Proverb: Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare

Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare is the Italian proverb for the gap between intention and action. Eleven syllables, three rhyming words (dire, fare, mare), and a maritime image that probably could not have come from any country except a peninsula. The English equivalent — easier said than done — is shorter but sound-flatter; the Italian version turns the lesson into a tiny piece of music you can't unhear.

This page walks through the proverb's grammar — substantivized infinitives, the existential c'è, the idiomatic di mezzo, the bare definite article — and unpacks why Italians reach for this one in particular when someone makes a grand promise that sounds shaky.

The text

Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.

Eleven words, two articulated infinitives, one existential verb, one maritime metaphor. The structure is parallel and tight: between [the saying] and [the doing] there is in the middle [the sea].

Grammar in action

Word by word

• Tra — the preposition "between" (also fra; tra and fra are interchangeable, chosen mostly for euphony). Here it sets up the contrast between two things.
• il dire — definite article + infinitive used as a noun. "The saying," "speech," "the act of saying."
• e — "and."
• il fare — same construction. "The doing," "action," "the act of doing."
• c'è — contracted ci
  • è. The existential "there is."
• di mezzo — idiomatic phrase: "in the middle," "in between."
• il mare — the sea. Used metaphorically here for vast distance or difficulty.

The substantivized infinitive: il dire, il fare

The most distinctive grammatical feature of this proverb is the use of infinitives as nouns. Dire and fare are normally verbs ("to say," "to do"). But put a definite article in front of them — il dire, il fare — and they become nouns meaning "the act of saying" or "the act of doing."

English has no clean equivalent. To express "the saying" or "the doing," English usually has to switch to the gerund (saying, doing) or use a paraphrase ("the act of saying"). Italian elegantly leaves the infinitive intact and just adds an article. This is a productive pattern: almost any Italian infinitive can become a noun this way.

A short tour:

Some of these — il sapere, il dovere, il potere, il piacere — are so deeply lexicalized that they're listed in dictionaries as ordinary nouns. Others — il dire, il fare, l'essere, il divenire — feel philosophical or proverbial when used as nouns. The pattern is fully productive: with the right context, any infinitive can take an article.

Why infinitive and not gerund?

A learner sometimes asks: why doesn't Italian use the gerund here, the way English does ("between saying and doing")? The answer is that the Italian gerund is grammatically different from the English one. English uses the -ing form for both the participle ("she is sleeping") and the verbal noun ("sleeping is good for you"). Italian splits these: the gerund (dicendo, facendo) is purely adverbial — it marks how or when something happens — and cannot function as a noun.

For the noun function, Italian uses the infinitive with an article. So:

• "Sleeping is good for you" → Dormire fa bene or Il dormire fa bene. (Infinitive, optionally with article.)
• "She left singing" → Se ne è andata cantando. (Gerund, adverbial.)

The gerund and the substantivized infinitive are doing different jobs. In the proverb, dire and fare are nouns — concepts being compared — so the infinitive is the only correct form.

The existential c'è: ci + è

C'è is the Italian existential expression for "there is." It's a contraction of two pieces:

• ci — the locative-existential clitic, roughly "there."
• è — third-person singular of essere, "is."

Italian merges these into c'è (with apostrophe) when ci meets a vowel. The plural is ci sono ("there are"). Together, c'è and ci sono are how Italian expresses existence and presence.

In the proverb, c'è di mezzo il mare literally is "there is in the middle the sea." The subject of c'è is il mare; the prepositional phrase di mezzo describes where this sea is. Italians can place the subject after the verb very freely with existential c'è — it's a common pattern with verbs of existence, appearance, and arrival.

Di mezzo: a fixed idiom

Di mezzo is an idiomatic prepositional phrase meaning "in the middle," "in between," or "in the way." It's a fixed unit you don't decompose: di (of) + mezzo (middle). The phrase works in two main ways:

1. Spatial: literally in the middle of something. La casa è di mezzo (the house is in the middle).
2. Figurative: standing between, getting in the way, being involved.

The figurative use is especially common in idioms about obstacles or interference:

• C'è di mezzo il mare — there's the sea in the way (the proverb).
• Mettersi di mezzo — to get in the middle, to interfere.
• Togliersi di mezzo — to get out of the way.
• C'entra di mezzo qualcosa — something else is involved (often suspicious or unexplained).

In the proverb, c'è di mezzo il mare says that the sea stands between the saying and the doing — it's a metaphorical obstacle, not a literal one.

Il mare: the maritime metaphor

The choice of il mare — the sea — as the obstacle between saying and doing isn't accidental. Italy is a peninsula. Three sides of the country are coast; the sea is everywhere in Italian cultural memory. Maritime metaphors saturate Italian:

• Una goccia nel mare — a drop in the ocean.
• Andare contro corrente — to swim against the current.
• Tenere la barra dritta — to keep the tiller straight (= to stay the course).
• Essere nella stessa barca — to be in the same boat.
• Avere il mare contro — to have the sea against you (= to face strong opposition).

In tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare, the sea isn't a small puddle or a stream — it's vast, dangerous, and often impossible to cross without serious resources. The metaphor is about magnitude: the gap between what you say and what you actually do isn't a small step. It's an ocean.

The rhyme: dire / fare / mare

Read the proverb out loud and listen for the sound:

Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.

Three sound-matches, one after another, each on the final -re. Dire and fare are infinitives; mare is a noun. They chime because Italian has a rich set of words ending in -are, -ere, -ire, and proverbs exploit this for memorability. (Strictly speaking, dire ends in stressed í-re while fare and mare end in stressed á-re, so the stressed vowels differ. The match is consonanza — shared final consonant + unstressed vowel — rather than a perfect rhyme. But the cadence is so close, and the closing -re so insistent, that the ear hears the triplet as one rhyming run.)

This kind of sound patterning is the reason proverbs survive centuries of oral transmission. Before widespread literacy, you couldn't write the wisdom down — so the wisdom had to be sticky on its own. Rhyme, parallelism, alliteration, and triadic structures (piano, sano, lontano) are the survival tools of pre-literate folk wisdom.

The deep structure: parallel infinitives in opposition

The proverb is built on a clean grammatical parallel:

[Tra] [il dire] [e] [il fare] [c'è di mezzo] [il mare]

Two articulated infinitives in opposition, joined by e, framed by tra, with the sea — il mare — as the obstacle between them. The parallelism is what gives the proverb its punchy rhythm; it sets up an expectation (saying vs. doing) and then delivers the verdict (an ocean of difference).

This kind of two-noun-and-comment structure is one of Italian's signature proverb shapes. Compare:

The first is the proverb proper. The second and third are everyday paraphrases that express the same idea with different grammatical scaffolding. All three rely on the same lesson: words are cheap; action is hard.

Cultural background: rhetoric vs. reality

The proverb captures a very Italian skepticism about grand promises. Italian political culture, business culture, and everyday social culture all have a deep awareness of the gap between what people say and what they actually deliver. The phrase tante chiacchiere e pochi fatti ("lots of chatter and few facts") is the everyday version of the same suspicion.

Italians use this proverb most often in two contexts:

1. Cynically, about someone else's promises. A politician's campaign speech, a colleague's grand plan, a friend's New Year's resolution. Sentiamo le promesse — ma tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.
2. Self-deprecatingly, about one's own intentions. Acknowledging that you talk about doing something more than you do it. Sì, dovrei fare più sport. Ma sai com'è — tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.

The tone is usually wry rather than bitter. Italians don't expect promises to be kept perfectly; they expect a shortfall. The proverb is the linguistic insurance policy: by quoting it, you're acknowledging the inevitable gap and asking that you not be surprised when it appears.

Variations and related sayings

Promettere e mantenere sono due cose diverse

"Promising and keeping a promise are two different things." A more direct paraphrase, very common in everyday speech.

Una cosa è dirlo, un'altra è farlo

"One thing is to say it, another is to do it." The closest English-style parallel, with the contrastive una cosa... un'altra.

Dai fatti, non dalle parole

"By deeds, not by words." Less of a proverb, more of a slogan, but expressing the same insight: actions are the test, talk is not.

Tante chiacchiere e pochi fatti

"Lots of talk and few facts." Often used as an editorial summary of someone whose performance hasn't matched their promises.

When to use this proverb

Three typical contexts:

1. Skeptically, about a grand plan. Someone is laying out an ambitious project and you want to flag your doubt without being rude. Bel piano, ma tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.
2. Self-deprecatingly, about your own promises. You've just said you'll start exercising / write the book / call your aunt every week, and you want to acknowledge in advance that you may not. So, mi metterò a studiare l'italiano sul serio. Ma sì, tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare.
3. Editorially, in writing or commentary. Op-eds, essays, and political commentary use this proverb constantly to mark the gap between rhetoric and policy.

It pairs naturally with another proverb (aiutati che il ciel ti aiuta, chi dorme non piglia pesci) when the implied lesson is "stop talking and start doing."

Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• Il dire and il fare are substantivized infinitives: definite article + infinitive turning a verb into a noun. A productive pattern across Italian.
• The Italian gerund (dicendo, facendo) is adverbial only and cannot replace the substantivized infinitive in this proverb.
• C'è is the existential ci + è = "there is." With existence verbs, the subject often follows the verb.
• Di mezzo is a fixed idiomatic phrase meaning "in the middle / in the way." Don't decompose it.
• The maritime image of il mare draws on the deep cultural memory of a peninsula — Italy is surrounded by sea on three sides, and sea metaphors saturate the language.
• The triple rhyme dire / fare / mare is the proverb's mnemonic backbone — pre-literate wisdom kept its shape through sound.
• Use the proverb skeptically about others' promises, self-deprecatingly about your own, or editorially about the gap between rhetoric and reality.

For more on the substantivized-infinitive pattern, see the infinitive as noun. For other c'è and ci constructions, see ce impersonal constructions. For other proverbs in the same family, see the proverbs collection.