Italian Expressions to say instead of 'ok'

Very often Italian will use OK to say that they agree with something. Let’s say that the Italian language has stolen this English word and uses it very commonly in everyday Italian. But honestly there are other words in Italian that are used daily and I believe that all learners should know and use.

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Let’s look at some of them together. 

1. Va bene - is probably the most precise alternative and translation to the word OKAY. 

We will use it when we agree with something, we are giving consent we are giving the green light to go ahead with a request or something. It’s not too thrilling of a reply.

• Domani vieni al mercato con me? va bene! (Will you come to the market with me tomorrow? - ok)
• Andiamo a casa sono stanca va bene! (let's go home, I'm tired - ok)

Va bene is not like a super enthusiastic reply it's not like you're saying yay VA BENE let's say it's bland.

2. Vabbé / Va beh / Va bè - It's a sort of evolution to va bene which is vabbe'

This is a very colloquial very informal okay and not only it a "uh all right whatever" kind of feeling it's very dull it's sort of just is like a normal okay all right whatever kind of feeling it does sound a little bit rude it sounds like you're annoyed so use it if you want to be rude and if you are annoyed! So va bene is the standard vabbe' is like a whatever but we can 

3. Certo! - If you are more excited about something and you want to sound more enthusiastic you will say certo sure let's do it! To make it even more enthusiastic you can add ma certo but of course or sure yes so you're giving a further emphasis that you're agreeing to doing something that you are giving your okay to go ahead with something  

For example

• Mi vieni a prendere tu domani? ma certo! (Will you come pick me up? But sure!)
• Ti va un caffè? certo che sì! (Would you like a coffee? - sure do!)

You feel it's more cheerful more enthusiastic than just uh va bene 

4. D'accordo - this literally translates with I agree so you're saying you agree to do something or you agree with a certain concept okay once again if I use the same sentences that I used before.

• Andiamo a prendere un caffè? d'accordo! (Want to go get a coffee - sure / I agree let's go!)

I'm saying I agree to come get a coffee with you the difference between va bene it's just a different choice of words but it's very common lots of people use it try to say it okay always remember the apostrophe!

5. Hai capito?

If you are taking one of my group lessons and I'm explaining something on the board and I want to be sure that you understood I could say hai capito? which means understood and you could reply with Okay, va bene, sì, 

Or you could reply with ho capito or tutto chiaro this is let's say another way to say okay I got it okay everything is clear capito. 

6. Ha senso

Another way to say that something is understood that you have grasped the concept and so that everything is okay you can use ha senso be very very careful here because very often I hear students making a mistake with this repeated five times ha senso, ha senso, ha senso, ha senso, ha senso!!!

You are going to use the verb Avere ha senso this means it makes sense remember you're not going to translate the verb make you're going to use the verb avere ha senso

7. Perfetto!

I use it a lot um especially when I'm working with my students going through exercises instead of saying va bene I love to use the word perfetto. You can use it in a formal or informal context it can be casual like perfetto Luigi vediamoci domani dopo scuola (perfect Luigi, let's see each other after school) or you could use it in a more formal situation perfetto penso che l'idea del sign. rossi sia ottima (perfect, I think Mr. Rossi's idea is a great one!) "Perfect, good, okay, meaning I agree with what he said I think that his idea is a great one okay.

I ask you the question comes come stai? you could answer in many ways one of those ways could be okay okay right in Italian in this case you could also answer with tutto bene tutto / a posto.

These two expressions mean everything is well everything is in its place meaning everything is okay look at this little dialogue with me :

• A: Ciao, da quanto tempo non ci vediamo! Come stai? 
• B: Tutto a posto, nessuna novità e tu?
• A: Io tutto bene grazie!

You will read this answer also if you write an email to me so if you need some information you need to get in touch with me you write me an email and you're super nice and you ask me 

• ciao Giulia come stai? I could say tutto bene grazie! 

Meaning everything is good everything is okay thank you.

I want to talk about a last little thing that will have you work on adjectives so we're going to be looking at another way of using okay when you're describing a person or a thing. 

The words that we're going to be looking at are

• non male
• niente male 
• per bene
• a modo  

These will become adjectives and let's look at them inside of sentences to see how they are used:

• hai visto il nuovo film di Avatar? sì, niente male (have you seen the new Avatar movie and your answer is yeah not bad)
• Cosa pensi del nuovo ragazzo di Giorgia? Mi sembra una persona per bene. (What do you think of Giorgia's new boyfriend? He seems like a nice person)
• Com'è questa pizza? Non è la mia preferita ma non è male. (How is this pizza? Not my favorite but it's not bad)
• Mi piace la personalità calma e tranquilla di Paolo è una persona a modo a modo. (I like Paolo's calm personality, he is an easy, ok person )