Formatting Direct Speech
When formatting dialogue in Italian, you will frequently see angled quotation marks (« »), known as le virgolette.
When attributing a quote immediately after it is spoken, Italian uses subject inversion. The reporting verb comes first, followed by the subject. While English allows both "the editor said" and "said the editor," post-verbal inversion (disse il redattore) is the standard structure in Italian.
| "The quotation marks are missing here," the editor said. | «Qui mancano le virgolette», disse il redattore. |
| "Take out the quotation marks," the writer retorted. | «Togli le virgolette», ribatté lo scrittore. |
Expressive Reporting Verbs
This inversion rule applies to any reporting verb, not just dire (to say). You will encounter the same structure with expressive verbs like mormorare (to murmur), esclamare (to exclaim), and obiettare (to object).
| "The punctuation is horrendous," Luca murmured. | «La punteggiatura è orrenda», mormorò Luca. |
| "The editor is always right," the author objected. | «Il redattore ha sempre ragione», obiettò l'autore. |
| "The italics are perfect!" the publisher exclaimed. | «Il corsivo è perfetto!», esclamò l'editore. |
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