What does “Essere al verde” mean?
Essere al verde
Word for word
To be at the green
What it really means
To be completely out of money. Careful: in Italian green is the color of having nothing, the opposite of the English association of green with cash.
How we say it in English
To be broke — and note English money idioms run the other way: to be in the red is to be in debt, while green means money
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Create a free accountOther Italian idioms
Passare una notte in bianco
Not to sleep a wink
Essere la pecora nera
To be the black sheep — the same animal, the same color
In quattro e quattr'otto
In no time flat — or in the blink of an eye
Avere una fifa blu
To be scared stiff
Lavorare in nero
To work off the books — or under the table
In bocca al lupo
Break a leg — and, like "break a leg", you never answer with "thank you"