Texting in Italian is a great way to learn the language while making friends. To text somebody is mandare un SMS (esse emme esse) a qualcuno, or you can say inviare un messaggio su WhatsApp/Messenger/Instagram, depending on your social networking preferences!
Much like in English, Italian text messages use abbreviations in order to text as few characters as possible – great for when you’re on the go. You may be surprised to see that many Italian text abbreviations are borrowed from English. For example, 2nite (stanotte/tonight), asap (prima possibile), pls (per favore/please), hagn (buonaotte/have a good night) and lol (self-explanatory!)
For the slightly more challenging ones, an understanding of how numbers and letters are pronounced in Italian is essential. Once you’ve got that skill, it’s pretty easy.
C6?/Ci sei? (Are you there?)
Perhaps you haven’t been on your phone for a while. If your friend is waiting for your reply, they might say, c6?, but they’re not referring directly to the number six here. Sei (the number six) can also mean, are you? in Italian, it’s just quicker to type 6 in this case. Ci (there) is shortened to c, for the same reason.
Tat and tvtb
Let’s say your friend sends you a message that says tat. Now you may think they’re using slang by referring to something cheap, or even talking about a tattoo. Actually, it means ti amo tanto, taking the first letters from each word(love you loads) – so make sure to send a nice message back! The same goes for tvtb, meaning ti voglio tanto bene (I love you so much).
Ke and ki
If you’re fairly good at Italian pronunciation, you’ll know that these abbreviations are phonetic spellings of che and chi, meaning what and who. Pretty simple stuff!
Xke and xk
If there’s an x in your Italian message, it doesn’t necessarily mean a kiss! In Italian messages, x means per (for, by, to). This is because the multiplication sign in Italian is called per (so 3 x 5 = 15 is tre per cinque fa quindici in Italian).
So, you can either write xke or xk for perche (because), and xke? And xk? for perché? (why?).
Here are some other useful abbreviations in Italian to get stuck into:
a = ha (he/she has)
ai = hai (you have)
ap = a presto (see you soon)
bgg = buongiorno (good morning, hello)
bn = bene (fine, good)
bntt = buonanotte (goodnight)
cvd = ci vediamo dopo (see you later)
dom = domani (tomorrow)
è = è (it’s)
mi di = mi dispiace (sorry)
o = ho (I have)
pome = pomeriggio (afternoon)
x fv = per favore (please)
risp subito = rispondi subito (reply immediately)
t tel + trd = I’ll call you later
XXX= tanti baci (kisses)
Don’t forget to come back for the next blog post to help you continue with the conversation!
