Have you ever been speaking Italian and suddenly realized:
You don’t know the word you need. 😬
Maybe you know exactly what you want to say in English, but the Italian word just isn’t there.
What do you do?
Well… you keep talking!
Being fluent doesn’t mean knowing every single word. One of the most useful skills you can develop is finding a different way to express yourself using the Italian you do know.
A little example…
Let’s say you don’t know the Italian word for corkscrew.
(It’s cavatappi, by the way.) 🍾
Instead of stopping the conversation—or immediately reaching for your phone—you could say:
Mi serve una cosa per aprire questa bottiglia di vino.
I need something to open this bottle of wine. 🍷
Or:
Come si chiama quella cosa che si usa per aprire una bottiglia?
What’s that thing called that you use to open a bottle?
You communicated what you needed without knowing the word. 🥂
That’s fluency, too.
Your turn! 🇮🇹
Here’s a piccola sfida d’italiano (small Italian challenge):
Imagine you’re talking to someone in Italian and you don’t know the word for umbrella.
How would you describe it without using a translator or dictionary? ☂️
You might start with:
È una cosa che… 🌧️
It’s a thing that…
Then see how much you can explain using the Italian you already know.
Don’t worry about making it perfect. The goal is to keep communicating!
And if you come up with a creative way to describe it, share it in the comments. 😊
One more thing…
This is one reason I encourage my students to use the question:
Come si dice…?
When you really don’t know a word, of course, ask! But you won’t always have someone there to give you the answer.
Learning to work around a missing word gives you another tool—and over time, that tool can make you a much more confident and flexible Italian speaker.
🍂 Want to keep building your Italian this fall?
My Fall 2026 Italian classes are now enrolling, with small online groups and a strong focus on speaking, listening and building confidence using the Italian you already know.
