Today’s word is indeed very common and you can hear it dappertutto! Dappertutto (dahp-pair-toot-toh) is a delightful term that’s as fun to say as it is to use. It’s an adverb that means “everywhere” or “in every place.”
The word is a compound of three Italian words: “da,” “per,” and “tutto,” which together give it the meaning of “everywhere.” It’s a word that’s been in use since the first half of the 16th century, and it’s still widely used today.
Imagine you’re looking for your keys and you’ve searched high and low with no luck. In Italian, you might exclaim, Ho cercato le mie chiavi dappertutto!, which translates to “I’ve looked for my keys everywhere!” Indeed, dappertutto perfectly encapsulates the frustration of not being able to find something, no matter how hard you’ve looked!
But dappertutto isn’t just for lost items, it can also be used to describe something that’s widespread or common. For example, if you’re traveling through Italy and you see gelato shops on every corner, you might say, Ci sono gelaterie dappertutto! or “There are gelato shops everywhere!”
The word “dappertutto” is a great example of how language can be playful and expressive, it’s a word that rolls off the tongue and adds a touch of drama to your sentence. So the next time you’re searching for something, or you see something everywhere you look, remember the word dappertutto: it’s a fun way to express the idea of “everywhere,” but it also emphasizes how common something is, or how much you’ve looked for something or someone.
Last thing: be careful about its spelling because it can be tricky! The “p” and the last “t” are double, but the first “t” is all alone! That’s a lot of double letters, right? We could very well say that Ci sono doppie dappertutto!
In questo quartiere ci sono ristoranti dappertutto
There are restaurants everywhere in this neighborhood
In questa stagione fa caldo dappertutto
This time of the year, it’s hot everywhere
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