Listen to the audio and follow the pronunciation, and when you’re ready, practice saying the Italian words aloud. I hope you don’t need to use it, but you’ll also learn how to say "Sono malato" in Italian – just in case!
Just as everything else in Italian, body parts are either feminine or masculine, which affects how you would describe them! Look at the following gender clues in both singular and plural forms:
Resources for further reading:
Let's get started...
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Italian pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
Il corpo
The body
La gamba
The leg
Le gambe
The legs
La mano
The hand
Le mani
The hands
Il piede
The foot
I piedi
The feet
La testa
The head
Lo stomaco
The stomach
La schiena
The back
When a word begins with “Il”, it means it falls into the masculine group of words, and when it begins with “La”, it’s feminine. If the word is a plural then it begins with "Le" if it refers to a feminine noun, and either with "Gli" or "I" if it's a masculine word. Thus "la mano" becomes "le mani" and "il piede" becomes "i piedi".
When describing physical pain in Italian, its useful to know a few expressions that might get you some help when you need it!
Sono malato
I am sick
Malore / dolore
Pain / Ache
Io ho mal di testa
I have a headache
Io ho mal di schiena
I have a back ache
Io ho mal di stomaco
I have a stomach ache
That's it for this lesson! Here are a few recommended Italian lessons to try next!
A presto!
Maria DiLorenzi and the Rocket Italian Team
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!