Excel function names in Italian and English

Math and statistics

• SUM → SOMMA
• SUMIF → SOMMA.SE
• SUMIFS → SOMMA.PIÙ.SE
• SUMPRODUCT → MATR.SOMMA.PRODOTTO
• AVERAGE → MEDIA
• AVERAGEIF → MEDIA.SE
• COUNT → CONTA.NUMERI
• COUNTA → CONTA.VALORI
• COUNTBLANK → CONTA.VUOTE
• COUNTIF → CONTA.SE
• COUNTIFS → CONTA.PIÙ.SE
• ROUND → ARROTONDA
• ROUNDUP → ARROTONDA.PER.ECC
• ROUNDDOWN → ARROTONDA.PER.DIF

Logic

• IF → SE
• IFS → PIÙ.SE
• IFERROR → SE.ERRORE
• IFNA → SE.NON.DISP.
• AND → E
• OR → O
• NOT → NON

VLOOKUP in Italian (CERCA.VERT) and other lookup functions

• VLOOKUP → CERCA.VERT
• HLOOKUP → CERCA.ORIZZ
• XLOOKUP → CERCA.X
• INDEX → INDICE
• MATCH → CONFRONTA
• INDIRECT → INDIRETTO
• OFFSET → SCARTO
• FILTER → FILTRO
• SORT → ORDINA

Text

• LEFT → SINISTRA
• RIGHT → DESTRA
• MID → STRINGA.ESTRAI
• LEN → LUNGHEZZA
• TRIM → ANNULLA.SPAZI
• UPPER → MAIUSC
• LOWER → MINUSC
• SUBSTITUTE → SOSTITUISCI
• CONCATENATE → CONCATENA
• TEXTJOIN → TESTO.UNISCI
• TEXT → TESTO
• VALUE → VALORE

Dates

Many functions keep the same name in both languages, for example MAX, MIN, LET and LAMBDA.

• TODAY → OGGI
• NOW → ADESSO
• YEAR → ANNO
• MONTH → MESE
• DAY → GIORNO
• WEEKDAY → GIORNO.SETTIMANA
• EDATE → DATA.MESE
• EOMONTH → FINE.MESE
• DATEDIF → DATA.DIFF
• NETWORKDAYS → GIORNI.LAVORATIVI.TOT

Semicolons and decimal commas

Italy writes one and a half as 1,5. Because the comma is taken, Italian Excel separates function arguments with a semicolon: =SE(A1>1,5;"sì";"no") is the Italian form of =IF(A1>1.5,"yes","no"). Germany, France, Spain and most of continental Europe work the same way.

This is decided by your Mac's region settings, not just the language: an English-language Mac set to an Italian region also uses decimal commas.

Files do not care which language you type in

An .xlsx file always stores formulas in English with commas: SUM(A1:A10), not SOMMA. Each copy of Excel translates them into its user's language when it displays them. So an Italian and an American colleague can share the same file without anything breaking, as long as both apps follow this rule.

Copy-pasting formula text is different: pasting =VLOOKUP(A2,B:C,2,FALSE) from an English website into Italian Excel gives an error. Translate the names with the list above and replace commas with semicolons.

Localized formulas in Foglio

Foglio, the free open-source spreadsheet for Mac, follows the same convention as Excel. On an Italian Mac you type =SOMMA(A1:A10;B2), CERCA.VERT or SE.ERRORE with semicolons and decimal commas, and get autocomplete with Italian descriptions; on disk the file keeps Excel's English form. German (SUMME, SVERWEIS), Spanish (SUMA, BUSCARV) and French (SOMME, RECHERCHEV) work the same way, and the Insert Function browser lists all ~500 functions under their localized names.

Google Sheets and LibreOffice also localize function names based on your settings. Numbers does too. If you follow English tutorials, Show Formulas (View menu) in Foglio helps you compare what you typed with what the tutorial shows.