Negotiating salary: Discussing benefits like vacation days or remote work

💬 smart working is borrowed English, but Italians use it to mean working from home. It takes lo because it starts with s + another consonant, like lo stipendio "the salary".

🇮🇹 This is the everyday term in Italian offices. Native speakers will understand lavoro da remoto too, but smart working is what HR will say.

💬 Italian makes a question just by raising your voice at the end. There's no extra word and no change in word order: è possibile "it's possible" becomes è possibile?.

💬 For "per week", Italian uses a with no article: due giorni a settimana. You'll also hear alla settimana, and both are fine.

💬 da casa has no article, just like a casa "at home" and in ufficio "at the office".

💬 After posso, the next verb stays in its basic form: posso lavorare, posso prendere. It works the same with devo "I must" and voglio "I want".

🇮🇹 Benefits that start only after six months often line up with the periodo di prova "probation period", which is common in Italian contracts.

💬 Italians "take" holidays with prendere, where English might say "have" or "go on". The same verb works for prendere un giorno libero "take a day off".

💬 a becomes ad before a word starting with a: ad agosto. Before other months it stays a: a luglio.

🇮🇹 August is peak holiday season in Italy, and many offices close or slow down around Ferragosto (15 August). Asking for August off is normal, not a big request.

💬 Adding -issimo to a word intensifies it: bene becomes benissimo. The same works for bello → bellissimo "very beautiful".

💬 La here means formal "you", so it reads literally as "I thank you". With a friend you'd say ti ringrazio.

🇮🇹 This sounds more polished than a plain grazie mille "thanks a lot". It suits the end of a job interview or negotiation.

🇮🇹 This is the polite reply to thanks from someone senior. Among friends you'd say figurati or di niente "it's nothing".

💬 Le is formal "to you" and goes before the verb. The informal version is ti mando "I send you".

💬 Italian often uses the present tense for near-future plans: mando "I send" works as "I'll send" once you add domani "tomorrow".