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'Da bambino', 'da giovane', 'da grande' for stages of life

To talk about a stage of your life, Italian uses a very short formula: da plus a word for that stage. Da bambino means as a child or when I was a kid, da giovane means when I was young, and da grande means when I grow up. There is no verb, no article and no word for when.

English speakers trip over this because English needs a phrase with a verb (when I was little) or as a + noun. The natural reflex is to translate word by word and produce come un bambino or quando piccolo. Neither says what you mean. Learn da + stage as one ready-made phrase and you will sound much more natural.

Word list
adultomA1 adult da adulto = as an adult bambinafA1 girl da bambina = as a little girl bambinomA1 child da bambino = as a child, when I was a kid giovaneA1 young da giovane = when I was young grandeA1 big da grande = when I grow up (future) piccolomA1 small da piccolo/piccola = when I was little ragazzafA1 girl da ragazza = when I was a girl ragazzomA1 boy da ragazzo = as a boy, when I was young studentemA1 student da studente = as a student studentessafA1 student da studentessa = as a (female) student vecchiomA1 old da vecchio = when I'm old, in old age adolescenteA2 teenager da adolescente = as a teenager anzianomA2 old da anziano = in old age (more polite) bimbafA2 baby da bimba = as a little girl (colloquial, affectionate) bimbomA2 baby da bimbo = as a little kid, when I was tiny (colloquial) singleA2 single da single = when I was single neonatomB1 baby da neonato = as a newborn baby scapolomB1 bachelor da scapolo = as a bachelor, when I was single (man) neonatafB2 newborn da neonata = as a newborn (girl) pensionatafB2 pensioner da pensionata = as a retiree, now that she's retired pensionatomB2 pensioner da pensionato = as a retiree
How it works

The pattern is always da + a noun or adjective describing a time of life. Three things to keep in mind:

No article

Say da bambino, never da un bambino.

Agreement follows the subject

A woman says da piccola or da bambina. For several people, use the plural: da bambini, da ragazze.

The phrase replaces a longer expression with a verb

The tense comes from the main verb. With past stages, that verb is usually in the imperfect, because you are describing how things used to be.

Rule of thumb: if English says as a + life stage, or when I was / when I am + age word, Italian says da + that word.

Da piccola avevo paura del buio.
(When I was little, I was afraid of the dark.)
Da bambini passavamo l'estate dai nonni.
(As kids, we spent the summer at our grandparents' house.)
The words
Nouns for age groups

Bambino and bambina are the most common words. Ragazzo and ragazza cover the years from about twelve into your twenties. Adolescente is more precise for the teenage years, and adulto covers grown-up life.

Da bambino giocavo a calcio tutti i giorni.
(As a child, I played football every day.)
Da ragazza abitavo a Napoli.
(When I was a girl, I lived in Naples.)
Da adolescente ero molto timido.
(As a teenager, I was very shy.)
Ho imparato a nuotare solo da adulto.
(I only learned to swim as an adult.)
Adjectives

Here the pattern is even more opaque, because English has no as a small. Piccolo and giovane look back at the past. Grande looks forward to adulthood: da grande means when I grow up, not as a big person. Vecchio and the more polite anziano refer to old age, past or future.

Da giovane mio nonno lavorava in Germania.
(When he was young, my grandfather worked in Germany.)
Cosa vuoi fare da grande?
(What do you want to do when you grow up?)
Da vecchio voglio vivere al mare.
(When I'm old, I want to live by the sea.)
Da anziana mia nonna ha cominciato a dipingere.
(In her old age, my grandmother started painting.)
Student years

Studente and studentessa work the same way, because being a student is a period of life for most people.

Da studente lavoravo in un bar la sera.
(As a student, I worked in a bar in the evenings.)
Watch out

The typical mistake is using come. Come un bambino means like a child, a comparison, not a stage of your own life. The same goes for quando piccolo, which is not Italian. If you want a full phrase with a verb, say quando ero piccolo. That is correct, just longer.

You will also meet da with roles and professions, as in lavorare da cameriere (to work as a waiter) or comportarsi da adulto (to behave like an adult). This is a related but wider use. In this article, focus on the life-stage chunks first, since they are the ones you will need in everyday conversation.

Non fare il bambino, hai trent'anni!
(Don't act like a child, you're thirty!)

Notice that this last sentence is about behavior, not about a period of time, so it does not use da.

Summary

To talk about a period of your life, use da + the stage word, with no article and no verb: da bambino, da ragazza, da giovane, da studente. Make it agree with the person (da piccola, da bambini), and remember that da grande points to the future: when I grow up.