guadagnarsi da vivere

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “to earn oneself to live”.

Verb

guadagnàrsi da vivere (first-person singular present mi guadàgno da vivere, first-person singular past historic mi guadagnài da vivere, past participle guadagnàto da vivere)

1. to make a living
   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 25, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     Secondo un testimone oculare, mentre si autoimmolava Bouazizi avrebbe gridato, a nessuno in particolare e a tutti: «Come pensate che io possa guadagnarmi da vivere?».

     According to a bystander, at the moment of his self-immolation, Bouazizi shouted—to nobody in particular and to everyone at once—"How do you expect me to make a living?"

     (literally, “According to an eyewitness, while he was immolating himself Bouazizi yelled, to no one in particular and to everyone: "How do you think that I can make a living?"”)