All cases of Italian “si”
We can use the Italian “si” in many cases:
- as adverb of italin assertions, example:
“hai comprato il giornale di oggi?” - “Sì!” - as reflexive pronuon third person singular and plural, example:
il Sig. Rossi si alza presto la mattina;
i Signori Bianchi si addormentano sempre molto tardi la sera.When this pronoun is combined with the other pronouns, it becames se, example:
ho comprato la carne ma se l’è (la è) mangiata il gatto. - as passive si in the third person singular and plural, example: si + 3th person singular or plural
mia sorella si chiama Giulia
in televisione si vedono sempre le solite cose.
The passive form si + verb can be used with all verb tenses and the agent (the person or the thingwhich perform the action) is not expressed, example:
Marta si baciada Paolo(is incorrect!) - as impersonal si in the form si + verb 3th person singular expresses general actions which are common to many people, example:
Alle feste si balla
In estate si va in vacanza
With the verbs essere and diventare we use plural adjectives, exaple:
Se si mangia troppo si diventa grassi
Se si è felici, si è anche tranquilli
When we have to do an impersonal costruction with a reflexive verb, we can not put twice the si. Therefore in this case the correct costructions is: ci + si + verb (3th person singular), example:
Se ci si stanca, ci si deve rilassare (verbs: stancarsi, rilassarsi)
- as affective si. In this particular case we can use si when we want to give a particular affective implication to the action or to the event, example:
Anna si mangia finalmente un gelato.
Dopo il lavoro Luca si beve un buon caffé.
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