Borrowed words from Italian in Russian

Borrowed words from Italian in Russian are very common to use. You can enlarge your vocabulary in an easy way just by knowing the borrowed words.

Borrowed Words from Italian in Russian

While learning the Russian words you can enlarge your vocabulary using the borrowed words from different languages. These are the most common words which were taken from Italian:

ба́ста – [ básta ] – basta (enough) (f)

валю́та – [ valúta ] – valuta (currency) (f)
вермише́ль – [ vermishél ] – vermicelli (pasta) (f)

граффи́ти – [ grafīti ] – graffiti (graffiti) (pl)
инкасса́тор – [ inkasátar ] – incassare (cash collector) (m)
контраба́нда – [ kantrabánda ] – contrabbando (smuggling) (f)
мафио́зи – [ mafiózi ] – mafiosi (mobster) (m)
папара́цци – [ paparázzi ] – paparazzi (paparazzi) (m)

сольфе́джио – [ salfédgio ] – solfeggio (sol-fa) (n)
соне́т – [ sanét ] – sonetto (a sonnet) (n)
спаге́тти – [ spaghéti ] – spaghetti (pasta) (pl)

тирамису́ – [ tiramisú ] – tiramisù (tiramisù) (m)
тромбо́н – [ trambón ] – trombone (a trombone) (m)
фагóт – [ fagót ] – fagotto (bassoon) (m)

Fortunately, the usage of these words is not that hard. If you combine a Russian phrase and the borrowed word you’ll succeed in Russian.

Я люблю́ ку́шать пи́ццу.

(‘пицца’ is in accusative case in this line and that’s why you switch ‘а’ to ‘у’).

[ ya lublu kushat pitsu ]

I love eating pizza.

Фаго́т хоро́ший инструме́нт.

[fagot haroshyi instrument ]

A bassoon is a good instrument.

Вермише́ль – моё люби́мое блю́до.

[ vermishel  – mayo lubimaye bluda ]

Vermicelli is my favorite dish.

There is a character ‘Эллочка-людоедочка’ ( [ Ellachka ludayedachka ] – Ellochka a man eater) in the Russian movie ’12 chairs by Ильи Ильфа и Евгения Петрова novel who spoke only 30 words. The author wrote she could say anything she wanted to, using only this amount of words. Among them you could hear some slang words like:

Желе́зно!

[ zhilezna ]

No nonsense!

It’s solid.

(slang)

Хами́те!

[ hamitye ]

You’re mean.

Жуть!

[ zhut ]

It’s horrible!

Хо-хо

[ ho-ho ]

This word could be used to describe surprise, irony, sarcasm and etc.

So, if you know the borrowed words you can already speak better than Ellochka from the ’12 chairs’.

You can learn the vocabulary in the Quizlet here.