Idioms that are identical in French and Italian

[Pacifica]

I find that many constructions and idiomatic expressions can be translated literally in the two languages. For example:

Au pouvoir - al potere
Faire front à - far fronte a
Faire le point - fare il punto
Faire peur - fare paura
Mettre en jeu - mettere in gioco
Se rendre compte de - rendersi conto di
Se mettre d'accord - mettersi d'accordo

Also, the en/y pronouns that cause some difficulties to other learners are straightforward for Italian speakers, since they correspond to "ne" and "ci", respectively.

Another one:

Faire partie de - fare parte di

One more:

Il/ce n'est pas dit que - non è detto che = "it isn't necessarily the case that", "not necessarily"

 

[Pacifica]

Avoir raison - avere ragione = "to be right"

Spanish also has this one, though it sounds slightly less similar because the Spanish verb for "to have" has a different origin (from tenere instead of habere like in French and Italian): tener razón.

 

[Pacifica]

Je ne me sens pas à la hauteur - non mi sento all'altezza = "I don't feel up to it." The English is pretty close too, but a bit less literally so.

 

[Pacifica]

Avoir sommeil - avere sonno = "to be sleepy"

 

[Matthaeus]

Art thou studying Italian now?

 

[Pacifica]

Art thou studying Italian now?

Not very seriously, but I'm doing a little of it on Duolingo.

 

[Pacifica]

A basic one that I've known for a while but forgot to mention:

Comment tu t'appelles ? - Come ti chiami? = literally "how do you call yourself?" i.e., "what's your name?"

 

[Terry S.]

Forgive this post which is the polar opposite of the purpose of the thread.

In the Italian department at uni we were gravely warned not to say tutti i giorni as it was a "Gallican heresy" i.e. not true Italian but something modelled on the the French tous les jours, which entered Italian at some point of contact in history. Instead we were to say ogni giorno.

 

[kizolk]

Forgive this post which is the polar opposite of the purpose of the thread.

In the Italian department at uni we were gravely warned not to say tutti i giorni as it was a "Gallican heresy" i.e. not true Italian but something modelled on the the French tous les jours, which entered Italian at some point of contact in history. Instead we were to say ogni giorno.

That might be just me, but the French equivalent chaque jour sounds somewhat formal to me, unlike tous les jours. Or at least, leaving aside the slight difference in meaning, it seems to me the latter has superseded the former in everyday speech.

 

[Terry S.]

Now that you mention it... I wonder if there is some kind of common origin of chaque jour and ogni giorno.

 

[Ybytyruna]

One more:

Il/ce n'est pas dit que - non è detto che = "it isn't necessarily the case that", "not necessarily"

Aliquot et nos Lusitanice loquentes usurpamus...

Au pouvoir - al potere - ao poder
Faire front à - far fronte a - fazer frente a
Faire le point - fare il punto - ?
Faire peur - fare paura - fazer pavor (saepius "fazer medo")
Mettre en jeu - mettere in gioco - ?
Se rendre compte de - rendersi conto di - ?
Se mettre d'accord - mettersi d'accordo - ?

Faire partie de - fare parte di - fazer parte de

Avoir raison - avere ragione - ter razão (ter < *tẽer < *tener[e])

Avoir sommeil - avere sonno - ter sono

Comment tu t'appelles ? - Come ti chiami? - Como você se chama? (saepius "Qual é o seu nome?")

 

[kizolk]

Au pouvoir - al potere - ?

In European PT, ao poder is used, although I don't know how frequent it is.

Also, I think in that variety, como te chamas is more frequent than qual é o teu nome.