In English we say chocolate cream, but in Italian you'd say crema al cioccolato.
Io mangio la crema al cioccolato.
I’m eating the chocolate cream.
Io ho il gelato al caffè.
I have the coffee ice‑cream.
Al is often used to talk about food and flavors, but you’ll see that little word in many other situations. Keep an eye out for it!
Here’s a recap for the forms of verbs that end in ‑are, like mangiare, cucinare, and tagliare.
| mangiare to eat |
|
|---|---|
| io I |
mangio (I) eat |
| tu you (singular) |
mangi (you) eat |
| lui / lei he / she |
mangia (he / she) eats |
| noi we |
mangiamo (we) eat |
| voi you (plural) |
mangiate (you) eat |
| loro they |
mangiano (they) eat |
The letter c in Italian usually sounds like k in English. However, when it comes before e or i, c sounds like English ch.
caffè
it sounds like k, as in “cap”
cena
as in “cheap”
cibo
as in “chair”
And whenever you come across a double c, be sure to make it sound longer and stronger than a single c.
cioccolato
longer sound, as in “black car”