“Ogni” in Italian
Ogni: Meaning in Italian
I am pretty sure you already heard or read the word ogni many times, but let me explain to you its different uses.
Ogni is a widespread and versatile word. It can be translated into “each“, “all“, and “every“. The context, of course, is extremely important to understand its precise meaning.
How to Use “Ogni” in Italian
Given its diverse translations, “ogni” is very commonly used in day-to-day interactions. It can be used with a:
- Distributional meaning, as in sentences like ho chiamato ogni collega (I called every colleague);
- Including meaning, as in sentences like ogni studente deve studiare (every student must study), meaning all students;
- Temporal meaning, as in sentences like faccio la spesa ogni settimana (I do the grocery every week).
When it is used with its distributional meaning, “ogni” individually denotes each member or item of a group that takes part in an activity or action.
When it is used with its including meaning, it underlines and ensures that no individual or item is left out, emphasizing equal treatment within a specified group.
When it is used with its temporal meaning, “ogni” in Italian denotes the frequency with which an action is performed and it takes on the meaning of temporal adverb.
As you might have noticed, the border between every translation is very blurred. In particular, distributional and including meanings often overlap, because if you want to distribute an action throughout an entire group of items, then you are including them all.
Let’s have a look at three different examples:
Ogni persona deve presentare questo documento.
Each person has to hand in this document.
Il treno passa ogni mezz’ora.
The train comes past every half hour.
C’era gente di ogni tipo.
There were people of all type.
“Ogni” vs “Tutti”
The difference between “each”, “all”, and “every” is very subtle in English, but the good thing about Italian is that you can use ogni to mean all of them.
My advice is that you don’t focus too much on English, but rather think in Italian, and it’ll be easier to understand how this language works.
Here are some examples:
Ogni suo film è un capolavoro.
Each of his movies is a masterpiece.
Ho letto ogni pagina del libro.
I read each of the pages of the book.
Vado da lei ogni giorno.
I go to hers each day.
As you can see, in all these cases the meanings are both “each” and “all”. In fact, you could use “tutti” in these sentence as well.
However, there is an important grammatical difference between the two: “tutti” requires the noun to be plural and agrees in gender with the noun itself. This is why you can also find “tutte” for feminine plural nouns. Instead, “ogni” is always followed by the singular form of the noun and never changes.
Therefore, if you were to use “tutti” in the sentence I wrote before, you would have to say:
Tutti i suoi film sono dei capolavori.
Ho letto tutte le pagine de libro.
Vado da lei tutti i giorni.
Expressions and Idioms with “Ogni”
I showed you that “ogni” can be flexibly used to talk about frequency and inclusivity, but it can also be part of expressive phrases and idioms in Italian.
- Ogni tanto (from time to time) used to describe something that happens sporadically;
- Ogni qualvolta (Whenever)
- Ogni due per tre (Literally “every two by three”), used to describe something that happens more often than usual
- Ogni morte di papa (Every death of a pope), an idiom used to describe events that happen very rarely, just like the death of a Pope
Beside these Italian idioms, there are also some words containing the word “ogni” that have specific translations in English.
- Ogni cosa (everything)
- In ogni caso (in any case)
- In ogni modo (anyway, anyhow)
- Da ogni parte (everywhere)
Use “Ogni” in Your Daily Conversations
Did you understand “ogni” thing I explained? My advice is that you revise these topics “ogni tanto”, to make sure you won’t forget anything important.
Engage in conversations, practice your listening, writing, and conversational skills, and become fluent as an Italian native speaker!
