Il bagno
Time to name what is actually in the Italian bathroom. You wash your hair with
| the shampoo | lo shampoo |
and your teeth with
| the toothbrush | lo spazzolino |
— a diminutive of
spazzola (brush), built just like the diminutives you met earlier. Both take
lo, the article for s + consonant words.
You wash your face in
| the sink | il lavandino |
— the sink, in the bathroom or in the kitchen. A long soak happens in
| the bathtub | la vasca |
, the bathtub (in full
la vasca da bagno); the quick alternative is
la doccia, which you already know.
Gli elettrodomestici
Household machines are gli elettrodomestici — literally the electric domestics. The hardest-working one is
| the washing machine | la lavatrice |
, the washing machine: it deals with
il bucato so you don't have to. Not a machine but just as essential for living:
| the lamp | la lampada |
, the lamp.
Due stanze in più
Two more parts of the home.
| the living room (more formal than il salotto) | il soggiorno |
is the living room — the same room as
il salotto, but
soggiorno is the neutral, floor-plan word you see in housing ads, while
salotto has a cosier, sitting-room flavor. And the car sleeps in
| the garage | il garage |
— borrowed from French and, like most foreign borrowings, unchanged in the plural.
