Ce l'hai?

So, following up from my last post, I want to highlight a very common phrase that uses "ci" in a way that you might not expect: "ce l'hai?". When I first heard this, it really threw me for a loop. "Hai", "you have". No problem. "l'hai", you have it, great, pretty straight forward. So, something like "you have it?", but what the heck is CI doing there??? (tiny little note for those wondering: ce/ci are the same word, ci changes to ce when there's another pronoun)

It turns out that you'll often hear "ci" used with "avere" just to make things easier to say. That is, apparently "l'hai" isn't meaty enough on its own, so it's filled out into "ce l'hai". The response, "si, l'ho" becomes "si, ce l'ho". Say those out loud a few times and you'll see that it really does make things feel more complete.

All of this is true even when not using "it" (>la/lo). For example, the phrase "I have some friends". Textbook style would be "ho degli amici", but it's VERY common to hear someone say "c'ho degli amici". In my opinion (and judging by the commonness of its usage, I'm not alone in this), it's just easier to say. If you're not too sharp on pronunciation yet, it's pronounced like we would say "cho" in english. And along the lines of pronunciation, I encourage you to work on getting the difficult "degli" correct... it's kind of like "de-yee". "Gli" is a tough sound, the best I can offer is to say "li" but with the tip of your tongue anchored at the edge of your bottom gum line. You'll feel the back of your tongue rise as you say it.

Note/Bonus Phrase: While "ce l'ho" and "ce l'hai" get used a lot to just say "I have it" and "You have it", it's very important to note a situation where that type of phrase means something very different: when it's followed by "con qualcuno". In this case it means "I/You have a problem with them". For example, if I say "Ce l'ho con Mario, non mi ha pagato oggi" it means "I have a real problem with Mario, he didn't pay me today".
Another example of this that you will certainly hear at some point is "Perchè ce l'hai con me?" meaning basically "why're you mad at me?" or "what'd I do?".

The tricky "ci"

Who would think that such a small word could cause so many problems for learners? It might seem simple enough at first, but I've seen many people have a hard time when "ci" starts popping up where they don't really expect it.

In the course of thinking up ideas for blog posts, I realized that many useful phrases use "ci" in some way. So, I wanted to start with this post in order to hopefully clear things up from the start.

The problem, as I see it, is that learners are only really taught "ci"'s first and primary use, the first person plural object pronoun. As in... "ci hanno dato dei soldi" ("they gave us some money") and "ci sentiamo" ("we hear each other"). Everything else is glanced over, and the student unfortunately ends up associating "ci" purely with "us". This creates a big problem when they start seeing it in other places where it doesn't mean that, and they get confused.

So what else does it mean?

In most cases, if it doesn't mean "us", in some way or another it's standing in for something else that has already been mentioned or is understood. It's like "it" or "there" in English- meaningless words unless we already know what "it" is, or where "there" refers to.

Out of these cases, it usually just means "there", as in "the place that's already been mentioned" (not like "over there", which would be "di là"). The most common example of this is "c'è" and "ci sono"- "there is" and "there are". These phrases are usually just taught as units, though, and become second nature, so that's not much fun. Getting used to using it to mean "there" in lieu of a place name, though, is a skill that takes a little work, but is very worthwhile.

Some examples:
"Sei mai stato a Roma?" - Have you ever been to Rome?
"Si, ci sono stato due volte." - Yes, I've been there two times.

"Vai al concerto stasera?" - Are you going to the concert tonight?
"No, non ho voglia di andarci" - No, I don't feel like going there.

When it's not used for a location, it's usually a shortening of "ciò", a small word for "that/it". For example, one very common phrase (that I was going to do as a separate post) is "ci penso io" - "I'll handle it" (though the verb, of course, it's literally "I think"). In this case, "ci" is short for "a ciò". The inversion of "io", putting it on the end, is for dramatic effect. So, we have something like "I'll think to that", meaning "I'll take care of it".

Finally, there's another class of usage where it's mostly just there for sound. This usage is mostly constrained to speaking... so if you're listening to someone speaking and it sounds like they've just thrown in a "ci" for no reason, it's possible they have! One common example of this is with "avere", where it's normal to hear something like "C'ho un amico". I'll talk about this some more in future posts.

All of this might seem a bit confusing, but don't worry - it's not my intention in this post to teach you exactly how to use "ci" correctly all of the time. Instead, I just want to give you a heads up to some very important usages that I don't think are highlighted enough in most Italian courses. As always, please feel free to comment with questions or other uses that you might know of. I think in the next post I'll highlight the most common phrases employing "ci" in a colloquial manner.

Alla prossima...

Fill'r up!

Filler words - as I call them - are an extremely important part of making your Italian seem natural and fluent. Building a good repertoire of these types of words can dramatically affect how your speech flows, and how people respond to you.

First, a better definition of what I'm talking about. Think about how you speak english, or perhaps try to be conscious of it the next time you talk to someone. How many words do you say that don't actually contribute to what you're trying to express? Probably more than you'd think. Here's something that I'd easily say:

"So, you know, with the way things are going... basically... I don't know what to do".

In that sentence "so", "you know", and "basically" really don't have any purpose besides giving me time to think, and helping things flow. These are what I call "filler words".

Italian, like any language, has the same things. However, it's an area that I've never seen explicitly explained to new learners, and that you probably don't think about much, because you don't really notice doing it in English. In this post, and in future posts with the 'filler words' label, I try to introduce phrases and expressions that fit this role, and that I've found extremely useful.

First up, one of the kings: Allora. This word is used a LOT in Italian. If you haven't already noticed that, you will now. The definition of the word is technically "then", but in conversation it most commonly functions as something like "So..." or "So then...". It is very often used at the start of the sentence.

It's so common and natural in Italian speech that, in fact, I often tell people this: Just start every response with "allora", and you'll instantly go from a beginner to an intermediate speaker. Native speakers will respond differently. At least for that single word to start the sentence, you'll be a perfectly fluent speaker- because it's a natural way to start to say something. 

In the sake of full disclosure I'll say that there are other ways to start sentences, and using "allora" every time might get a bit tedious, but I'm trying to prove a point. Give it a shot next time you're speaking to someone, and see how it goes.

Here are some common examples to help you see in context what I mean:

A: Da quanto tempo studi l'italiano?

B: Allora, ho cominciato 6 anni fa, più o meno

A: Che vuoi fare oggi?

B: Allora... prima mangiamo qualcosa, ho fame!

And it's a great way to just say "well then", like when everyone is just standing around and you want to say...

"Allora, che facciamo ragazzi?" 

Ho capito...

Simple today: to say you understand something when someone is talking to you, you use the past tense: "ho capito".

Doesn't make sense in English, but that's ok! It's a good way to get your feet wet with things that are just plain different in Italian. And it's used a lot. It can range from a full on "I understand what you're saying" to just a "got it" to even where we'd use "yeah".

In fact, it's not uncommon to carry a conversation for a while with someone who's fond of talking by simply replying over and over "ho capito".

Example:

Loquacious Italian Friend: blah blah blah

You: Ho capito

LIF: blah blah!

You: Oh si! Ho capito.

LIF: è tardi, me ne vado, ciao.

You: Ho capito, va bene, ciao

Might seem a bit much, but it's not too far from the truth!