Italian expression of the day: 'Puntare i piedi'
Here's a phrase for those times when you need to put your foot down.
Have you ever had a moment when you really wanted to stop something from happening? Or perhaps you’ve found yourself in a situation where you strongly disagreed with someone?
In either of these cases, puntare i piedi is the perfect Italian expression to use.
Similar to ‘putting your foot down’ in English, puntare i piedi is another foot-related expression which is used in much the same way.
Puntare means to point and piedi means feet, plural. It’s also used with the plural masculine article i rather than pronouns as in English. Literally translated, this would be to ‘point the feet’.
Here are a couple of examples of ways you might hear it used by Italians:
Non apprezzavo quando Jane veniva qui e prendeva i vestiti dal mio guardaroba. Dovevo puntare i piedi.
I didn’t appreciate it when Jane came here and took clothes from my wardrobe. I had to put my foot down.
Simon ha detto qualcosa di terribile e io mi sono opposto; ho puntato i piedi.
Simon said something terrible and I opposed it; I put my foot down.
Non può continuare a prendersi una pausa dal lavoro. Ho bisogno di puntare i piedi.
He cannot keep on taking time off work. I need to put my foot down.
Next time you're in such a situation in Italy, you'll know exactly what to say.
Do you have a favourite Italian word you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
Did you know you can get all our Italian words and expressions of the day on our new app as soon as we publish them? It takes a few seconds to download the app at the Apple or Android store, then you can select “Italian Word of the Day” in your Notification options via the “User” button.
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Have you ever had a moment when you really wanted to stop something from happening? Or perhaps you’ve found yourself in a situation where you strongly disagreed with someone?
In either of these cases, puntare i piedi is the perfect Italian expression to use.
Similar to ‘putting your foot down’ in English, puntare i piedi is another foot-related expression which is used in much the same way.
Puntare means to point and piedi means feet, plural. It’s also used with the plural masculine article i rather than pronouns as in English. Literally translated, this would be to ‘point the feet’.
Here are a couple of examples of ways you might hear it used by Italians:
Non apprezzavo quando Jane veniva qui e prendeva i vestiti dal mio guardaroba. Dovevo puntare i piedi.
I didn’t appreciate it when Jane came here and took clothes from my wardrobe. I had to put my foot down.
Simon ha detto qualcosa di terribile e io mi sono opposto; ho puntato i piedi.
Simon said something terrible and I opposed it; I put my foot down.
Non può continuare a prendersi una pausa dal lavoro. Ho bisogno di puntare i piedi.
He cannot keep on taking time off work. I need to put my foot down.
Next time you're in such a situation in Italy, you'll know exactly what to say.
Do you have a favourite Italian word you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
Did you know you can get all our Italian words and expressions of the day on our new app as soon as we publish them? It takes a few seconds to download the app at the Apple or Android store, then you can select “Italian Word of the Day” in your Notification options via the “User” button.
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