Goal, penalty, offside: how people talk about football — in the stadium, in the bar and in the office on Monday.
33 sentences · 3 dialogues · 18 words
In Italy football is a topic that connects generations and regions. If you can join in, you quickly find company — at the bar, at work, in the family.
The language is lively and full of images, and it shows grammar that otherwise seems dry: the superlative in -issimo, the passato prossimo with essere and avere, and the imperative among friends.
Goals by level. Tick what you can already do — the tick stays in this browser only.
18 words from the word lists, ordered by level. A coloured edge shows what you have already practised.
Short dialogues to read along and repeat. Say one part first, then the other.
You arrive late at the bar where your friend is watching the match.
Come va la partita?How’s the match going?
Uno a zero per noi, ma giochiamo male.One–nil to us, but we’re playing badly.
Chi ha segnato?Who scored?
Il numero nove, di testa.The number nine, with a header.
Prendiamo qualcosa? Offro io.Shall we get something? It’s on me.
Va bene, due birre. Speriamo che non pareggino!OK, two beers. Let’s hope they don’t equalise!
You want to play football again in your new town.
Ciao, vorrei giocare nella squadra del giovedì.Hi, I’d like to play in the Thursday team.
Benissimo. Hai già giocato in una società sportiva?Great. Have you played for a club before?
Sì, in Germania giocavo in difesa.Yes, in Germany I used to play in defence.
Perfetto, ci mancano difensori. Ci alleniamo dalle otto alle dieci.Perfect, we’re short of defenders. We train from eight to ten.
Si paga qualcosa?Is there anything to pay?
Una piccola quota al mese. Vieni giovedì e ne parliamo.A small monthly fee. Come on Thursday and we’ll talk about it.
You are arguing about a penalty.
Hai visto il rigore? Non c’era niente.Did you see that penalty? There was nothing in it.
Beh, il difensore l’ha tirato per la maglia.Well, the defender pulled his shirt.
Ma l’attaccante si è buttato, l’hanno visto tutti.But the striker dived, everyone saw it.
Se l’arbitro l’avesse visto così, non l’avrebbe fischiato.If the referee had seen it that way, he wouldn’t have given it.
Va be’, almeno alla fine abbiamo pareggiato.Oh well, at least we equalised in the end.
Sì, e con un gol bellissimo.Yes, and with a wonderful goal.
The label says where a sentence belongs. The speaker next to it reads it aloud.
Chi gioca oggi?Who’s playing today?
A che ora comincia?What time does it start?
Chi vince?Who’s winning?
Come siamo?What’s the score?
Forza, ragazzi!Come on, lads!
Vediamo la partita al bar sotto casa?Shall we watch the match at the bar downstairs?
Per che squadra tifi?Which team do you support?
Gioco a calcio il martedì con dei colleghi.I play football with some colleagues on Tuesdays.
La partita comincia alle nove di sera.The match starts at nine in the evening.
Ieri abbiamo vinto due a zero.Yesterday we won two–nil.
Abbiamo perso un’altra volta.We’ve lost again.
La squadra della mia città gioca benissimo quest’anno.My city’s team is playing brilliantly this year.
Compriamo i biglietti su internet.We’ll buy the tickets online.
Il portiere ha parato tutto.The goalkeeper saved everything.
Dai, manca ancora mezz’ora!Come on, there’s still half an hour to go!
Mio figlio fa il tifo per la squadra della città.My son supports the local team.
Che bella partita!What a great match!
Chi ha fatto il primo gol?Who scored the first goal?
L’arbitro ha dato rigore.The referee has given a penalty.
È finita in pareggio.It ended in a draw.
Arbitro, quello è fallo!Ref, that’s a foul!
Ci hanno segnato un gol all’ultimo minuto.They scored against us in the last minute.
L’allenatore ha cambiato tre giocatori nell’intervallo.The coach made three substitutions at half-time.
Se vinciamo domenica, andiamo in finale.If we win on Sunday, we’re through to the final.
I tifosi hanno cantato per tutta la partita.The fans sang all through the match.
Secondo me il giocatore si è buttato.I think the player dived.
Allo stadio c’è un’atmosfera incredibile.The atmosphere in the stadium is incredible.
Il campionato quest’anno è apertissimo.The league is wide open this year.
Era fuorigioco netto, l’hanno visto tutti.It was clearly offside, everyone saw it.
Gli hanno dato il cartellino giallo per proteste.He got a yellow card for dissent.
La partita si è decisa ai rigori.The match was decided on penalties.
Se il portiere non avesse sbagliato, avremmo vinto il campionato.If the goalkeeper hadn’t made that mistake, we’d have won the league.
Nel primo tempo abbiamo giocato malissimo, poi la squadra si è svegliata.In the first half we played terribly, then the team woke up.
6 questions on the words and sentences of this field. The word questions count in your progress like any other exercise.
Read the meaning, say the sentence aloud in Italian, then open it to compare.
Chi gioca oggi?
La partita comincia alle nove di sera.
Che bella partita!
I tifosi hanno cantato per tutta la partita.
Every sentence on this page was written for EveryLingua. There are no quotations from films, series, books or songs here, and no titles or names of artists — the page shows how people talk in this field, not what somebody once said.
