Last week I published an article about the use of rendersi conto (to realise/be aware). Today we’re going to look at the very similar verb accorgersi (to notice/to become aware).

Let’s begin with the two main tenses: presente and passato prossimo. Although you will hear accorgersi used in the present tense, especially in formal written Italian, in every day conversation you are more likely to use it in the past tense.

Presente:

mi accorgo (I notice/become aware)
ti accorgi (singular, informal: you notice/become aware)
si accorge ( formal: you notice/become aware; he/she notices/becomes aware)
ci accorgiamo (we notice/become aware)
vi accorgete (plural: you notice/become aware)
si accorgono (they notice/become aware)

Examples:

quando gli occhi si abituano alla poca luce, ci si accorge di una splendida statua (when one’s eyes adjust to the lack of light one becomes aware of a splendid statue)
stai attento, ché se la mamma se ne accorge sono guai (be careful, because if mum notices it there will be trouble)
poi, dopo un anno, si accorgono di un clamoroso errore giudiziario (then, after a year, they become aware of a blatant judicial error)

Passato Prossimo:

mi sono accorto/a (I noticed/became aware)
ti sei accorto/a (singular, informal: you noticed/became aware)
si è accorto/a ( formal: you noticed/became aware; he/she noticed/became aware)
ci siamo accorti/e (we noticed/became aware)
vi siete accorti/e (plural: you noticed/became aware)
si sono accorti/e (they noticed/became aware)

Examples:
guarda, Lucia non si è accorta di avere le calze spaiate! (look, Lucia hasn’t noticed that she’s wearing odd socks!)
quando ci siamo accorti che la macchina non c’era più ci siamo spaventati (when we noticed that the car wasn’t there anymore we got scared)
non ti sei accorto che il fuoco si è spento? (didn’t you notice that the fire has gone out?)

Here are some examples which use other important tenses and moods:

Trapassato Prossimo:

scusa, non me n’ero accorta (sorry, I hadn’t noticed it)N.B. ‘ne‘ in this construction corresponds to ‘it‘, which would not normally be used in English.
per fortuna Luca si era accorto dell’odore di gas e aveva chiamato i vigili del fuoco (luckily Luca had become aware of the gas smell and called the fire brigade)
non ci eravamo accorti che il treno era arrivato ad un altro binario (we hadn’t noticed that train had arrived at a different platform)

Congiuntivo:

speriamo che mamma e papà non se ne accorgano present subjunctive (let’s hope that mum and dad won’t notice it) N.B. ‘ne‘ in this construction corresponds to ‘it‘, which would not normally be used in English.
pensi che Lucia si sia accorta di avere le calze spaiate? past subjunctive (do you think that Lucia has noticed that she’s wearing odd socks?)
cosa faresti se ti accorgessi che tuo marito ti tradisce? imperfect subjunctive (what would you do if you became aware that your husband was cheating on you?)
se me ne fossi accorta prima non l’avrei comprato pluperfect subjunctive (if I’d noticed it earlier I wouldn’t have bought it)

Common expressions:

non farti accorgere! you singular, informal (don’t get caught!), plural non fatevi accorgere!
ma come hai fatto a non accorgertene? you singular, informal (how did you manage not to notice it?)
ma come avete fatto a non accorgervene? you plural (how did you manage not to notice it?)