Have you ever studied the “Si spersonalizzante“?

The so called “Si spersonalizzante” is used in Italian to make the verb impersonal.

When there is not a specific subject, we use the particle “si” as an indefinite subject which refers to people in general.

We have to distinguish a number of different situations though.

Let’s go through some examples to better understand it!

	Italian	English
1	Ad agosto in Italia si va al mare.	In August in Italy people go to the seaside.
2	Si sente un buon profumo di fiori.	You can smell a nice scent of flowers.
3	Dalle montagne si vedono panorami meravigliosi.	From the mountains it is possible to see marvelous landscapes.
4	Alle terme ci si rilassa molto.	At the thermal baths you can relax a lot.
5	Quando finiscono le vacanze si è sempre tristi.	When holidays finish people are always sad.

 

In example n.1, we have an impersonal construction with an intransitive verb: in this case we use si + third person singular of the verb.

In n.2 we have an impersonal construction with a transitive verb agreed with a singular object (un buon profumo): so we use si + third person singular of the verb + singular object.

Example n.3 is an impersonal construction with a transitive verb agreed with a plural object (panorami meravigliosi): in this case we use si + third person plural of the verb + plural object.

N.4 refers to Reflexive Verbs: if we want to make them impersonal, we use ci + si + third person singular of the verb.

The last example shows the impersonal construction si + è + adjective: careful, in this case the adjective is always masculine plural!

Try to make some sentences using the “si spersonalizzante” now!

It will be easier than you thought!