Christmas Day: Exchanging Christmas greetings and well-wishes

💬 resto means "I stay", not "I rest". a casa needs no "the": vado a casa "I'm going home".

💬 degli is di + gli, and here it means "some". Same pattern: delle amiche "some (female) friends".

💬 Che + an adjective makes a quick exclamation: Che buono! "How tasty!", Che freddo! "How cold!"

🇮🇹 Auguri! on its own works for any celebration: Christmas, New Year, birthdays, weddings. It's the safe all-purpose greeting.

🇮🇹 Tanti auguri is also how Italians say "happy birthday". It's the opening line of the birthday song, so don't be surprised to hear it outside Christmas.

💬 Italian keeps "the" before "your": alla tua famiglia is literally "to the your family". Close family members in the singular drop it, as in a tua madre "to your mother".

🇮🇹 Sending wishes to someone's family is a warm, expected touch at Christmas. Italians commonly pass them along when they part.

💬 glielo packs "it" and "to them/him/her" into one word before the verb. The gli sounds like the "lli" in "million": (LYEH-loh).

🇮🇹 le feste "the holidays" covers the whole stretch from Christmas to Epiphany on January 6. People say this when parting any time in that period.

💬 ci vediamo means "we see each other". On its own, Ci vediamo! is a common "See you!"

💬 Don't drop the n's: anno "year" has a doubled n, while ano means "anus". Hold the n a beat longer: (AHN-noh).

🇮🇹 A one-word reply that bounces back any wish, whether "Merry Christmas" or "Enjoy your meal". It's polite with anyone, formal or casual.

🇮🇹 Ciao is only for people you're on familiar terms with. With others, use Arrivederci instead.