{"id":1582,"date":"2012-02-22T18:48:11","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T18:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2012-03-09T09:15:16","modified_gmt":"2012-03-09T09:15:16","slug":"si-impersonale-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/si-impersonale-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Si Impersonale – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Si dice che al finesettimana avremo temperature primaverili <\/strong>(They say that at the weekend we\u2019ll have spring like temperatures). In Italian we often use the impersonal pronoun \u2018si\u2019<\/strong>, known as si impersonale<\/strong>. It is commonly translated in English as \u2018one\u2019, but can also mean \u2018they\u2019, \u2018you\u2019, or \u2018it\u2019 in an impersonal sense.<\/p>\n

To clarify, let\u2019s first have a look at when<\/span> we would use it:<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>The si impersonale <\/strong>comes in very handy when we don\u2019t express the subject of the action, i.e. who is carrying out the action, especially in those very generic expressions such as \u2018si dice che\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018they say that\u2019, or \u2018it is said that\u2019), \u2018si pensa che\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018it is thought that\u2019), \u2018si crede che\u2019 <\/strong>(\u2018it is believed that\u2019), and so on.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> The si impersonale<\/strong>\u00a0 is used in sayings and aphorisms such as quando si ama il proprio lavoro, non si sente la fatica <\/strong>(\u2018when one loves one\u2019s own job, one doesn’t get tired\u2019 or \u2018When you love your job, you don\u2019t feel the tiredness\u2019), or non si vive di solo pane<\/strong> (one does not live on bread alone).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>It is also common to use the si impersonale<\/strong> when giving impersonal instructions such as in leaflets, guides, recipes, or written polite orders:<\/p>\n

all\u2019incrocio si gira a destra <\/strong>(at the junction you turn right, or, turn right at the junction);<\/p>\n

si deve rispettare la legge <\/strong>(one must respect the law, or, the law must be respected);<\/p>\n

si mette l\u2019acqua in una pentola profonda <\/strong>(put the water in a deep saucepan);<\/p>\n

si prega di non toccare <\/strong>(please, do not touch).<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s have a look at how<\/span> to use the si impersonale<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

The si impersonale <\/strong>is normally followed by a verb in the third person singular<\/span> (the \u2018lui\u2019 form), e.g. si mett<\/span>e<\/span> l\u2019acqua\u2026<\/strong>, however when it\u2019s followed by a plural direct object<\/span>, the verb is in the third person plural<\/span>, e.g.: si me<\/span>tt<\/span>ono<\/span> gli spaghetti<\/span> nell\u2019acqua bollente <\/strong>(put the spaghetti in the boiling water).<\/p>\n

Because of its similarity to the reflexive pronoun \u2018si\u2019, the passato prossimo<\/strong> (present perfect) <\/strong>is always built with the verb essere<\/strong>, even with transitive verbs that would normally have the verb avere<\/strong>, e.g. dopo che si \u00e8 messa<\/span> l\u2019acqua nella pentola <\/strong>(after you\u2019ve put the water in the saucepan).<\/p>\n

In the impersonal construction si \u00e8 + aggettivo <\/strong>(you are + adjective), the adjective is always plural<\/span>, e.g. \u00e8 dificile leggere<\/strong> quando si \u00e8 stanchi<\/span><\/strong> (it\u2019s difficult to read when you are tired), or quando c\u2019\u00e8 il sole si \u00e8 pi\u00f9 <\/strong>allegri <\/strong><\/span>(when it\u2019s sunny you feel happier).<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be looking at some other aspects of the si impersonale<\/strong> in Part 2 of the blog. A presto!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Si dice che al finesettimana avremo temperature primaverili (They say that at the weekend we\u2019ll have spring like temperatures). In Italian we often use the impersonal pronoun \u2018si\u2019, known as si impersonale. It is commonly translated in English as \u2018one\u2019, but can also mean \u2018they\u2019, \u2018you\u2019, or \u2018it\u2019 in an impersonal sense. To clarify, let\u2019s…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[128761,128760,128759],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-impersonal-form","tag-italian-si-impersonale","tag-si-impersonale"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1614,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions\/1614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}