Lost in Translation: Italian and English Idioms That Can’t Be Translated Literally

Italian idioms ~ English idioms ~ Why idioms matter

  


One of the joys—and frustrations—of learning Italian is discovering that words don’t always mean what you expect. Literal translations can take you down some very strange paths. Take the phrase pirata della strada. We saw it reading an article in the newspaper. We imagined a swashbuckling figure on the highway, sword in hand. In reality it means “hit-and-run driver.” Not quite the same cinematic flair.

This is where idioms come in. Idioms are the secret handshakes of a language—phrases that don’t make sense if you translate them word for word but unlock a whole world of cultural nuance once you know them. Using idioms is tricky but demonstrates a level of proficiency that will impress native speakers.

Here are a few of our favorite Italian idioms, paired with their English counterparts. Following that are some English (American) idioms paired with their Italian counterparts.

Italian idioms

Here are some Italian idioms that ,if you translate word-for-word, will lead you astray. 

In bocca al lupo → literally “in the mouth of the wolf,” but it means good luck. The Italian equivalent of “break a leg.” The common reply is Crepi il lupo! (“May the wolf die!”)

Avere le mani bucate → “to have holes in your hands,” which means to spend money easily.

Non avere peli sulla lingua → “to have no hairs on your tongue,” or in other words, to be blunt with no sugarcoating.

Cadere dalle nuvole → “to fall from the clouds,” meaning to be completely surprised or unaware

Essere al verde → “to be in the green,” meaning to being broke, i.e., out of money.

Andare in bianco → “to go in white,” meaning to fail at something, often romantically.

Saltare di palo in frasca → “to jump from pole to branch,” used to describe someone who changes topics erratically.

Acqua in bocca! → “water in your mouth!” which is a way of saying “keep it secret!”

English idioms

And then there are the English idioms that Italians scratch their heads at. A bee in your bonnet doesn’t mean insect troubles—it means you’re obsessed with something. Italians might say avere un chiodo fisso (“to have a fixed nail”) to capture the same idea. Different imagery, same human tendency to get stuck on a thought. 


A bee in your bonnet → Italians don’t keep bees in their bonnets. They’d say avere un chiodo fisso (“to be obsessed with”) or for more emphasis avere un chiodo fisso in testa.

Raining cats and dogs → Italians don’t imagine animals falling from the sky. They’d say piove a catinelle (“it’s pouring rain”). Another variant is piove a dirotto.

Steal someone’s thunder → Italians might be puzzled by this one. The closest idea is rubare la scena (“to steal the scene”). Italians might also say rubare la luce dei riflettori (“steal the spotlight”).

Let the cat out of the bag → Italians don’t keep cats in bags. They’d say vuotare il sacco (“to empty the sack”) for confessing or revealing a secret.

Bite the bullet → Italians prefer ingoiare il rospo (“to swallow the toad”) when facing something unpleasant.

Hit the sack → Italians don’t hit the sacks; they say andare a letto (“go to bed”) or andare a nanna (“go to sleep”).

Kill two birds with one stone → Italians soften it slightly: prendere due piccioni con una fava (“to catch two pigeons with one bean”).

Have skeletons in the closet → Italians say avere degli altarini (“to have little altars”), meaning hidden secrets. Altarini refers to small secrets, not necessarily dark ones. For serious secrets, Italians might say scheletri nell’armadio (literally the same as English).

Be under the weather → Italians don’t put health under the weather; they’d simply say non mi sento bene (“I don’t feel well”). Other idiomatic options are sentirsi così così and essere giù di corda (“to feel down”).

Spill the beans → Italians don’t spill beans; they vuotare il sacco, or spifferare (“to blurt out”).

Break the ice → Italians share this one, but they say rompere il ghiaccio — the cultures align here!

Kick the bucket → Italians would say tirare le cuoia (“to kick the hides”) for dying.

Cost an arm and a leg → Italians would say costare un occhio della testa (“to cost an eye from your head”).

Why Idioms Matter

Idioms aren’t just colorful expressions; they’re a window into how a culture encodes meaning. From a linguistic perspective, idioms are what scholars call non-compositional phrases: the meaning of the whole cannot be deduced from the sum of its parts. You can parse peli (hairs) and lingua (tongue) all day long, but you’ll never arrive at “to be blunt” without cultural context.

Idioms are non-compositional because:

• They demonstrate semantic opacity. The meaning is conventionalized and often culturally bound.
• They have a fixed structure, and you can’t freely substitute words, e.g., “kick the pail” doesn’t work.
• They break the rule that meaning equals the sum of their parts.

Non-compositionality is a key property that makes idioms challenging for machine translation and language learners.

Idioms also highlight the metaphorical frameworks that different languages rely on. English speakers imagine secrets as beans to be spilled, Italians imagine them as sacks to be emptied. English speakers put bees in bonnets, Italians hammer nails into their thoughts. These metaphors reveal how each culture conceptualizes abstract ideas like secrecy, obsession, or luck.

There’s also a pragmatic dimension: idioms are shortcuts to belonging. Using them correctly signals fluency not just in grammar but in cultural nuance. A learner who says in bocca al lupo instead of buona fortuna immediately sounds more natural, more “inside” the language. Conversely, a literal translation (“into the wolf’s mouth”) risks confusion or even comic misunderstanding.

Finally, idioms remind us that language is not a transparent code but a cultural artifact. They carry history, humor, and worldview. To study idioms is to study how people think, what they value, and how they play with words. That’s why mastering them is less about vocabulary lists and more about stepping into another culture’s imagination.

So the next time you’re tempted to translate literally, pause and ask: is this really about wolves and nails and buckets? Or is there a hidden meaning waiting to be discovered? That’s where the fun begins.