L’avverbio e il pronome “ci”
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!]
