Frutta e verdura

Al mercato

Your shopping list — la lista — already has il limone, la carota and la cipolla on it. This lesson fills the sacchetto with the rest of the market stall: fruit and vegetables Italians buy every week.

La frutta

Italian	English
the pear	la pera
the pear
the banana	la banana
the banana
the peach (the fruit — not pescare)	la pesca
the peach
the olive	l'oliva
the olive

Watch the peach (the fruit — not pescare)

la pesca: it looks exactly like a form of pescare — to fish. At the market, though, nobody is fishing: una pesca is a peach. And yes, the olive is technically fruit — Italians buy le olive beside the vegetables and eat them before dinner.

La verdura

Italian	English
the pea	il pisello
the pea
the cabbage	il cavolo
the cabbage
the garlic	l'aglio
the garlic
the mushroom	il fungo
the mushroom

L'aglio mostly stays singular — one head is plenty — while i piselli and i funghi usually come in plurals. With un chilo di or un sacchetto di, the market is yours: