Basic Sicilian Language

Sicilian for beginners

In this course you’ll learn how to say hi in Sicilian, how to introduce yourself, how to ask for directions and of course, how to order food and drinks! Everything you need to know on your first trip in Sicily!

In the first part we’ll be talking about greetings and simple present tense sentences like “comu si?” (how’re you doing)?

The following chapters will focus on useful sentences in different contexts like talking about your family, understanding basic directions like “ccà” (here) and “ddà” (there), numbers, time and food.

It's important to know there’s not only one Sicilian language. In different parts of Sicily we can find different words and different sentences. For example: the verb "to watch", in the north-east of the island is “vaddàri”, whereas in other areas is “taliàri”. Two completely different verbs for the same meaning.

Also, Sicilian has a lot in common with Italian. What you hear in Sicily nowadays is a mix of the two languages but Sicilian is not taught in schools, so it doesn’t have an "official grammar" and everything is written just to make it sound as close as possible to its most common pronunciation. Knowing all of this you’ll find learning Sicilian like a way to dive into the history of the island and the way of thinking of its people.