Prego-Not Just a Spaghetti Sauce

Prego is one of those words that will make much more sense to you once you've heard it than by having it explained to you... but I'm gonna explain it to you anyways!

First for the elementary basics: The pronunciation is "PREH-goh." and it literally means I pray/am praying/ do pray. The pronunciation is "PREH-goh."

Apparently, for you German speakers, prego is a pretty strong equivalent of "bitte." For those of you non-German (and non-Italian) speakers, prego is one of those all purpose, many-circumstance words.

The customary, almost knee-jerk response to "grazie" is prego, in this instance it is like you're welcome, or my pleasure.  However, if you say "grazie" after buying something, paying a bill in a caffé, etc., a common alternative reply is "grazie a lei", a sort of "no, thank you" .

You will also hear "prego" used to mean "please" in the sense of "if you please", for example to indicate that you may go ahead of another person through a doorway. It will also be what you hear when ordering food, as a sort of "I'm ready please go on with your order" one word. 

Additionally, prego is used to indicate "I beg your pardon," such as when you want to hear something repeated.

Prego can also be a response to "I'm sorry." For example, when (not if) you're standing on a crowded Roman bus to Termini, and someone from the far back is trying to weasel his way out and inso doing crushes your delicate foot with his frighteningly heavy buisness shoes and apologizes, an acceptable response from you would be "prego."

Finally, Prego is a good way t o beg, as in Ti Prego, non te ne andare (I beg you to not to go)!

So to recap, prego means :

1.  A response to "thank you" or "sorry" (i.e. not at all, don't mention it, you're welcome)

2.  A way to invite someone to do something (i.e. if you please)

3.  As a way to ask someone to repeat something (pardon?, sorry?, excuse me)

4.  As a way to beg

So there you have it, I have just handed you the key to unlocking the most important basic Italian word, and all I have to say for myself is prego! (the you're welcome one).

Article contributed by Julie Katske, IES study abroad student in Rome.