Italian All-in-One For Dummies (107 page)

Hai pensato al tuo dilemma? Ci ho pensato.
(
Did you think about your dilemma? I thought about it.
)

The verb
volerci
is conjugated in the third person singular and plural forms, depending on the subject of the sentence. For example,
Ci vogliono tre ore per andare a Roma da qui
(
It takes three hours to get to Rome from here [three hours are needed]
), but
Ci vuole un uovo per questa ricetta
(
You need one egg for this recipe [one egg is necessary]
).

Things or situations already mentioned, with such phrases as
a questo, a quello,
a ciò
(
of/about this/that
):

Tu credi a quello che ha detto? No, non ci credo.
(
Do you believe what he said? No, I don't believe it.
)

It may help you to think about
ci
like this: When you have a place introduced by the prepositions
a
(
at; to
),
in
(
in
), or
per
(
through
), you can use
ci
to refer to the preposition + noun combination in the sentence that follows. Some examples include the verbs
andare a/in
(
to go to
),
entrare a/in
(
to enter
),
passare per
(and also
di/da
) (
to go through
),
stare a/in
(
to stay at/in
), and others. For example,
Sei mai stato in Croazia? No, non ci sono mai stato
(
Have you ever been to Croatia? No, I've never been there
).

The pronoun ne

Ne
(
of this/that/him/them, from this/that place
) is a useful pronoun. It can refer to people, animals, things, individual objects, or entire sentences that have already been mentioned. You place
ne
before the verb or attach it to the verb if it's an infinitive, imperative, or gerund.

Ne
means
of this, of them,
and
from there
because it's used with verbs that are always followed by either
di
(
of; about
) or
da
(
by; from
). For example, if someone asks you
Avete fatto delle foto?
(
Did you take some pictures?
), you can answer
Ne abbiamo fatte molte
(
We took many of them
). If someone asks you
Ritorni adesso dal mercato?
(
Are you just now coming back from the market?
), you can answer
Ne ritorno adesso
(
I've just come back [from it]
), although this is unusual, because the verb
ritornare
(
to return; to come back
) can be followed by the preposition
da.
Therefore, when you have a thing or a place introduced by the preposition
di
or
da,
you can use
ne
to refer to the preposition + noun combination.

The following examples further illustrate the use of
ne
with a verb that takes
di
and one that takes
da:

Hai parlato di tua figlia con il medico? Gliene ho parlato.
(
Did you speak to the doctor about your daughter? I spoke to him about her.
)

Quando sei arrivato da Pisa? Ne sono arrivato mezz'ora fa.
(
When did you get in from Pisa?
I just got here half an hour ago.
)

Verbs with which you commonly see
ne
include
andare via da
(
to go away from; to leave
),
pensare bene/male di
(
to think well/badly of someone
), and
venire da
(
to come from
). For example,
Dov'è Massimo? Si è arrabbiato e se n'è andato
(
Where's Massimo? He got mad and left
).

Ne
can replace the following phrases:

di lui
(
of/about him
),
di lei
(
of/about her
),
di loro
(
of/about them
)

da lui
(
by/from him
),
da lei
(
by/from her
),
da loro
(
by/from them
)

di ciò
(
of/about this
),
di questo, da quello
(
of/about this/that
)

da qui
(
from here
),
da lì/da là
(
from there
),
da questo/da quel posto
(
from this/that place)

A few other uses of
ne
include the following:

You can pair
ne
with indirect object pronouns (
mi, ti, le, gli, ci, vi, gli
) to form double pronouns (
me ne, te ne, gliene, ce ne, ve ne, gliene, ne . . . loro
). A sentence such as
Ha parlato a te di quel problema?
(
Did he talk to you about that problem?
) can become
Te ne ha parlato?
(
Did he talk to you about it?
)