Sorte
NOUN [feminine]
Meaning and English translation 🔖
1. Fate, Destiny
🇬🇧 Mysterious force believed to determine events and human existence in an unpredictable way.
🇮🇹 Forza misteriosa che si ritiene determinare gli eventi e l'esistenza degli uomini in modo imprevedibile.
2. Chance, Fortune
🇬🇧 Unforeseen event, fortuitous combination, especially a favorable one.
🇮🇹 Evento imprevisto, combinazione fortuita, specialmente favorevole.
| Masculine ♂️ | Feminine ♀️ | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | - | la - una sorte |
| Plural | - | le - delle sorti |
Example sentences 💬
Non possiamo prevedere quale sarà la nostra sorte.
We cannot predict what our fate will be.
La sorte ha voluto che ci incontrassimo proprio quel giorno.
Fate wanted us to meet exactly on that day.
La sorte non è stata clemente con lui quest'anno.
Fate hasn't been kind to him this year.
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Idioms with sorte 🇮🇹
Estrarre/Tirare a sorte
→ To draw lots
Abbiamo tirato a sorte per decidere chi doveva lavare i piatti.
We drew lots to decide who had to do the dishes.
Tentare la sorte
→ To try one's luck
Ha tentato la sorte al casinò giocandosi tutto il suo stipendio (lo ha perso).
He tried his luck at the casino and bet his entire paycheck (he lost it all).
Sfidare la sorte
→ To tempt fate
Non sfidare la sorte guidando così velocemente!
Don't tempt fate by driving so fast!
Toccare in sorte
→ To be given by fate
Le è toccata in sorte una vita difficile, ma non ha mai perso il sorriso.
She was dealt a difficult life, but she never lost her smile.
Essere in balìa della sorte
→ To decide someone's fate
In questi momenti difficili siamo tutti in balìa della sorte.
In these difficult times we are all at the mercy of fate.
Decidere della sorte (di qualcuno)
→ To be at the mercy of fate
Non hai il potere di decidere tu della nostra sorte.
You don't have the power to decide our fate.
Ignorare la propria sorte
→ To ignore one's fate
In quel momento drammatico, ignoravamo quale sarebbe stata la nostra sorte.
In that dramatic moment, we ignored what our fate would be.
Abbandonare qualcuno alla sua sorte
→ To abandon someone to their fate
Non potevo abbandonarlo alla sua sorte in un momento così difficile.
I couldn't abandon him to his fate in such a difficult moment.
Beffare la sorte
→ Irony of fate
È riuscita a beffare la sorte e a sopravvivere all'incidente.
She managed to cheat fate and survive the accident.
(Per) ironia della sorte
→ To cheat fate
Ironia della sorte, la legge che doveva farlo rimanere al governo a vita è stata quella che lo ha fatto cadere.
By irony of fate, the very law that was supposed to keep him in power for life ended up being his downfall.
Buona / Cattiva/Mala sorte
→ Good / Bad luck
La buona sorte volle che ci accorgessimo in tempo della malattia.
Luckily, we caught the illness in time.
Ha dovuto lottare contro la mala sorte fin dall'inizio.
She had to fight against an adverse fate from the beginning.
Where does the word sorte come from? 🔎
Sorte comes from the Latin sors. In ancient Rome, sors referred to small wooden tablets used for divination.
The ancient Romans were highly superstitious and searched daily for divine signs. They employed various methods to learn about the future, but one of the most popular was throwing wooden tablets (sortes). This method worked much like a modern-day "fortune cookie": the tablets were either thrown or drawn from a container, and the way they fell or the order in which they were drawn was interpreted as a message from the gods.
Interestingly, the word sors is related to the verb serere ("to weave, to put in order"), from which we get the English "to sort". It's almost a paradox: an object used to interpret chance derives from a word meaning "order"! But perhaps this reveals the deeper meaning of "fate": our attempt to find order and meaning in what appears to be purely random.
