dare sui nervi

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “to give on the nerves”.

Verb

dàre sui nervi (first-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) dò sui nervi, first-person singular past historic dièdi sui nervi or diédi sui nervi or détti sui nervi or (traditional) dètti sui nervi, past participle dàto sui nervi, first-person singular future darò sui nervi, first-person singular subjunctive dìa sui nervi, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive déssi sui nervi, second-person singular imperative dài sui nervi or dà' sui nervi, auxiliary avére)

1. (idiomatic) to irritate; to annoy; to piss off

   Synonyms: irritare, darsi fastidio; see also Thesaurus:infastidire

   • 2012, John Green, translated by Giorgia Grilli, Colpa delle Stelle [The Fault in our Stars], Mondadori, page 87:

     È solo che la gente mi dà sui nervi, a volte.

     They just piss me off sometimes.

     (literally, “It's just that people piss me off, sometimes.”)