WTI Magazine #48    2014 November, 26
Author : Manuela Bianchi for learnitalygroup.com      Translation by:

We begin today with a little anatomy. Have you ever wondered how do you call in Italian the five fingers of your hand? I'll reveal it now: "pollice" is the thumb, "indice" is the index finger, "medio" is the middle finger, "anulare" is the ring finger and finally "mignolo" is the pinky. But let's reveal another curiosity: in Italian the word "dito" (finger) is the singular masculine but in the plural form it is surprisingly transformed in feminine: "dita".

There is an incorrect use of the colloquial masculine plural "diti" that should be absolutely avoided except in one case, where it becomes exceptionally mandatory, and that is when we speak of "diti mignoli" (pinkies). For example, you will say "mi fanno male le dita" (my fingers hurt), ""mi sono fatto male al dito medio" (I hurt my middle finger), but you will say "mi sono fratturato i diti mignoli" (my pinkies are fractured).

Now let's see the use of this word in the singular and plural (dito-dita) in particular expressions and idioms. In Italian to mean "non fare nulla" (to do nothing), you can use the expression "non muovere un dito" (not to lift a finger): for example, "Mario non ha mosso un dito per aiutare Sofia" (Mario did not lift a finger to help Sofia). Sometimes you can "morderti le dita", (bite your fingers), when you can feel anger or regret against something. When a meal, lunch or dinner are "da leccarsi le dita" (to lick ones fingers) it means that they were yummy and very liked. It is also said that some things or people are unique or in very limited number and in that case you can say that "si contano sulle dita di una mano" (they can be counted on the fingers of one hand): for example "gli amici veri si contano sulle dita di una mano" (true friends can be counted on the fingers of one hand).

When you are talking about a painful, delicate or embarrassing subject, it can be said that "metti il dito sulla piaga" (you put your finger on the lesion). Finally, if you have suffered an injustice and you won't forget the offense, patiently waiting for the right moment to get your revenge, you can use the expression "legarsela al dito" (to tie it on one's finger).

Ciliegie or ciliege?
Today I want to focus the attention of our students on one of the most painful aspects of our Italian language: the plurals of words ending in -cia and -gia. In every learnItaly seat, for our students it is always a surprise to find out that the Italians, who apparently should master their language, often continue to commit misspellings like these.

We start by a common doubt: the plural of "ciliegia" (cherry). Is it "ciliegie" or "ciliege"? The presence/absence of the "i" in the plural has been a source of heated debate especially in the past centuries when writers and grammarians were in
total disagreement between them, contributing to the confusion of language speakers. Yet today problems are overcome and the maximum institution regarding the Italian language, the "Accademia della Crusca", has clearly given an easy and empirical grammatical rule. Let's see what it is.

To properly form the plural of female words ending with –cia and -gia we just have to analyze the word in question and draw attention to a particular. If we are dealing with words like "ciliegia" (cherry), "grigia" (grey), "goccia" (drop), spiaggia (beach), "arancia" (orange), camicia (shirt), "valigia" (suitcase) or "doccia" (shower) we just have to see which letter precedes the -g or the -c. If this letter is a vowel then the "i" will be maintained and we will have plurals as "valigia-valigie", "camicia-camicie", "grigia-grigie", "ciliegia-ciliegie". If the -c or the -g is preceded by a consonant, then the plural will lose the "i", giving life to words like "arancia-arance", "doccia-docce", "goccia-gocce", "spiaggia-spiagge" and so on. The same goes for words ending in -accia, -uccia, -iccia -occia losing the "i" in the plural, as in "minaccia" (threat), which will go "minaccia-minacce".

So the rule is this, simple and practical.