Francesca

Ciao, sono Francesca di Coffee Break Italian and up next we are going to see some very Italian expressions such as boh, dai and allora, which Italians use all the time.

Do you want to find out more?

Io sono pronta, quindi dai, cominciamo!

Allora, iniziamo con... Allora.

Have you noticed what I have just said?

Well, allora is definitely one of those very Italian words.

People use it all the time.

Probably without even noticing it.

It's definitely always used as an opening, like in English, so or well.

When you need a couple of seconds to think, you can also do that with...

You can also use it to pick up a conversation.

Allora, cosa mi stavi dicendo?

So, what were you telling me?

But there are more meanings to it.

For example, you can say E allora?

Or, allora, when you want to show irritation.

Or, if you are a little curious, you can say allora.

For example, if your friend went on a date last night and you want to know how the date went, you can look at your friend and say allora, so...

Ok, another word Italians always use is dai.

Dai is primarily meant to encourage someone.