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Fidarsi – part 3 Posted by on Jun 21, 2010 in Grammar

Fidarsi – ‘to trust’, is an intransitive reflexive verb, in other words a reflexive verb that is followed by a preposition.

When we want to say that we trust someone or something we use the preposition ‘di’, hence ‘fidarsi di qualcuno/qualcosa’. Here are some examples of how to use it:

Present:

mi fido di te – I trust you

la gente non si fida dei politici – people don’t trust the politicians

vi fidate di quella vecchia macchina? – do you (plural) trust that old car?

Present perfect:

non mi sono mai fidato di lui – I never trusted him

Lucia si è fidata di zia Rosa e le ha confidato tutto – Lucia trusted aunt Rosa and confided everything to her

ci siamo fidati del nostro istinto – we trusted our instincts

When we want to say that we trust that someone will do something, or that something will happen we use the preposition ‘che’. N.B. the verb following ‘che’ uses the subjunctive form (highlighted in red):

Present:

la gente non si fida che i politici siano onesti – people don’t trust politicians to be honest

vi fidate che quella vecchia macchina vi porti fino a Roma? – do you trust that old car to get you to Rome?

Present Perfect:

Lucia si è fidata che la zia Rosa tenesse segreto quello che le aveva confidato – Lucia trusted that aunt Rosa would keep secret that which she confided in her

non mi sono mai fidato che lui fosse una persona per bene – I never trusted that he was an honest person

When we want to say to ‘trust oneself/himself/ourselves’ etc. with the meaning of ‘to feel up to something’, or ‘to be able to do something’, we use either the preposition ‘di’ or ‘a’:

Present:

vi fidate di/a guidare quella vecchia macchina fino a Roma? – do you feel up to/trust yourselves to drive that old car to Rome?

Present Perfect:

Lucia si è fidata di/a raccontare il suo segreto a zia Rosa – Lucia felt able to tell her secret to aunt Rosa

To say that someone or something is trustworthy we use ‘affidabile’ (singular) or ‘affidabili’ (plural):

La zia Rosa è una persona affidabile – Aunt Rosa is a trustworthy person

la macchina è vecchia ma affidabile – the car is old but trustworthy

i politici non sono affidabili – politicians are not trustworthy

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Comments:

  1. Gabriele:

    I like this. It is a good opportunity to make foreigners learn and appreciate our beautiful langugae. Well done;)

  2. Jeannet:

    Ciao Serena,

    Tante grazie per questa esemplificazione.
    Allora, non mi fido a dire: “mi fido stessa” (corretto?) a parlare italiano lanciato, o senza
    ‘a’? nel caso questo.

    Saluto di Jeannet

    • serena:

      @Jeannet Ciao Jeannet, credo che quello che vuoi dire sia: ‘mi fido di (or ‘a’) parlare velocemente l’italiano’, (I trust myself to speak Italian quickly). Non è necessario usare ‘stessa’ perché fidarsi è già un verbo riflessivo.

      Serena

  3. Jeannet:

    Ciao Serena,

    Tante grazie per questa esemplificazione.

    Allora, non mi fido a dire: “mi fido stessa” a parlare italiano lanciato! -senza ‘a’, c’è corretto?

    Saluto di Jeannet

    • serena:

      @Jeannet Ciao Jeanette, would you mind writing your question in English please, because I have the feeling that we are on different wavelengths!

      Serena

  4. Jeannet:

    Ciao Serena, About our different wavelength concerning trust. so sorry!

    ‘Mi fido stessa’

    I meant to say: I don’t trust saying:
    ‘I trust myself’, talking in italiano.

    (But because of that I want to stimulate myself to do so)

    Jeannet

    • serena:

      @Jeannet Ciao Jeannet,

      If you want to say ‘I trust myself’ simply say ‘mi fido di me stessa’, but this is not a phase that you would use very often.
      ‘Mi fido stessa’ is not correct.
      However, if you want to say ‘I don’t trust myself to say’ then use ‘non mi fido a/di dire’

      A presto, Serena


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