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In the following lesson, we are going to deal with a topic that's very confusing for foreign students (and some Italians too), namely SI impersonale, since it has rather complex and particular formation rules.
📝 Written Explanation: learnamo.com/en/si-impersonal...
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How and When to use the "SI impersonale" in Italian
Il SI impersonale is used to talk, in a detached manner, about events or situations involving an indefinite and nonspecific subject (all the people) and it's used both in spoken and written language (but it's used more in this last case).
Unlike the SI riflessivo, which refers to a person or a group of specific people, the SI impersonale replaces “la gente”, “le persone” (the people), “tutti” (everybody) and it's always used in the third person, singular and plural, with the auxiliary verb essere (to be).
Now let's see all the case in which we can use the SI impersonale and how:
1) with simple tenses (present, past, future… ) of transitive verbs
If the verb is transitive and takes a direct object, it must be conjugated:
- in the third person singular, if the object taken is singular
- in the third person plural, if the object taken is plural
Example: "Alla festa si berrà birra e si mangeranno panini" (At the party we will drink beer and eat sandwiches)
Let's see another example with the same principle:
"In vacanza si prende il sole e si leggono molti libri" (On holidays you can sunbathe and read many books).
With the first verb, we'll have a case of SI passivante, the case in which the direct object of the verb is nothing but the subject of a passive clause
Example: "Qui si studia l’italiano" (We study Italian here) = Qui l’italiano è studiato (Italian is studied here) (by someone, by people that in general are not specified).
2) with simple of intransitive verbs
If the verb is intransitive (not taking a direct object), or it is transitive but doesn't take any object, then the verb is always in the third person singular.
Examples: "D’estate si va al mare" (On summer you go to the sea)
"In questo ristorante si mangia molto bene!" (In this restaurant you eat really well)
In this last case, the used verb is always "mangiare" (to eat), which is transitive, but since it doesn't take any object in this sentence, it is conjugated in the third person singular.
3) with simple tenses of reflexive verbs
If the verbs already include a “si” (reflexive pronouns) in the third person singular, you will have not to use the repetition (si si), but the combination ci si! In this case, il verb is always singular, even when followed by a plural object.
Examples: "In vacanza, ci si alza sempre tardi" (On holidays, you always get up late)
"Prima di mangiare, ci si lava le mani" (Before eating, we wash our hands)
4) with compound tenses (present perfect, pluperfect tense, future perfect…)
- If the SI impersonale precedes a verb that has the verb “essere” (to be) as auxiliary (like a movement or state verbs, a reflexive or a passive verb), then the past participle ends with -i (or -e if we're talking about women)
Examples: "Si può mangiare solo se prima ci si è lavati le mani" (Verbo riflessivo) (You can eat only if you have washed your hands first)
"Se si è state lasciate, bisogna andare dal parrucchiere e farsi belle!" (Passive verb) (If you've been dumped, you need to go to the hairdresser to in order to look nice)
"Quest’estate si è andati in Portogallo" (Intransitive verb) (This summer we've been to Portugal)
- If the SI impersonale precedes an intransitive verb that has the verb “avere” (to have) as auxiliary (like laughing or walking) or a transitive verb without object, then the past participle will always end with -o
Examples: "Era un film triste e non si è riso per niente!" (It was a sad movie and we didn't laugh at all)
"Alla festa del direttore si è mangiato veramente bene!" (At the manager's party we ate very well!)
- if the SI impersonale precedes a transitive verb followed by a direct object, then the past participle is related with the object (so it might end with -o, -a, -i, -e). In this case, if the object is plural even the verb “essere” (to be) will be plural.
Examples: "Non so lì ma qui non si è vista nemmeno una persona" (I don't know if there it's the same, but nobody came here)
"Il colpevole non è stato catturato perché non si sono analizzate bene tutte le prove" (The culprit wasn't caught because the evidences weren't analyzed properly)
"Purtroppo per questa patologia non si sono ancora fatti dei progressi" (Unfortunately, no progress has yet been made for this condition)
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