I’m Very Affectionate! Posted by Geoff on Nov 13, 2017 in Grammar
‘False friends’ is the very appropriate title given to words that sound similar in two different languages but, in reality, actually have different meanings. Here’s one that can easily catch you out.
Affezionato … sounds just like the English word affectionate, right? And it would seem logical that you should be able to use it to construct a sentence such as: “all six of our cats are very affectionate”. However, “Tutti e sei i nostri gatti sono molto affezionati” doesn’t mean what you might think it does.
Serena e Smokie. Foto di Geoff.
Firstly, let’s find out what we mean when we use the word affezionato/a/i/e. Take a look at the following examples:
Sono molto affezionato a questi vecchi jeans = I’m very fond of these old jeans
Laura e Paolo sono affezionati alla loro vecchia Cinquecento = Laura and Paolo are fond of their old (FIAT) 500.
Maria era parecchio affezionata a questo ristorante = Maria was quite fond of this restaurant
Lucia e Giovanna erano molto affezionate alla zia Clara = Lucia and Giovanna were very fond of aunt Clara
Mi sono affezionato a lui = I’ve become fond of him
La ragazzina si era affezionata tantissimo al cagnolino = The little girl became really fond of the puppy
From the above example we see that the word affezionato/a/i/e changes ending according to the number and gender of the persons who are ‘fond of’ someone/thing:
Geoff è affezionato a … = Geoff is fond of …
Serena è affezionata a … = Serena is fond of …
Geoff e Serena sono affezionati a … = Geoff and Serena are fond of …
Serena e sua mamma sono affezionate a … = Serena and her mother are fond of …
We can also see that the preposition ‘a’ (to) is used where in English we would use ‘of’, i.e. affezionato a = fond of. It will help if you imagine your fondness going towards (‘a’) the person or object that you’re fond of.
It follows, therefore, that if we want to say something like ” Vincenza? … yes I’m quite fond of her”, we would use use “Vincenza? … sì le sono abbastanza affezionato”, le being the short version of a lei.
So, let’s go back to our original sentence: “Tutti e sei i nostri gatti sono molto affezionati”. We can now see that it makes no sense because it’s incomplete: “All six of our cats are very fond …..”. Very fond of what? To complete the sentence we’d have to say some like “tutti e sei i nostri gatti sono molto affezionati a noi” = “All six of our cats are very fond of us”.
But what we actually wanted to say was: “All six of our cats are very affectionate”. So how do we go about that? This is where we have to ignore our ‘false friend’ affezionato, and throw ‘logic’ out of the window. The word we need is affettuoso/a/i/e.
We can now construct the correct sentence: “Tutti e sei i nostri gatti sono molto affettuosi” = “All six of our cats are very affectionate”. Let’s finish with a few more examples:
E’ un ragazzo molto affettuoso = he’s a very affectionate boy
Carla è una donna abbastanza affettuosa = Carla is quite an affectionate lady
Lucia e Maria sono due ragazzine affettuose = Lucia and Maria are two affectionate little girls.
Any question? Feel free to leave a comment. A presto!
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Comments:
Thomas:
Brilliant explanation. You use of examples makes it easy to understand how to differentiate between these ‘false friends’
Geoff:
@Thomas Grazie Thomas, sono molto contento che ti è stato utile.
Saluti da Geoff 🙂
Stephanie:
Grazie–Non ho mai capito chiaramente questa distinzione. Io stessa sono molto affezionata di questo blog!
S
Geoff:
@Stephanie Grazie a te, Stephanie!
A presto, Geoff 🙂
Jane Bowden:
How would one say, ‘Alla of out sì cats are fond of each other’?
Geoff:
@Jane Bowden Ciao Jane, you wrote:”How would one say, ‘Alla of out sì cats are fond of each other’?”
I don’t even know what that means! Could you clarify please?
Saluti 🙂
paolo:
grazie…….
Geoff:
@paolo Sei il benvenuto Paolo! 🙂
la Gioia:
Can we use “affettuosamente” to mean “fondly” when signing off on a letter?
Geoff:
@la Gioia Certo!
paolo:
Ciao G & S,
Sono un po’ confuso. Mi potete spiegare questo?
Sono molto affezionato a questi vecchi jeans = I’m very fond of these old jeans
Mi sono affezionato a lui = I’ve become fond of him
Perché il pronome “Mi” è presente nel secondo esempio?
Geoff:
@paolo Ciao Paolo, good question!
The reflexive verb affezionarsi means ‘to become fond of’, hence ‘io mi sono affezionato a …’ = I’ve become fond of …, ‘lui si è affezionato a …’ = he’s become fond of, ‘noi ci siamo affezionati a …’ = we’ve become fond of, etc.
I didn’t want to get into this in the blog because my aim was to keep things as simple and uncomplicated as possible.
P.S. In the first example, Sono molto affezionato a questi vecchi jeans = I’m very fond of these old jeans, affezionato is not a verb but an adjective.
a presto, Geoff 🙂
Jenny:
@Geoff Very useful explanation in this comment as well as the main text. Not sure I will remember it well enough to use myself, but at least I may recognise these various constructions when I see them. Thank you
Geoff:
@Jenny Yes, it’s difficult to remember these and many other things unless you use them regularly. But, as you say, at least you’ll be aware of them when you come across them.
A presto, Geoff
Jacqui:
Molto utile. Oggi stavo pensando come si dice “affectionate” in italiano e poi ho letto questo blog. Grazie!