fare pena

Parola del giorno

Today’s Parola del giorno is the expression fare pena, which means to feel sorry for.

This expression made the rounds in the Italian media on June 19th, which you may have seen following the G7 meeting.

Note that this expression has an indirect construction, as you can see in the example below:

Non volevo prestare soldi a Gianni, ma mi faceva pena: suo padre era morto da poco e lui era davvero in difficoltà.

I didn’t want to lend Gianni money, but I felt sorry for him: his father had recently passed away, and he was really struggling.