How to Say ‘Screw you’ in Italian
Vai al diavolo
vai ahl dyAH-voh-loh
[vai ahl dyAH-voh-loh]
💬 Usage Tip: [Al] is [a] + [il]. The same kind of merge happens in very common pairs like [del] ([di] + [il]) and [nel] ([in] + [il]).
🇮🇹 In Italy: [Vai al diavolo] is rude, but noticeably milder than the obscene options on this list. It can work when you want anger without sounding maximally vulgar.
Phrase Breakdown
Vai
[vai]
go
Imperative of 'andare'; here it starts a rude dismissal.
Se non ti va bene, vai al diavolo.
If you don’t like it, go to hell.
al
[ahl]
to the
Contraction of 'a' + 'il', meaning 'to the'.
Se non ti va bene, vai al diavolo.
If you don’t like it, go to hell.
diavolo
[dyAH-voh-loh]
devil / hell
Literally 'devil'; in this expression it corresponds to 'hell'.
Se non ti va bene, vai al diavolo.
If you don’t like it, go to hell.
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