Friday 10 October 2008

Errore numero nove - Bene/Benissimo/Buono/Buonissimo/Bello/Bellissimo

In Italian a nice meal is never defined as "Bellissimo"!!

Only "Buonissimo" can be used to comment on food

The adjective Bellissimo describes a physical quality, it is not used to describe taste, flavour or smell:

Un tramonto bellissimo
A beautiful sunset

Una donna bellissima
A beautiful woman

Una melodia bellissima
A beautiful melody

Bene and Benissimo are adverbs, therefore they do not qualify nouns (as in the previous examples) but verbs:

Sto bene
I am well

"Things are very well" translates as:
Le cose vanno benissino

A phrase like that requires the verb ANDARE and not the verb ESSERE.

Also consider the case:

I’m well

This sentence is to be translated as:

STO bene

Another similar occurrence would be:

Is everything ok?

VA tutto bene?

It would be wrong to say: È tutto bene? (wrong verb)

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