{"id":16079,"date":"2018-04-18T16:47:33","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T14:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=16079"},"modified":"2018-04-18T16:47:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T14:47:33","slug":"fare-pena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/fare-pena\/","title":{"rendered":"Fare Pena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Important: The following blog is guaranteed 100% boot free!<\/span><\/p>\n

Yep, after two weeks of following Le Avventure Di Uno Scarpone<\/a><\/span><\/strong> I feel it’s time to move on to new, hitherto unexplored territories. Hence today I’ll be beginning a ten week mini-series based on the life of a sock.<\/p>\n

Only joking! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

If it were true, then at this point you’d be perfectly justified in saying: “ma questo Geoff mi fa veramente pena!”<\/strong> Which leads on nicely to the real topic of today’s article: the word pena<\/strong> and its associated idiomatic expressions.<\/p>\n

The Italian word pena<\/strong> comes from the Latin poena<\/em>, meaning punishment, chastisement, or suffering. The same etymological roots have given rise to the English words pain, penalty, penal and so on.
\nIn Italian, pena<\/strong> is frequently used when referring to criminal justice:
\n\u00e8 stato condannato alla pena dell’ergastolo<\/strong> = he has been condemned to life in prison\/given a life sentence
\nil pubblico ministero ha proposto il massimo della pena<\/strong> = the public prosecutor has suggested the maximum sentence<\/span><\/p>\n

Now hopefully, dear readers, you’ll never end up in an Italian court of justice …. ma non si sa mai!<\/strong> (but you never know!)<\/p>\n

What you will encounter very frequently though are the following everyday expressions:<\/p>\n

1. <\/span>Fare pena<\/span><\/strong> = to feel sorry (for someone\/thing). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s important to understand that idiomatic expressions cannot be translated literally without recourse to an equivalent expression in the target language. But let’s break it down a moment: mi fa pena<\/strong> could be interpreted as he\/she \/it makes me suffer<\/em>, hence I feel pain for him\/her\/it<\/em>, hence I feel sorry for <\/em>him\/her\/it<\/em> (plural mi fanno pena <\/strong>= I feel sorry for them). Simply put, it’s an expression of empathy.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples that demonstrate how you can use this expression:
\nOlivia ha perso suo babbo, mi fa proprio pena<\/strong> = Olivia’s father has died, I feel really sorry for her
\nma non ti fanno pena quei poveri gatti randagi?<\/strong> = but don’t you feel sorry for those poor stray cats?
\ngli faceva cos\u00ec tanta pena che ha dato la propria giacca al povero rifugiato<\/strong> = he felt so sorry for the poor refugee that he gave him his own coat
\nMaria dice che le faccio pena<\/strong> = Maria says that she feels sorry for me<\/p>\n

2. <\/span>Valere la pena<\/b><\/span> = to be worth it<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whereas in English we say it’s worth\/not worth the effort (simplified to it’s worth\/not worth it) in Italian we say it’s worth\/not worth the pain\/suffering.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at some examples:
\nsecondo te, vale la pena di comprare una macchina che va a GPL?<\/strong> = in your opinion, is it worth buying a car that runs on LPG? (gas propano liquido = liquid propane gas<\/em>)
\nnon vale la pena di fare tutto quel lavoro per cinque euro soltanto!<\/strong> = it’s not worth the effort of doing all that work for just five euros!
\nYou’ll also commonly hear this expression used without the di<\/strong><\/em>: vale la pena visitare Modena?<\/strong> = is it worth visiting Modena?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vale veramente la pena visitare la Lunigiana d’inverno, \u00e8 bellissima! Photo by Geoff.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Now for the tricky bit!<\/span><\/p>\n

Things get more complicated when we add ne<\/strong> into the equation:
\nOriana: “Si \u00e8 rotta la frizione e devo farla riparare, ma la macchina \u00e8 vecchia … non so se ne vale la pena”<\/strong> = “The clutch has gone and I’ve got to get it repaired, but the car’s old … I don’t know if it’s worth it”<\/p>\n

Ne<\/strong> is one of those slightly elusive little words that acts as a stand in for a whole load of other words. So in this case, instead of saying “non so se vale la pena farla riparare<\/span>” <\/strong>Oriana simply says “non so se ne vale la pena<\/span>“<\/strong> and the ne<\/strong> <\/span>stands in for “farla riparare<\/span>“<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here’s another example:
\nOriana: “Secondo te, vale la pena comprare una macchina che va a GPL?”<\/strong> Geoff: “S\u00ec, ne vale veramente la pena”<\/strong> = Oriana: “In your opinion, is it worth buying a car that runs on LPG?” Geoff: “Yes, it’s definitely worth it”<\/p>\n

Finally, using the past tense:<\/span><\/p>\n

Anthony: “Sono dovuto andare fino ad Aulla per trovare il pezzo di ricambio!”<\/strong> Geoff: “Allora, ne \u00e8 valsa la pena?”<\/strong> = Anthony: “I had to go all the way to Aulla to find the spare part!” Geoff: “So, was it worth it?”<\/p>\n

Okay, don’t panic … let’s analyse that reply shall we? V<\/strong>alsa<\/strong><\/span> is the past participle of the verb valere<\/strong><\/span>, hence \u00e8 valsa la pena?<\/strong><\/span> means ‘was it worth it?’ and\u00a0\u00e8 valsa la pena<\/strong><\/span> (without the question mark) means ‘it was worth it’.<\/p>\n

Here’s another example:
\nAnthony: “Com’\u00e8 andata la riunione con il sindaco, avete risolto qualcosa?”<\/strong> Geoff: “Non ne \u00e8 valsa la pena, era come parlare al muro!”<\/strong> = “How did the meeting with the mayor go, did you resolve anything?” Geoff: “It wasn’t worth it, it was like talking to a brick wall!”<\/p>\n

I’d like to thank reader Mike Nicolucci for giving me the idea for this article. Grazie Mike!
\n<\/span>As usual, if you have any question don’t hesitate to leave a comment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Important: The following blog is guaranteed 100% boot free! Yep, after two weeks of following Le Avventure Di Uno Scarpone I feel it’s time to move on to new, hitherto unexplored territories. Hence today I’ll be beginning a ten week mini-series based on the life of a sock. Only joking! \ud83d\ude09 If it were true…<\/p>\n

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