A2 Expression Informal

tempo perso

waste of time

Significado

A useless activity.

🌍

Contexto cultural

Italians are very expressive about their time. Using 'tempo perso' is a socially acceptable way to vent frustration. In a professional setting, calling a task 'tempo perso' can be seen as a critique of management efficiency. In some southern regions, the phrase might be used with more emphasis, like 'tempo perso del tutto'. Young people might use it to describe social media scrolling or boring online content.

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Keep it simple

Don't overcomplicate the sentence. 'È tempo perso' is enough.

⚠️

Watch your tone

It can sound very blunt. Use it carefully with people you don't know well.

Significado

A useless activity.

💡

Keep it simple

Don't overcomplicate the sentence. 'È tempo perso' is enough.

⚠️

Watch your tone

It can sound very blunt. Use it carefully with people you don't know well.

🎯

Use it for boundaries

It's a great way to say 'no' to things that don't interest you.

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It's a common complaint

Italians love to complain about bureaucracy, so you'll hear this a lot at the post office!

Ponte a prueba

Complete the sentence with the correct phrase.

Andare a quella riunione è stato ________.

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: tempo perso

The context implies a useless activity, so 'tempo perso' is the correct choice.

Choose the sentence that uses 'tempo perso' correctly.

Which sentence is correct?

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: È tempo perso.

The phrase does not take an article and is used as a predicate.

Match the Italian phrase with its English equivalent.

Match:

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: tempo perso - waste of time

Tempo perso is negative, tempo libero is positive.

Complete the dialogue.

A: 'Dovrei studiare tutto il libro stasera?' B: 'No, ________.'

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: è tempo perso

The advice suggests that studying the whole book is useless.

🎉 Puntuación: /4

Ayudas visuales

Banco de ejercicios

4 ejercicios
Complete the sentence with the correct phrase. Fill Blank A2

Andare a quella riunione è stato ________.

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: tempo perso

The context implies a useless activity, so 'tempo perso' is the correct choice.

Choose the sentence that uses 'tempo perso' correctly. Choose A2

Which sentence is correct?

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: È tempo perso.

The phrase does not take an article and is used as a predicate.

Match the Italian phrase with its English equivalent. Match A1

Empareja cada elemento de la izquierda con su par de la derecha:

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: tempo perso - waste of time

Tempo perso is negative, tempo libero is positive.

Complete the dialogue. dialogue_completion B1

A: 'Dovrei studiare tutto il libro stasera?' B: 'No, ________.'

✓ ¡Correcto! ✗ No del todo. Respuesta correcta: è tempo perso

The advice suggests that studying the whole book is useless.

🎉 Puntuación: /4

Preguntas frecuentes

12 preguntas

No, it describes an activity or situation. For a person, you would say 'una persona che fa perdere tempo'.

Yes, it is inherently negative.

Yes, but it's more common to just say 'è tempo perso'.

Not if you are complaining about a shared experience, like a bad movie.

The phrase doesn't really have a plural form as it's an abstract concept.

Only if you are very close with the recipient.

Yes, 'sprecare tempo' is the verb phrase for the same concept.

It's a masculine phrase because 'tempo' is masculine.

Absolutely not. It's too informal.

It's informal, but not really slang. It's standard Italian.

You say 'Ho perso tempo'.

Yes, it is universally understood.

Frases relacionadas

🔄

Perdita di tempo

synonym

A loss of time

🔗

Buttare via il tempo

similar

To throw away time

🔄

Tempo sprecato

synonym

Wasted time

🔗

Tempo libero

contrast

Free time

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