essere/stare al verde

Parola del giorno | Word of the day

Today's Parola del giorno is the verb expression essere/stare al verde, which means to be hard up (for money) or to be penniless.

Essere and stare both take essere in compound tenses. Stato is the past participle for both.

Here's the phrase used in an example below:

Non ho potuto fare alcun regalo a Giovanni perché ultimamente sto al verde.

I wasn't able to give Giovanni any gift because lately I'm hard up for money.