{"id":9278,"date":"2015-05-28T12:43:38","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T10:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=9278"},"modified":"2015-05-28T12:43:38","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T10:43:38","slug":"remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my previous post<\/a><\/span> we touched upon forgetfulness, a subject which is increasingly close to my heart as I become \u2018less young\u2019 (sounds better than older, doesn\u2019t it?). So, what am I doing sitting here in front of the computer \u2026 oh yes, an article about \u2026 wait, don\u2019t tell me, it\u2019s on the tip of my tongue \u2026 got it, forget-me nots! No, that was the last one \u2026 damn, I can\u2019t remember \u2026 hang on, that\u2019s it \u2026 remember!<\/span><\/p>\n

Ricordare<\/strong>, now there\u2019s an Italian verb that we can relate to in English \u2026 sounds like record doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0Let\u2019s take a quick look at the English etymology:<\/span><\/p>\n

Record, Middle English: from Old French record \u2018remembrance\u2019, from recorder \u2018bring to remembrance\u2019, from Latin recordari \u2018remember\u2019, based on cor, cord- \u2018heart\u2019<\/span>. The noun was earliest used in law to denote the fact of being written down as evidence. The verb originally meant \u2018narrate orally or in writing\u2019, also \u2018repeat so as to commit to memory\u2019<\/span>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s one of those wonderful surprises that one often gets when learning a Latin language: the root of the word record is heart, or cuore<\/strong> in Italian! In fact the heart was once considered the home of memories, which doesn\u2019t surprise me, because that\u2019s certainly where I \u2018feel\u2019 (metaphorically speaking) my memories.<\/span><\/p>\n

So now we have a fundamental connection between ricordare<\/strong> and record, but what about the word remember? Once again, let\u2019s study the etymology: <\/span><\/p>\n

Middle English: from Old French remembrer, from late Latin rememorari \u2018call to mind\u2019, from re- (expressing intensive force) + Latin memor \u2018mindful\u2019.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Equally\u00a0fascinating: in English we keep our memories in our minds, and in Italian in our hearts. I guess they don\u2019t call Italian a \u2018Romance\u2019 language for nothing. And let\u2019s face it, isn\u2019t that one of the qualities that we love about La Bella Lingua<\/strong>? And speaking of romance, let’s take a brief romantic interlude before we get down to the serious stuff:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Zanzare<\/a>

Zanzare di Francesco Abrignani<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Now to the nitty gritty, the verb ricordare<\/strong>, how do we use it? Firstly, as with scordare<\/strong> and dimenticare<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, ricordare<\/strong> is most commonly used in its reflexive form: ricordarsi<\/strong>. Here are a few examples:<\/span><\/p>\n

presente<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 present<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

mi ricordo che quando ero piccolo avevo la passione per i treni a vapore<\/strong> = I remember that when I was little I loved steam trains
\nti ricordi quella volta che siamo andati a Volterra?<\/strong> = do you remember the time that we went to Volterra?
\nPaolo mi ha detto che si ricorda quel libro<\/strong> = Paolo told me that he remembers that book
\nchi si ricorda il titolo di quel film?<\/strong> = who remembers the title of that film?
\nvi ricordate la password?<\/strong> do you (plural)<\/em> remember the password?<\/span><\/p>\n

imperfetto<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 imperfect tense<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

non mi ricordavo l\u2019indirizzo<\/strong> = I couldn\u2019t remember the address
\nZio Mario si ricordava sempre il mio compleanno<\/strong> = Uncle Mario always used to remember my birthday
\navrebbero messo in ordine la cucina, ma non si ricordavano dove mettere\u00a0le stoviglie<\/strong>\u00a0= they would have tidied up the kitchen, but they couldn\u2019t remember where to put the dishes
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

passato prossim<\/strong>o\u00a0\u2013 present perfect<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

mi sono ricordato il suo compleanno all\u2019ultimo momento<\/strong> = I remembered his birthday at the last moment
\nvi siete ricordati di pagare la bolletta del telefono?<\/strong> = did you (plural) remember to pay the telephone bill?
\nbravo, ti sei ricordato di lavarti le mani!\u00a0<\/strong>= good boy, you remembered to wash your hands!<\/span><\/p>\n

imperativo<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 imperative<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ricordati di\u00a0chiamare Annalisa sto pomeriggio<\/strong> = remember to call Annalisa this afternoon
\nricordatevi di non lasciare accese le luci\u00a0quando uscite<\/strong> = remember (plural)<\/em> not to leave the lights on when you go out
\nricordiamoci che venerd\u00ec siamo invitati da Fabio e Madalina<\/strong> = let\u2019s remember that we\u2019ve been invited to Fabio and Madalina\u2019s on Friday<\/span><\/p>\n

If you need further help please leave a comment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

In my previous post we touched upon forgetfulness, a subject which is increasingly close to my heart as I become \u2018less young\u2019 (sounds better than older, doesn\u2019t it?). So, what am I doing sitting here in front of the computer \u2026 oh yes, an article about \u2026 wait, don\u2019t tell me, it\u2019s on the tip…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":9280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[385842,385843,385844],"class_list":["post-9278","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-remember-in-italian","tag-ricordare","tag-ricordarsi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9278","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\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9278"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9288,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9278\/revisions\/9288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}