Italian 6.7. Idiomatic Pronominal Verbs

A pronominal verb is a verb that is accompanied by at least one pronoun. Some pronominal verbs in Italian have idiomatic meanings.

An example of pronominal verbs is reflexive verbs, which have the ending “-si” in the infinitive, indicating that the action is performed on oneself. Not all pronominal verbs are reflexive. Some verbs simply change their meaning when attached to pronouns to form new idiomatic meanings that do not often make complete sense if translated literally into English.

Take, for example, the verb “andare” (to go). If we attach the pronouns “si” and “ne” to the verb “andare,” we obtain the pronominal verb “andarsene,” which means “to go away,” often encountered in the command form “Vattene!” (Go away!), that is: “va” + “ti” + “ne,” or “Andiamocene!” (Let’s go!), that is: “andiamo” + “ci” + “ne.”

Similarly, if we attach the pronouns “ci” and “la” to the verb “avere” (to have), we obtain the pronominal verb “avercela,” which means “to be mad or angry.”

There are many similar idiomatic pronominal verbs in Italian. Some are formed by attaching one pronoun, while others are formed by attaching two pronouns. The pronouns attached can be reflexive such as “si,” direct object such as “le” (it) and “la” (them), or the special pronouns “ci” and “ne.” Remember that the pronoun “mi,” “ti,” “ci,” or “vi” is changed to “me,” “te,” “ce,” or “ve,” respectively, when followed by a second pronoun attached to it. One notable exception is when “ci” and “si” are used together to form “-cisi” at the end of a pronominal verb.

Conjugation

Unless the pronominal verb is in the infinitive or the imperative, the pronouns are placed in the same order before the conjugated verb. If the conjugation needs a past participle, as in the present perfect tense, the past participle takes the treatment of an adjective and must follow the ending pronoun in gender and number. Here is the conjugation of the pronominal verb “farcela” (to make it or to succeed) and “prenderle” (to get it or to give a beating) in the present perfect:

	farcela	prenderle
io	ce l’ho fatta	le ho prese
tu	ce l’hai fatta	le hai prese
lui/lei	ce l’ha fatta	le ha prese
noi	ce l’abbiamo fatta	le abbiamo prese
voi	ce l’avete fatta	le avete prese
loro	ce l’hanno fatta	le hanno prese

Examples

The following table lists some of the most common idiomatic pronominal verbs:

Verb	Meaning	Example
andarsene	to leave a place or to go away	Andatevene! Non voglio parlare.	Go away! I do not want to talk.
avercela	to be mad or angry	Non avercela con me!	Don’t be angry with me!
cavarsela	to manage a difficult situation	Se la sono cavata da soli.	They managed on their own.
cercarsela	to look for trouble	Ce la siamo cercata da soli.	We brought this on ourselves.
farcela	to make it or to succeed	Sono rimasto sorpreso ma ce l’ha fatta.	I was surprised but he made it.
godersela	to enjoy something	Se la gode in questa atmosfera.	He enjoys it in this atmosphere.
intendersene	to know a lot about something	Lo lasci dire a chi se ne intende!	Leave it to those who know best!
mettercela	to put all effort into something	Ce l’hanno messa tutta in campo.	They gave it their all on the field.
piantarla	to quit something	Per favore! Ti ho detto di piantarla.	Please! I told you to knock it off.
prendersela	to get angry	Mio fratello sempre se la prende con me.	My brother always gets angry with me.
sbrigarsela	to manage or to deal with	La prossima volta, se la sbrigherà da solo.	Next time, he’ll handle it himself.
sentirsela	to feel like or have desire to	Può partecipare quando se la sente.	He can participate when he feels like it.
smetterla	to stop or quit something	Devi smetterla di metterti in mostra.	You need to stop showing off.
spassarsela	to have a blast	Me la sono spassata in quel periodo.	I had a blast during that period.
tirarsela	to show off	Se la tira sempre tanto.	He always shows off too much.
trovarcisi	to find oneself in	Mi ci sono trovato per caso.	I found myself there by accident.
vedercisi	to see oneself in	Non mi ci vedo con loro.	I don’t see myself with them.
vederne	to see something of	Non ne vedo il motivo.	I don’t see the reason of it.
venirne	to get to the bottom of	Alla fine, ne sono venuto a conoscenza.	Eventually, I came to know about it.

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