Sunday 4 October 2009

All the time

"All the time" is often translated by English speakers as "tutto il tempo". Although this expression does exist in Italian, it isn't as common as it is in English.

For instance, the sentence: "ascolta la radio tutto il tempo" would be best rephrased as "ascolta continuamente la radio": "continuamente" sounds more natural to an Italian native.

On the other hand, there are particular verbs that you'll repeatedly find together with "tutto il tempo" and have almost become fixed expressions. Two of these are "passare" and "stare":

passa tutto il tempo ad ascoltare la radio (he spends all his time listening to the radio)

sta tutto il tempo a lamentarsi (she moans all the time)

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