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Italian Word of The Day Supported by: Fluente logo For Members

Italian word of the day: 'Approfittare'

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected]
Italian word of the day: 'Approfittare'
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond"

Take advantage of this chance to learn a very useful Italian word.

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If you had to guess the meaning of today's word in English, you might say “profit”. And that is almost what it means.

Approfittare (hear it pronounced here) has the same Latin root as profit, but as is so often the case, the meaning has shifted. The modern Italian word can mean 'make the most of”, “take advantage of”, "profit from" or “exploit” - taking on darker shades depending on the context.

- Devo approfittare del silenzio per leggere un libro

- I should take advantage of the silence to read a book

- Approfittiamo della bella giornata e andiamo al parco

- Let's make the most of this nice day and go to the park

- Non si deve approfittare della buone fede altrui

- One should not take advantage of the good faith of others

- Ha approfittato della sventura degli altri

- He profited from the misfortune of others

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That person who takes advantage of others could be called an approfittatore: an “exploiter” or “opportunist”.

And there's also an imperative phrase, which is the sort of thing you might want to say on the last day of an Italian holiday:

- Approfittane!

- Make the most of it!

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