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Talking, telling and knowing about things with 'di'

In English, the word about introduces the topic of a conversation, a story or a piece of knowledge: we talk about films, tell someone about a trip, know about a problem. Italian usually does the same job with the simple preposition di: parlare di, raccontare di, sapere di, discutere di.

English speakers often trip here because they look for a word that means about, such as circa, and translate word for word. Circa means approximately, as in circa dieci persone (about ten people), so it never introduces a topic. With these verbs, the natural choice is di, and it often merges with the article: del, della, dei and so on.

Word list
chiedereA1 to ask chiedere di = ask about leggereA1 to read leggere di = read about parlareA1 to speak parlare di = talk about sapereA1 to know sapere di = know about scrivereA1 to write scrivere di = write about discutereA2 to discuss discutere di = discuss/argue about domandareA2 to ask domandare di = ask about raccontareA2 to tell raccontare di = tell about lamentarsiB1 to complain lamentarsi di = complain about sapereB1 to find out sapere di = find out about venire a sapereB1 to find out venire a sapere di = find out about apprendereB2 to find out apprendere di = learn about dibattereB2 to discuss dibattere di = discuss about
How it works

The pattern is simple: verb + di + topic. When the topic has an article, di combines with it: di + il = del, di + la = della, di + i = dei, di + le = delle. Topics without an article like politica, calcio or lavoro take plain di.

Rule of thumb: if the English sentence has about + a subject matter after talk, tell, know, discuss or write, try di first.

Abbiamo parlato di politica per ore.
(We talked about politics for hours.)
Non parliamo del lavoro stasera, per favore.
(Let's not talk about work tonight, please.)
The words

Parlare is the most common verb in this group. Parlare di works for anything from small talk to serious topics, and you can use it with people as well as things: parlare di Marco (to talk about Marco).

Raccontare means to tell or narrate. Raccontare di + topic means to tell someone about something, usually with the person introduced by a or an indirect pronoun.

Raccontami del tuo viaggio.
(Tell me about your trip.)

Discutere means to discuss, and with di it means to discuss or argue about a topic.

I miei genitori discutono sempre di soldi.
(My parents always argue about money.)

Sapere means to know, in the sense of being aware of something. Sapere di means to know about a situation or event, and it is very common with niente or qualcosa.

Non so niente di questa storia.
(I don't know anything about this story.)
Sapevi della festa di sabato?
(Did you know about Saturday's party?)

Scrivere means to write, and scrivere di means to write about a subject, for example in an article, a book or a blog.

Questa giornalista scrive di cucina e viaggi.
(This journalist writes about food and travel.)

You may also meet the more formal trattare di (to deal with, to be about), as in il libro tratta di....

Watch out
Using di is a choice, not a rule

Raccontare and discutere can also take a direct object, with a slightly different focus. Raccontare una storia means to tell a story (the story itself is what you tell), while raccontare di un viaggio means to tell about a trip. In the same way, discutere una questione means to discuss an issue, like English discuss + object, while discutere di una questione puts more weight on talking around the topic.

Il nonno ci racconta una storia ogni sera.
(Grandpa tells us a story every evening.)
Domani discutiamo il progetto con il capo.
(Tomorrow we're discussing the project with the boss.)
Sapere usually takes a direct object for facts

You say so la risposta (I know the answer) or so che è partito (I know he left), without di. Use sapere di only for knowing about something. Also note that sapere di can mean to taste or smell of: sa di limone (it tastes of lemon).

Not every English about becomes di

To think about is pensare a, and to worry about is preoccuparsi per. Su is also possible with some verbs, especially for formal topics (una conferenza sull'arte). Just never use circa for a topic.

Summary

When you talk, tell, know, discuss or write about a topic, reach for di (merged with the article when needed: del, della, dei): parlare di politica, raccontare del viaggio, sapere della festa. Keep circa for numbers, and remember that raccontare, discutere and sapere can also take a direct object.