Physical Appearance

At the gym, in a family photo, or describing a friend to someone new, these five Italian adjectives come up constantly. This quiz covers alto, basso, magro, forte, and bello: five essential Italian words for describing physical appearance. Match each word to its English translation, fill in the missing adjective to complete a sentence, and translate full sentences from Italian to English.

Worth knowing: forte means strong in everyday Italian, but musicians around the world borrow it to mean loud, making it one of the most widely recognised Italian words outside Italy. And basso means short for a person but also describes a low sound or a bass voice, which is exactly how English borrowed its musical term bass.