Ho la nipote più dolce del mondo.
I have the sweetest niece in the world.
Here is your one-stop shop to learn all about how to say niece, or nipote, in Italian, how to pronounce it and examples of how to use it. Find out about related words, like nieces (nipoti), youngest niece (nipote più piccola), and little niece (nipotina), a term of endearment. I’ll also explain how to use possessives correctly with family member names. Since the words nipote and nipoti (niece and nieces) have many other meanings too, I’ll teach you some handy tricks for telling them all apart.
Table of Contents
NIECE IN ITALIAN – NIPOTE
Nipote means niece in Italian. Una nipote is a niece, while la nipote means the niece.
The pronunciation of una nipote and la nipote is: OOH-nah nee-POH-teh, lah nee-POH-teh
Listen to how to pronounce nipote here:
La nipote e la figlia di Maria sono migliori amiche.
Maria’s niece and daughter are best friends.
The word nipote has many meanings in Italian in addition to niece. It also means nephew, granddaughter, grandson, and grandchild as well. Mamma mia, how to know what’s what? Stay tuned for tips on how to tell all these nipotes apart.
NIECES IN ITALIAN
Nipoti means nieces in Italian. Nipoti is the plural of nipote.
The pronunciation of nipoti is: nee-POH-tee
Listen to how to pronounce nipoti here:
Lo zio di Patrizia ha dieci altre nipoti.
Patrizia’s uncle has ten other nieces.
Nipoti doesn’t just mean nieces: it also means nephews, granddaughters, grandsons and grandchildren. Keep reading for tips on keeping them all straight!
NIPOTINA – A TERM OF ENDEARMENT
Nipotina, or little niece, is a term of endearment, and an especially affectionate way to say niece in Italian.
The pronunciation of nipotina is: nee-poh-TEE-nah
Listen to how to pronounce nipotina here:
Non vedo l’ora di vedere la nipotina della mia amica!
I can’t wait to see my friend’s little niece!
MY NIECE: ITALIAN POSSESSIVES
To say my niece, use mia nipote. Usually possessives in Italian also require the direct article (the). For example: la mia amica means my (female) friend. However, family members are a big exception.
Do not use the direct article with the SINGULAR, unaltered nouns of most family members. If there is an adjective before or after the family member, use the article. Also, use the article with the possessive loro.
So:
| mia nipote is my niece tua nipote is your niece (informal you) sua nipote is his/her/your niece (formal you) | nostra nipote is our niece vostra nipote your niece (plural you) |
But:
La loro nipote is their niece
La mia nipote più piccola is my youngest niece
La mia nipotina is my little niece
WHAT DO ITALIAN GIRLS CALL THEIR AUNT? UNCLE?
Italians call their aunts zia. Read all about How to Say Aunt in Italian.
Italians call their uncles zio. Here’s more about How to Say Uncle in Italian
Zii is the word for aunts and uncles in Italian.
NEPHEW IN ITALIAN
As mentioned earlier, nipote also means nephew in Italian.
Un nipote means a nephew, and il nipote means the nephew.
WHICH NIPOTE IS IT?
If nipote is the same exact word for niece and nephew, how is it possible to figure out who is being talked about?
The key is in the article that precedes nipote. If the article is masculine (un or il), nipote means nephew. If the article is feminine (una or la), nipote means niece.
Or, you can use possessive pronouns to help you figure out the gender: mio nipote is my nephew, and mia nipote is my niece.
Ho una nipote e un nipote.
I have a niece and a nephew.
Mio nipote abita con mia sorella, e mia nipote abita a Torino.
My nephew lives with my sister, and my niece lives in Turin.
Nipote also means grandson and granddaughter. Use the article or possessive pronoun that precedes nipote to narrow down the person’s gender . . . .but then you must rely on context to figure out if it’s a nephew v. grandson, or a niece v granddaughter! And don’t worry, sometimes it’s impossible to know for sure.
Paolo ha sessant’anni. È appena nata sua prima nipote.
Paolo is sixty years old. His first granddaughter was just born.
Taddeo ha venticinque anni. Ha una nipote.
Taddeo is twenty-five years old. He has a niece.
NIECES AND NEPHEWS
As we noted before, nipoti means nieces in Italian. But it also means nephews. And to make things more confusing, nipoti also means nieces and nephews!
The trick is to make sure you pay attention to the article and/or possessive pronoun in front of nipoti. Le nipoti are the nieces, and le mie nipoti are my nieces.
I nipoti are the nephews, or nieces and nephews and i miei nipoti are my nephews, or my nieces and nephews. Because of how Italian word genders work, the plural masculine nipoti can be used for a mixed group of nieces and nephews. This is true even if there are 100 nieces and 2 nephews: just one man trumps a feminine group and turns the noun masculine.
If you want to avoid any mixup, and specify that you’re talking about a group of all nephews, say i nipoti maschi.
Le mie nipoti sono alte come mia sorella, mentre i miei nipoti maschi sono bassi come il loro babbo. My nieces are tall like my sister, while my nephews are short like their dad.
NIECES, NEPHEWS, GRANDDAUGHTERS AND GRANDSONS
Nipoti also means granddaughters and/or grandsons. Use the article or possessive pronoun that precedes nipoti to narrow down the person’s gender . . . . but then you must rely on context to figure out if it’s nephews v. grandsons, or nieces v granddaughters! Fear not, if you just can’t figure it out, it may be impossible to tell.
Sono fortunata di essere la zia di cinque splendide nipoti!
I’m lucky to be the aunt of five wonderful nieces!
You may want to read more about Relatives in Italian.