False Friends: actually

We made it to Friday, which means it’s time for our false friend of the week. This week’s word is actually. It does not mean attualmente, but in realtà, which is why the title of the film “Love actually” is “L’amore davvero” and not “L’amore in questo momento”. If you want to say attualmente in English you can use currently in more formal or business settings, or at the moment if you’re just having a normal conversation. You can use in this moment if you want to be very precise, for example “In this moment we are flying over the Taj Mahal”. But actually, we often use actually in casual conversations, to point something out or to contradict someone without actually appearing to.