Tools, materials, and the phone call to the tradesman.
Practise this list
From these 40 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
The third entry, la chiave a brugola, is the one tool on this list whose name is a person. Brugola is a surname: the Milanese firm founded by Egidio Brugola made the screw with the hexagonal recess sunk into its head, and within a generation the screw, the recess and the little key that turns it had all taken the maker’s name. Nobody hears a family in it any more. Una brugola on its own is simply the key, and a brugola tacked onto any fastener means hex-socket. What makes this worth a minute is that English did exactly the same thing and its speakers notice just as little. « Allen » is a company name too, registered in the United States, and it travelled the same way both words did — inside the flat-pack box, taped to the instructions. So the two languages share no root here at all, and yet they share the habit: each let a manufacturer name a shape. The plain description exists on both sides, la chiave esagonale and « hex key », and on both sides it is the one nobody reaches for.
The words
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Verb (5)
imbiancareto paint a room, to redecorateVerbB1
Abbiamo imbiancato tutta la cucina in un giorno.We painted the whole kitchen in one day.
rimpiazzareto replaceVerbB1
Dobbiamo rimpiazzare due assi del pavimento.We have to replace two floorboards.
carteggiareto sand downVerbB1
Bisogna carteggiare prima di dipingere.You have to sand down before painting.
ampliareto extend a buildingVerbB1
Vogliamo ampliare la casa verso il giardino.We want to extend the house towards the garden.
saldareto weldVerbB1
Il fabbro ha saldato il pezzo rotto.The blacksmith welded the broken piece.
