What does secondo me mean in Italian?
When you want to express your own opinion and thoughts or convey those of others, in English, you can use the expression: in my opinion, according to someone, or someone thinks.
To say this in Italian, we can use just one word: secondo combined with a personal pronoun.
Yes, this is the same word as the one for second, both as a unit of time and as an ordinal number, but its meaning is completely different!
Let’s have a look at some examples:
Secondo me dovresti scrivergli.
In my opinion, you should write to him. Or I think you should write to him.
Secondo loro ho dormito da te ieri.
They think I slept at yours last night.
Questo è troppo costoso secondo lei.
According to her, this is too expensive.
How to use secondo me and secondo te?
This expression is very easy to use, and you will hear it in all kinds of contexts. To get it right, there are just a couple of things to remember:
- For the first and second-person singular, we do not use io and tu but we use me and te: secondo me (in my opinion), secondo te (in your opinion).
These forms are mainly used to express your own opinion or ask for an opinion in an informal setting. In English, they can often be translated as I think or you think.
Lui che lavoro fa secondo te?
What do you think he does for a living?
Secondo me questa torta è troppo dolce, non mi piace.
In my opinion, this cake is too sweet; I do not like it.
Secondo te ho sbagliato a licenziarmi?
Do you think leaving my job was a mistake?
How to use secondo lei and secondo noi?
With all the other forms, we use the simple personal pronoun after secondo:
- secondo lei or lui
Secondo lei stavo meglio con i capelli lunghi.
In her opinion, I looked better with long hair.
- secondo noi
No, secondo noi non dovresti andare.
No, in our opinion you should not go.
- secondo voi
Sono confuso. Cosa dovrei fare secondo voi?
What do you think I should do?
- secondo loro
Secondo loro siamo stati maleducati e dovremmo chiedere scusa.
According to them, we were rude and should say sorry.
How to use secondo as according to?
Secondo is not just used in combination with personal pronouns to express and ask for opinions. It can also be used in combination with nouns to mean according to.
Remember to use the noun with its corresponding article.
Have a look at the examples below:
Secondo le previsioni, stasera pioverà.
According to the weather forecasts, it will rain tonight.
Dovresti guidare secondo il codice stradale.
You should drive according to traffic laws.
Secondo gli esperti della nutrizione, mangiare carne fa male alla salute.
According to nutrition experts, eating meat is bad for your health.
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