Italian word of the day: 'Consuocero'
Use this handy word to keep up with your Italian family tree.
It's a stereotype, but for good reason: in Italy, family is important.
So important, in fact, that Italian has words for family members that we never got round to inventing in English.
One such is consuocero (pronounced "con-swotch-ero"), which refers to your own child's father-in-law (or your son-/daughter-in-law's father, depending on how you look at it).
Naturally there's a version for your child's mother-in-law too: consuocera.
Your own in-laws are your suoceri ('parents-in-law'), so adding the joining prefix con~ turns the word into something like 'co-parents-in-law'.
Mio padre è il consuocero del padre di mio marito.
My dad is the co-father-in-law of my husband's dad.
Mia madre è la consuocera della madre di mia moglie.
My mum is the co-mother-in-law of my wife's mum.
I consuoceri sono i suoceri del proprio figlio.
Co-parents-in-law are your child's in-laws.
It's a term we just don't have in English, and it testifies to the fact that in Italy it's assumed you'll not only know your child's in-laws, you'll want to talk about them to other people. A lot. So much you need a special word for them.
Get used to it!
Do you have an Italian phrase you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
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It's a stereotype, but for good reason: in Italy, family is important.
So important, in fact, that Italian has words for family members that we never got round to inventing in English.
One such is consuocero (pronounced "con-swotch-ero"), which refers to your own child's father-in-law (or your son-/daughter-in-law's father, depending on how you look at it).
Naturally there's a version for your child's mother-in-law too: consuocera.
Your own in-laws are your suoceri ('parents-in-law'), so adding the joining prefix con~ turns the word into something like 'co-parents-in-law'.
Mio padre è il consuocero del padre di mio marito.
My dad is the co-father-in-law of my husband's dad.
Mia madre è la consuocera della madre di mia moglie.
My mum is the co-mother-in-law of my wife's mum.
I consuoceri sono i suoceri del proprio figlio.
Co-parents-in-law are your child's in-laws.
It's a term we just don't have in English, and it testifies to the fact that in Italy it's assumed you'll not only know your child's in-laws, you'll want to talk about them to other people. A lot. So much you need a special word for them.
Get used to it!
Do you have an Italian phrase you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
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