The Italian verb sentire can be confusing for beginner
learners of Italian. It means to feel but is just as
well used to mean hear, taste, smell or sense. This can be confusing for some
English speakers and Spanish speakers learning Italian.(not as much for Spanish speakers though)

Esempio: Parli piu forte, per favore, Non ti sento (bene).
Talk a little louder, please. I can't hear you (well).

Come ti senti? Mi sento bene. How do you feel? I feel fine.
(from sentirsi)

Sento un dolce profumo. I smell something sweet.

Senti il vino in questo sugo? Do you taste the wine in this sauce?

Hai sentito quel rumore? Did you hear that sound?

Sentiamo un po' se il vino e buono. Let's taste the wine to see if it's good.

Lo sapevo per sentito dire. I heard it through the grapevine.

The verb "to listen"(to) is "ascoltare" and the verb "to hear" or "listen to" is "udire." (Piu confusione per voi!)

Ti piace ascoltare la muscia alla radio? Do you like to listen to music on the radio?

Dio ascoltera le preghiere dei fedeli. Go will listen(heed)the prayers of the faithful.(magari!)

Gli studenti ascoltavano attentamente la lezione. The student were listening attentively to the lesson.

Tua nonna e una donna molto saggia. Dovresti ascoltare il suo consiglio. Your grandmother is a very wise woman. You should listen to her advice.

Udire (to hear, listen to) - Related word l'uditore - auditor (student who sits in on classes at a university) Thus to audit a class.(take a class but receive no credit for it)

Odo una canzone in lontananza. I hear a song in the distance.

Abbiamo udito che ti sei sposato. We heard you got married.

Also auditorium (plural auditoriums, or less commonly auditoria) is the area within a theatre, concert hall,
or other performance space where the audience is located in order to hear and watch the performance.

The term is taken from Latin; the concept is taken from the Greek auditorium which had a series of
semi-circular seating shelves in the theatre, divided by broad 'belts', called diazomata, with eleven rows of seats between each.

Abbiamo udito che ti sei sposato. We heard you got married.



That's not fluent Italian. We say: "Abbiamo sentito che ti sei sposato". "Udire" is poetic language and very rarely used in standard Italian. It's used in medicine: "udito" (hearing faculties) and in some other ways like: "Udite, udite !" that is a funny way to introduce a revelation, ex.: "Udite, udite: Mario ha una nuova ragazza !"

"That's not fluent Italian." Don't you mean that's not stadard Italian?

Today, schoolchildren from all regions of Italy learn the standard Italian language, and perhaps also their regional dialect.
Standard Italian has evolved from the times when it was a medieval Tuscan dialect, and now serves as the common language of Italy.

He speaks Italian fluently.
capable of using a language easily and accurately; fluent in Italian is effortlessly smooth and flowing; Speaking like or almost like a native speaker.

A standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. As it is usually the form promoted in schools and the media, it is usually considered by speakers of the language to be more "correct" in some sense than other dialects.

Usually, but not always, based on the tongue of a capital city, a standard language is defined by the selection of certain regional and class markers, and the rejection of others. This is the version of a language that is typically taught to learners of the language as a foreign language, and most texts written in that language follow its spelling and grammar norms.

Vernacular is another good word to know when speaking of languages. In general linguistics, it is used to describe local languages as opposed to linguae francae, official standards or global languages. It is sometimes applied to nonstandard dialects of a global language.

Max is right - Is Abbiamo sentito che ti sei sposato -

But Villa has a good point :
When I first visited the US in 1984 I was at my girlfriend house with a friend - She decided to boil some corn ( Basically an unknown food to us ) - She said to remove it from the stove when ready - We asked how we would know - Her answer was ' Lo sentirete ' ( she meant we would smell it ) but we understood we would hear it - So we waited for the boiling corn to make popping noise ......
She should have said:
Sentirete l' odore del granoturco
Sentire can be touch - smell or hear

Oh for the love of Jesus Villa! Arrrgggggggghhhhhhhh! Basta! :D :D

Well Aliena - I like Villa language posting - When in September the new site will be out I was planning to use them in the new Italian section -

Pensavo di usare il metodo Villa nella nuova sezione Italiano a Settembre

I like them as well Paolo, but I cant keep up with them all. I'm running from thread to thread come un gallina e sono confuso! :D

Paolo does "the new site will be out" mean that everything will change and old threads will be all deleted?
Cause I kinda like the way it is now.

Dear Villa,

In Italy we consider 'standard' Italian the language spoken by TV and radio speakers. The language of media is considered the 'mother' of contemporary Italian because up to 60's Italian was only spoken by educated people, it means that the majority of Italians only spoke dialect. Chronicles tell that during the WW I soldiers did not understand each other and officers had many difficulties in managing troops with 20 different languages. Scholarization, radio trasmissions and cinematographer improved the situation but did not solve the problem entirely. Only in the post-war the Government realized that one language was needed and made programs to lower analphabetism through scholarization and diffusion of Italian. Television made the myracle: in 60's thanks to some very popular tv-shows, Italians of all classes had the chance to learn 'standard' Italian.

Grazie Max. Molto interessante tutto. Funny how "Italians" had to learn
to same standard language as the rest of us.

Vivi, ridi, ama...