{"id":16953,"date":"2018-08-27T19:19:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T17:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=16953"},"modified":"2018-08-29T17:04:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T15:04:28","slug":"ci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/ci\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ci’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like an elusive butterfly, she flutters from sentence to sentence. Just when we think we can grasp her, with a swift beat of tiny wings, ‘ci<\/strong>‘ flies out of reach, only to alight somewhere else totally unexpected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, I have a special grammatical butterfly net. Let’s capture her and take a closer look at her many facets …<\/p>\n

1. <\/span><\/span>ci<\/span><\/span><\/strong> as a personal pronoun.
\n<\/span><\/span>The personal pronoun ci<\/strong> can be translated as ‘us’, ‘each other’, or ‘we’, depending on context.
\nci ha chiesto di spostare la macchina<\/strong> = he asked us to move the car
\nci siamo visti l’altro giorno<\/strong> = we saw each other the other day
\nci vediamo domani<\/strong> = we’ll see each other tomorrow (see you tomorrow<\/em>)
\nci piace fare le passeggiate<\/strong> = we like to go walking
\nci siamo gi\u00e0 lavati le mani<\/strong> = we have already washed our hands (from the reflexive verb lavarsi<\/strong> = to wash oneself<\/em>)<\/p>\n

2. <\/span><\/span>ci<\/span><\/span><\/strong> as the adverb ‘there’ or ‘here’
\n<\/span><\/span>ci sono stato tre anni fa<\/strong> = I went there three years ago
\nci siamo, finalmente! <\/strong>= we’re finally here!
\nci vengo molto spesso<\/strong> = I come here very often
\nc’erano molti turisti quest’anno!<\/strong> = there were lots of tourists this year (see note b. <\/em>below)
\nc’\u00e8 un bar qui vicino?<\/strong> = is there a bar nearby? (see note b. <\/em>below)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lago Santo? S\u00ec, c’eravamo due settimane fa.<\/strong> Lago Santo? Yes, we were there two weeks ago.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Important notes:<\/span>
\na.<\/em> Sometimes we use the adverb ‘ci<\/strong>‘ even when it is theoretically redundant, e.g. ci sei a casa oggi pomeriggio?<\/strong> = are you (there<\/em>) at home this afternoon?
\nb.<\/em> When ci<\/strong> is followed by \u00e8<\/strong> (is), ero<\/strong> (I was), eravamo<\/strong> (we were), erano<\/strong> (they were), and so on it becomes c’<\/strong>. Hence: c’\u00e8 <\/strong>(is there), c’eravamo<\/strong> (we were there), c’erano <\/strong>(there were), etc.
\nc.<\/em> When followed by the object pronouns lo, la, li, le, <\/strong>(it, them) or ne <\/strong>(of it\/of them), ci<\/strong> becomes ce<\/strong>:
\nquestion: scusi, c\u2019\u00e8 una banca qui vicino?<\/strong> = excuse me, is there a\u00a0 bank near here?
\nanswer: s\u00ec, ce n\u2019\u00e8 una all\u2019angolo della piazza<\/strong> = yes, there’s one on the corner of the square (literally: there’s one of them on the corner<\/em>)
\nquestion: sapete che il ponte \u00e8 chiuso?<\/strong> =do you (plural<\/em>) know that the bridge is closed?
\nanswer: s\u00ec, ce l’hanno detto<\/strong> = yes, they told us (literally: they told us it<\/em>)
\nquestion: allora, vi piace l’appartamento?<\/strong> = so, do you like the apartment?
\nanswer:\u00a0\u00e8 troppo costoso, non ce lo possiamo permettere <\/strong>= it’s too expensive, we can\u2019t afford it. (literally: we can\u2019t allow ourselves it<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Next time: things get more complicated when we encounter ci <\/strong>in idiomatic verbs!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Like an elusive butterfly, she flutters from sentence to sentence. Just when we think we can grasp her, with a swift beat of tiny wings, ‘ci‘ flies out of reach, only to alight somewhere else totally unexpected. Luckily, I have a special grammatical butterfly net. Let’s capture her and take a closer look at her…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":16961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[229264],"class_list":["post-16953","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-personal-pronouns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t