Yo Kass answered
The Italian equivalent of 'I'm good' is sto bene (pronoucned stoh bay-neh) and would be the typical answer if someone asked come stai? or 'how are you?'.
The opposite of sto bene would be sto male (stoh mal-eh) which means 'I'm bad' and is the way Italians say 'I'm sick'.
Other ways to say 'how are you?' in Italian
With any language, asking how someone is doing is the most basic of social conventions in Italy, and can often be said in many different ways.
For example, someone wanting to know 'how things are going?' would ask come vanno le cose? to which you'd reply 'they're going well' or vanno bene.
Tutto a posto? or 'is everything in its place?' is yet another common Italian expression you could use to check up on someone. An alternative, but informal way to ask how someone is doing would be to ask cosa mi racconti? or 'what have you got to tell me?'. This phrase is closer to 'what's going on?' or 'what's up?' in English, however.
What to say when things are not going so well...
From time to time, you may also want to lament how badly things have been going recently, in which case you could say something like: non vanno per niente bene or 'things aren't going well at all'.
This could be followed by a long-winded venting of everything that's wrong with your life, for example: mia moglia mi ha lasciato e il cane si e fatto folgorare attraversando un passaggio a livello- which is Italian for: 'my wife left me and the dog electrocuted himself at a level crossing'.
To express the fact that you are struggling on with things, and that life is neither doom and gloom nor peachy and rose-tinted, you could use the expression, sopravvivo - which means 'I'm surviving'. Alternatively you could use the expression: sempre il solito which means 'always the same' . This would serve to convey the impression that you are just trudging along doggedly through life.
The opposite of sto bene would be sto male (stoh mal-eh) which means 'I'm bad' and is the way Italians say 'I'm sick'.
Other ways to say 'how are you?' in Italian
With any language, asking how someone is doing is the most basic of social conventions in Italy, and can often be said in many different ways.
For example, someone wanting to know 'how things are going?' would ask come vanno le cose? to which you'd reply 'they're going well' or vanno bene.
Tutto a posto? or 'is everything in its place?' is yet another common Italian expression you could use to check up on someone. An alternative, but informal way to ask how someone is doing would be to ask cosa mi racconti? or 'what have you got to tell me?'. This phrase is closer to 'what's going on?' or 'what's up?' in English, however.
What to say when things are not going so well...
From time to time, you may also want to lament how badly things have been going recently, in which case you could say something like: non vanno per niente bene or 'things aren't going well at all'.
This could be followed by a long-winded venting of everything that's wrong with your life, for example: mia moglia mi ha lasciato e il cane si e fatto folgorare attraversando un passaggio a livello- which is Italian for: 'my wife left me and the dog electrocuted himself at a level crossing'.
To express the fact that you are struggling on with things, and that life is neither doom and gloom nor peachy and rose-tinted, you could use the expression, sopravvivo - which means 'I'm surviving'. Alternatively you could use the expression: sempre il solito which means 'always the same' . This would serve to convey the impression that you are just trudging along doggedly through life.
