has one and this one does not, which is an inconsistency in how we wrote the two lanes rather than a statement about Italy, and it means a reader who lands with a profile already installed skips straight to the wifi rows. It is on the list to fix.

The second limit is register. Every survive row here is Lei, because a stranger behind a counter is Lei and that is the safe default on day one. Colleagues, hostel desks and bike shops will very often open in tu, and the collection marks tu only in the work lane, so the first informal sentence somebody says to you will be one this page did not prepare. Follow whatever comes back.

The third is regional. Our variety line for the Italian 500 says standard Italian as spoken in Italy, with regional words noted where daily use differs, which is honest about what got left out. Cornetto against brioche made it in. A great deal else did not, and a week in Naples or Palermo will hand you words this list has never heard of.

The last one is speed, and no phrase fixes it. After a flight and six conversations your ear stops cutting the stream into words, and short rows help less than sleep does. Ask with più piano and expect to ask a second time.

Making it stick

Pick the table that matches tomorrow morning and read it out loud. The rows you recognise on a screen and the rows your mouth can produce while somebody waits are two different sets. Practise turning the first set into the second.

Vocabcord runs that rehearsal off the charger. Plug the phone in and one entry plays: the Italian, a pause, the English, a pause, the Italian again. Set up the Shortcuts automation on iOS; on Android, check the background and battery settings for direct charger detection. Playback remains subject to platform restrictions. A weighted sampler picks the entry, leaning towards whatever you have not heard for a while, and it makes no claim about what you have remembered. The case for a single word instead of a lesson is in One word per charge: why a lesson would fail.

These collections are web pages first and become app packs with text-to-speech audio afterwards, with no date attached. The other five lists and the method behind them sit on The Vocabcord 500, and the Italian 500 in full, work lane included, is The 500 Italian phrases you actually need.

Common questions

Do you pay before or after ordering in an Italian bar?

It depends on the bar. Some ask you to pay at the till first and take the receipt to the counter; others let you order and pay afterwards. The row that saves you guessing is Pago prima o dopo? and the follow-up is Al banco o al tavolo? because counter and table service may have different prices.

Do you need to validate a bus or train ticket in Italy?

It depends on the operator and ticket. Ask Devo convalidare il biglietto? and follow that ticket's instructions. Trenitalia paper regional tickets need validation; its digital regional tickets activate at the scheduled departure. Bus and other e-ticket rules can differ. Buy the paper ones at a tabaccheria or a newsstand, since Dove si comprano i biglietti dell'autobus? usually gets you sent to a shop rather than the driver.

What do you need to buy a SIM card in Italy?

Bring an accepted identity document and check the provider's codice fiscale and visitor-registration requirements. Say Vorrei una SIM ricaricabile con internet. for a pay-as-you-go line with data, and ask Quanti giga sono inclusi? for the allowance. If a tax identifier is required and you do not have one, ask which application route applies; Mi serve il codice fiscale. is the phrase for asking about it.

What is the emergency number in Italy?

112, and Italians say it as one word, centododici. Ask a stranger with Chiami il centododici. and give the operator Qualcuno è ferito. if that is the situation. One number covers police, ambulance and fire. Give your current location and follow the operator's questions; a saved accommodation address only helps if you are there.