I don’t know about you, but I find Italians generally have no qualms about letting rip with their opinions, whether asked-for or not. And there’s no sugar coating.

Having an opinion is paramount to conversation here. Italian friends and family insist I must have one, on every topic; whether or not there’s much conviction behind it seems less important. You just need to take a stance.

In fact, a tendency to dodge controversial topics at dinner or attempt fence-sitting out of politeness can, as Italian friends warn me, come across as false or aloof.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that today’s phrase is one I picked up very quickly after moving to Italy.

When introducing your latest opinion, you’d say secondo me, which literally means “according to me” and is used much like “I think…” or “It seems to me…”

– Secondo me, pioverà stasera
– I think it will rain tonight.

– Secondo me, il prezzo è troppo alto
– In my opinion, the price is too high

– Secondo me è una persona rispettabile

– He seems like a good person to me.

Hear the pronunciation here.

You also use secondo to ask other people for their opinions simply by changing the pronoun.

– Secondo te, questa maglietta è brutta?

– Do you think this shirt is ugly?

– Dove cade l’accento secondo te?

– Where do you think the accent falls?

If you’re sharing information from someone or somewhere else, you can use secondo like this:

– Secondo le previsioni, pioverà stasera.

– According to the forecast, it will rain tonight.

As you can see, when you’re asking a question like this you have to structure your sentence very differently than you would in English.

Once you get used to this, watch out – it’s a construction that might have a strange effect on your English. Once or twice I’ve accidentally started a sentence with “According to me…” when I meant to say “I think…” in English, which earned me some funny looks.

If you’re wondering where this comes from, the word secondo is a descendent of the Latin secundum, meaning ‘following’. As is the English word ‘second’ (as in second place.)

Secondo is also used to mean ‘following’ or ‘in compliance with’ in Italian – much like the other sense of ‘according to’ in English.

– Dovremmo guidare secondo il codice della strada.

– We have to drive according to the traffic laws.

It might take some time to get used to Italians’ insistence on sharing their opinions on everything from politics to how you should dress, cook, or decorate your house. But, secondo me, being able to confidently express your own opinions in Italian is absolutely vital.