Not to be confused with a popular aperitif liqueur, the Italian verb campare (hear it pronounced here), is generally translatable into English as “to get by” or “to survive” and is commonly used to refer to difficult financial situations.
Ci sono solo tre modi per campare: lavora, risparmia e non spendere
There are only three ways to get by: work, save, and don’t spend.
Oggi una famiglia deve avere un stipendio superiore ai 3,000 al mese per campare.
Nowadays a family must have an income of over 3,000 a month to get by.
But campare isn’t only used to refer to finances.
Mi sa che dovrò campare sull’aspetto fisico.
I guess I’ll have to get by on my looks.
Non puoi campare solo con l’istruzione universitaria. Hai bisogno anche di scaltrezza.
You can’t get by on university education alone. You need street smarts too.
In its archaic form, campare meant to save oneself or escape from danger, though it is rarely used this way anymore.
The verb is featured in some popular Italian expressions, including campare d’aria (literally, ‘to live on air’), which usually refers to someone who lives on very little.
Non fa mai la spesa. Sembra campi d’aria.
He never shops for groceries. He seems to be living on air.
Another common expression is tirare a campare, which stresses the idea of someone who’s ‘barely getting by’ or ‘barely managing to survive’.
This expression was famously used by former Italian PM Giulio Andreotti, who said: “Meglio tirare a campare che tirare le cuoia.” (“It’s better to barely get by than kick the bucket”)
Like other Italian verbs with the stem -are, campare has the following present tense conjugations: io campo, tu campi, lui/lei campa, noi campiamo, voi campate, loro campano.
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