How to say Happy Thanksgiving in Italian
Learn how to say Happy Thanksgiving in Italian and more Italian expressions for Thanksgiving celebrations.
In Italy, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.
However, we know about it and we have a word for it!
In Italian, Thanksgiving is ‘Giorno del Ringraziamento’.
In most cases, Italian people who haven’t lived in the US have heard about Thanksgiving from American movies and sitcoms or comics.
I know I learned about it as a child, reading the Peanuts!
If you are in Italy for Thanksgiving or have Italian friends over, you may want to learn how to say Thanksgiving in Italian or how to respond if someone wishes you Happy Thanksgiving in Italian.
In this lesson, we learn just that!
As well as learning how to wish someone a happy Thanksgiving in Italian, we are going to learn Italian basic words that will be useful on this occasion.
After this lesson, I recommend you also read how to say cheers in Italian so that you have your holiday Italian repertoire complete!
Happy learning!
This post is part of our series ‘learn Italian‘, a series of short lessons with useful, basic Italian expressions for all occasions.
Thanksgiving in Italian
Thanksgiving in Italian is ‘Giorno del Ringraziamento’, pronounced a little like: johr-noh dehl rin-grah-zia-men-toh
It looks like a bit of a mouthful, but things get easier if you look at how the expression was born.
Giorno is Italian for Day
Ringraziamento means ‘thanks’ – grammatically, it is a singular, masculine noun and it has the same root as ‘grazie‘, Italian for Thank You.
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How to wish Happy Thanksgiving in Italian
To wish someone Happy Thanksgiving in Italian, you say Buon Giorno del Ringrazimento! Or just Buon Ringraziamento!
In this context, Buon means happy or merry.
Grammatically, it is an adjective.
It goes with the noun ‘giorno‘ in the first expression and Ringraziamento in the short one, so it is in the singular, masculine form in both cases.
The form buon, rather than buono is because of the word giorno, making the short form the only correct one.
It is the same expression you use to wish someone a Merry Christmas in Italian, a happy new year and so on.
Grammar alert! In Italian, the phenomenon that makes words like buono lose their last vowel in certain expressions is called apocope.
How to respond if someone says Buon Ringraziamento
If a person preceeds you in the greeting and says ‘Buon Giorno del Ringrazimento’ or ‘Buon Ringraziamento’ to you, you want to say:
Grazie, Buon Ringraziamento anche a te – Thank you, Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Grazie, anche a te! Thank you, to you too!
More useful Italian expressions for Thanksgiving
If you are celebrating Thanksgiving with Italian friends, these expressions may come in handy.
Turkey: Tacchino (tak-kee-noh)
Stuffed turkey: tacchino ripieno (tak-kee-noh rip-ye-noh)
Stuffing: ripieno (rip-ye-noh)
Mashed potatoes: pure’ (purr-eh, from French)
Cranberry Sauce= salsa di mirtilli rossi (salsa in Italian means ‘sauce’)
Thanksgiving lunch (midday meal): Pranzo del Ringraziamento
Cena del Ringraziamento: Thanksgiving dinner (evening meal)
I hope you had fun with this quick overview of useful Italian expressions for Thanksgiving. Buon Giorno del Ringraziamento!
Marta Correale
Marta Correale is an Italian mama of two. Born and raised in Rome, Marta has a passion for travel and especially enjoys showing off Italy to her kids, who are growing up to love it as much as she does! A classics graduate, teacher of Italian as a second language and family travel blogger, Marta launched Mama Loves Italy as a way to inspire, support and help curious visitors to make the most of a trip to Italy and learn about Italian culture on the way.
