We know that many writers went to “rinse their clothes in the Arno”, especially during the Risorgimento, to give all of Italy the dialect spoken by Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio and colleagues. Basis of the Italian language, can the Tuscan dialect still be considered a dialect? And what are the curiosities related to our language? We will find out in this article.

From Florence to Italy

In general, the Tuscan dialect does not have major differences with Italian because it was the basis of our language due to an explicit cultural and political choice. However, there are some differences, which give life to the various vernacular languages ​​such as the Florentine, or the vernacular spoken in Lucca, Pisa, Livorno or Arezzo.

The aspirated C

A predominantly Tuscan characteristic, which has been lost in Italian, is that of making occlusive consonants such as C.

When does this aspiration happen? Generally when the consonant C is a hard sound (as in “casa”) and not a soft sound (as in “ciliegia”); especially then if it is found at the beginning and within the word and is preceded by a vowel or followed by A, O, U.

If the C is preceded by vowels that act as prepositions or conjunctions or if they are accented, there is no aspiration.

It is not aspired, precisely when it has a sweet sound, because it is followed by E and I. Finally, the C does not disappear if preceded by a consonant or if it doubles.

The disappearance of T and V

In Florentine both the consonant T and V very frequently disappear when they are in an intervocalic position: therefore in Italian gone it becomes “anda’o” and table becomes “ta’ola”. The monosyllable “Schi” is often transformed into “sti”, from which derive mastio (for male), stioccare (for smacking), mustio (for musk), stiaccia’a (for schiacciata bread).

Possessive pronouns and adjectives

Compound pronouns such as glielo, gliela, gliele, become gnélo, gnéla, gnele especially if preceded by a verb: fàgnene, dìgnene …

Other Tuscanisms that have not passed into Italian are the use of “te” instead of “tu”.

Also the very common doubling of the dative personal pronoun (“a me mi piace”, “a te ti piace”) and “noi si” (“si va a mangiare, noi si va là”) instead of the first person plural are Tuscan origin.

As for the possessive adjectives, “Mine, mine, mine and mine” become mi’; instead yours, yours, yours, yours become tu’; and finally his turn su’.

The verbs

To do and to go, in the first person singular of the present indicative they become “fo” and “vo”. The infinitive of verbs, which in Italian ends with “-re”, is truncated in Tuscan: go – andà; pèrdere – pèrde and so on.

Come and discover the Tuscan dialect

If you are curious and want to immerse yourself in the Tuscan language, we are waiting for you at Villa Campestri Olive Oil Resort, for a stay a few kilometers from Florence.