

And speaking of night, you should also remember the carpe noctem variation which literally translates to ‘seize the night’. The only Latin phrase you’ll ever need on a Friday night out. Luckily, we have an even better one: carpe vinum. Probably the most popular Latin phrase of modern times.

The meaning of this phrase refers to the point of no return. These are nearly as famous as Julius Caesar himself.įamously attributed to Julius Caesar in a message he supposedly sent to the Roman Senate to describe his swift, conclusive victory against King Pharnaces II of Pontus near Zela in 47 BC.Īnother Latin phrase said by Julius Caesar upon crossing the Rubicon to enter Italy and begin the long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. Common Latin phrases you heard at least once While they may impress your friends (and foes) if used mindfully, the contrary can also be true if you’re too overzealous. Avoid using Latin sayings and phrases ad nauseam (’to a sickening or excessive degree’) in your discourse. So let’s start with the meaning of carpe diem, ad hoc, status quo, et cetera.īut first, a quick remark. You know what they say - you can’t fully enjoy the main course without a proper aperitif. You’ll impress everyone with your exquisite choice of words.Ĭarpe diem and other common Latin phrases and wordsīefore diving into the really cool Latin words and phrases, we have to make a quick stop in the ‘most common Latin phrases’ station. confidently at the end of your conclusion. To show off how you logically proved something, use Q.E.D. or quod erat demonstrandum (’what was to be demonstrated’) – which, by the way, is the mic drop of Latin phrases. You know me: semper fidelis to the vanilla.Īs you probably already guessed, semper fidelis means ’always faithful’ or ‘always loyal’. Do you want the chocolate ice cream or the vanilla ice cream? Didn’t you notice how inserting some Latin words here and there automatically makes someone look smarter? Even the dullest conversation can become an erudite discussion if you use the right Latin sayings. But one thing is sure: Latin phrases are nowadays the cooler siblings of slang words. It’s unclear whether Latin made a comeback or it has been this cool for hundreds of years. Carpe diem, et cetera, cum laude, curriculum vitae and mea culpa are just a few of the Latin phrases still widely used today. They plausibly meant "credo che sia".Far from being a dead language, Latin is very much alive in our day-to-day conversations. "credo che è" is also incorrect, but just a minor grammar mistake of the same family as. There's no way to tell which of the two they thought they were saying, although the context suggests it's the former. The correct wording would be either "mi innamoro di te" (i fall in love with you) or "ti faccio innamorare di me" (i make you fall in love with me). To be more specific, innamorarsi (to fall in love) is only reflexive, while here is used in a transitive form - with two subjects no less. "Mi ti innamoro" is just wrong in Italian, although one can infer what the authors meant. Correct wording would have been "Credo che tu lo sappia che mi piaci" The context made the most sense with the latter, so that's what I chose. First problem: either the lyrics are correct and it's saying "I think, you know, that I like you" or they used the wrong conjugation and meant "I think that you know that I like you". I still thought it would be fitting to leave the phrase untranslated. This isn't quite true anymore: the protagonist in the lyrics now ask this man to conquer her, thus giving a sense to the title. I left "veni vidi vici" (Caesar's famous quote: "I came, I saw, I conquered") untranslated because it feels more like flavour than anything else, as it doesn't really seem to make sense with the rest of the lyrics. My translation of the other version said:
