/parˈlare ˈkome ˈuna makkiˈnetta/ lit. ‘to talk like a little machine’
Italian idiom, familiar. To talk a lot, often without stopping.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use Parlare come una macchinetta
?
Familiar, said with a smile about a friend, a child or a nervous colleague who talks fast and doesn’t stop. The short form “è una macchinetta” calls the person a chatterbox outright. Treccani adds that it describes fast speech in a flat, even tone, like a motor that keeps running.
Also said essere una macchinetta, sembrare una macchinetta
Parlare come una macchinetta
in real sentences
-
Lei è una macchinetta.
She is a chatterbox.
Tatoeba, sentence by Guybrush88, translation by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
È una macchinetta.
She is a chatterbox.
Tatoeba, sentence by Guybrush88, translation by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Parlare come una macchinetta
come from?
Treccani lists “parlare come una macchinetta” and “sembrare una macchinetta” as familiar phrases “for someone who speaks fast and in an even tone”. A “macchinetta” is any small machine, and today usually the stovetop coffee pot, so the picture is a little device ticking away on its own. No date for the first use is recorded.
Mistakes learners make with Parlare come una macchinetta
Picking “macchina” instead. “Macchina” is a car, so “parla come una macchina” sounds odd; the idiom needs the small machine, “macchinetta”.
Other Italian idioms like Parlare come una macchinetta
Spot a mistake in Parlare come una macchinetta
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.