Presenting your work at the office: Opening a presentation and stating the goal

💬 Italian uses the plain present presento "I present" where English says "I'm presenting". Same with Oggi parlo di… "Today I'm talking about…".

💬 Adding -issimo to the end of a word boosts it to "very". Same pattern: bellissimo "very beautiful", velocissimo "very fast".

💬 Lo and la shrink to l' before a vowel, so you get l'obiettivo, not lo obiettivo. Same with l'ufficio "the office".

💬 Qual è is written with no apostrophe, even though it looks like it should have one. It's a common spelling slip, even among Italians.

💬 Di + la merges into della. It's the same with di + il, which becomes del: del progetto "of the project".

💬 Italian uses tempi "times" in the plural for durations and timeframes. You'll also hear i tempi del progetto "the project timeline".

💬 L'obiettivo è + a basic verb is a handy template for stating your goal. For example: L'obiettivo è aumentare le vendite "The goal is to increase sales".

💬 Durare "to last" is how Italians ask about length of time. Use the same question for a film or a meeting: Quanto dura la riunione? "How long is the meeting?"

💬 A + la merges into alla. Same with a + il, which becomes al: al telefono "on the phone".

💬 Tacked onto the end of a statement, va bene? checks for agreement, like "OK?". Said flat without the question, it means "fine" or "all right".

🇮🇹 Italian meetings can get lively, with people chipping in mid-talk. Setting this ground rule up front is normal and won't seem rude.

💬 Literally "into the wolf's mouth", so the words themselves don't say "luck" at all.

🇮🇹 Colleagues say this before a big presentation or exam. Answering grazie is considered bad luck, so reply Crepi! instead.

💬 Crepi literally means "may it die", meaning the wolf, so it's not a word for thanks at all.

🇮🇹 Italians use allora constantly as a starter word, like "so" or "right then". It's a natural way to signal you're getting going.

💬 Ecco means "here is" or "here are" for pointing something out, and the noun follows directly. For example: Ecco i dati "Here's the data".

🇮🇹 Office Italian borrows English words like slide, meeting and deadline freely. You'll hear them used naturally in presentations.

💬 Here la means the polite "you", not "the". It goes before the verb, the same way La chiamo means "I'll call you".

🇮🇹 A courteous, slightly formal way for a manager or chair to give a presenter the floor. Take it as your signal to begin.