2.1.6.1: L'avverbio e il pronome "ci"
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The adverb and pronoun ci
Consider the following example:
- Giovanni: Siete andati in montagna domenica?
- Davide: Sì, ci siamo andati. Bellissimo!
Ci means there or in/to/at the place that has already been mentioned. In the example above, ci stands for in montagna . We use ci to avoid repeating the name of the place. Whereas in English we often do not necessarily need to say there , in Italian it is obligatory to say ci .
Now consider the following example:
- Giovanni: Riesci a finire il tema per domani?
- Davide: Sì, ci riesco, non ti preoccupare.
With verbs such as riuscire a [ to manage to; to be able to ], credere a (in) [ to believe in ] and provare a [ to try to ], ci can replace a word or phrase introduced by the prepositions a or in. In the example above, ci stands for finire il tema .
Ci always goes before the conjugated verb, i.e.: ci vado , ci sono andato , etc. However, when there is a verb + an infinitive, it can go either before the conjugated verb or be attached to the end of the infinitive after you have dropped the last letter of the infinite, as in andare > andar . Consider the two possible answers to the following question:
Sei già andato al nuovo ristorante in via Roma?
- No, ma ci voglio andare .
- No, ma voglio andarci .
Espressioni molto usate:
- ci credo [ I believe it; I believe in it ]; non ci credo [ I don’t believe it; I don’t believe in it ]
- ci riesco [ I can do it ]; non ci riesco [ I can’t do it ]
- ci provo [ I try ]
- provaci! [ Try! ]