How to Say “Good” in Italian

By •
buono
/ˈbwɔ.no/masculine
In Italian, the English phrase 'good' is expressed with buono.
buono is a common and versatile adjective used to describe something as pleasant or enjoyable. While buono functions as an adjective meaning 'good', you should use bene when you want to say 'well' as an adverb.
Meaning: pleasant, enjoyable (adj)

Related words

Item of merchandise (noun): bene.

The forces of good (noun): bene.

How does it change in a sentence?

Use buona for feminine singular nouns, buoni for masculine plural nouns and buone for feminine plural nouns.

How do you pronounce it?

The word is pronounced /ˈbwɔ.no/. It has 2 syllables, and the stress is on the 1st syllable.

Did you know?

  • Calling a person buono can sometimes be patronizing, implying they are naive or too soft. To describe someone with a strong, virtuous character, perbene is often preferred.
  • The Italian word buono shares its DNA with the English word 'bonus', as both descend from the same Latin root, bonus, meaning 'good'.
  • When describing food, buono specifically refers to the taste. To say a food is 'good' in the sense of being healthy or nutritious, Italians use sano.

Examples in context

  • Il PC è buono?
    Is the PC good?
    This sentence uses buono to ask about the quality of a computer.
    Tatoeba #13790284 by Guybrush88, translation #12966397 by terrywallwork
  • È buono con me.
    He is good to me.
    This sentence uses buono to describe someone's behavior toward another person.
    Tatoeba #3378468 by Guybrush88, translation #3378262 by _undertoad
  • Il cibo è buono.
    The food is good.
    This sentence uses buono to describe the quality of food.
    Tatoeba #819800 by Guybrush88, translation #2002528 by bichodebola
  • buon cibo
    Good food
  • buon lavoro
    Good job
  • buona idea
    Good idea
  • servizio eccellente
    Excellent service
  • lavoro eccellente
    Excellent work
  • bel tempo
    Good weather
  • bel film
    Good movie
  • Il cibo in questo ristorante è buono.
    The food in this restaurant is good.
  • Hai fatto un lavoro eccellente su questo progetto.
    You did an excellent job on this project.
  • Il tuo articolo è davvero buono.
    Your article is really good.
  • Che bello!
    How nice!
  • Il film che abbiamo visto ieri era proprio bello.
    The movie we watched yesterday was really good.
  • 717 more sentences on Tatoeba

Example conversation

Alessandro and Sofia are discussing a movie they just watched.

  1. Alessandro

    Il film era davvero buono.
    The movie was really good.
  2. Sofia

    Sì, mi è piaciuto molto.
    Yes, I liked it a lot.
  3. Alessandro

    Il finale è stato proprio buono.
    The ending was truly good.
  4. Sofia

    Concordo, è stato un bel film.
    I agree, it was a nice movie.

Sources

⭐Share⭐ to appreciate human effort 🙏
Millie Judith
Millie JudithHelp make this guide better. Spot a mistake, know another way to say it, or have an example from real life? Share it below.
guest
1 Comment
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
John
John
November 30, 2025 00:30

Grazie Millie (lol). Italian is such a beautiful language. It’s so funny when you are going from English to a second language and see that words don’t exactly have a one to one translation, for example “good” can mean different things in different contexts! Anyway, thanks for the guide.
Cheers,
John

0
Reply
Scroll to Top