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- Topic: Italian >
- "Mi riposo."
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Because in English, "rest" is not a reflexive verb. I don't rest myself, I just rest.
Sometimes "rest" is reflexive in English though - "to rest oneself" is uncommon, but not unheard of. Is there a way to say "I rest myself" in Italian that is different from "mi risposo"? Perhaps "io mi resto", as per TerreyP? Or would that just be nonsensical?
If you don't rest yourself, what do you rest? I don't agree that rest can't be used as a reflexive verb in English, even if it's usually encountered as a stress on the subject. Considering you can rest your horse and your legs after long exertion, resting yourself can't be said to be wrong.
Whilst it might not be technically incorrect it's a collocation which is basically never used. If someone said "I'm going home to rest myself" you'd know what they meant but it'd sound weird. "I'm going home to get some rest" is a much more common and natural sounding collocation.
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I won't tell anyone it shouldn't sound weird to them, and I hope in return others might accept it doesn't sound weird to others. I hear it all the time and have lived all over Scotland and the North of England. It's absolutely a thing.
"What did you do at the weekend?" "I rested myself."
In present tense, the reflexive verb may sound a little odd because deliberately speaking in that manner can sound a little self-important. Or pompous/overly-elaborate if the reflexive noun is for a second or third party. But it's correct English and utilised widely in literature and other writing. When faced with the Italian reflexive pronoun/verb, it's not only a correct translation but probably the most technically correct and possibly even the closest translation in terms of tone. The use of clitics in Italian is often a measure of a speaker's sophistication in the language, and the composition "I rest myself" is sophisticated in English too, the difference being that English tends to keep its sophistication to formal, written language these days.
If we wanted the closest translation of "I rest" in Italian, "risposo" would, in my opinion, be closest. But Duolingo's Italian course is generally poor at picking up nuances in English, tending to squeeze all the subtleties of Italian into a handful of expressions. It's not that Italian has a half dozen ways of saying the same thing, it's that Duolingo is failing to use the breadth of English appropriately.
Typically a thing can only rest itself...therefore it's implied. I rest. My horse rests. My wife rests. You cannot "rest" something else..."I rest my boss"..."I rest my cat". However you can burn your boss or your cat.
I get your point, but you can rest an object. "I rest my head on my hand", "I rest the suitcase on the stairs" "He laid her down to rest". I rest my case :)
But "burn" isn't a reflexive verb in English, yet "ti bruci" was translated as "burn yourself." So I am really confused. And frustrated. I thought I learned form "ti bruci" and put in "rest myself," but I got it wrong. So I can't win.
How are we to know when Duolingo wants us to translate it to "yourself" and when it doesn't?
Burn isn't reflexive, but it can take an object. "You burn yourself/money/sausage/etc"
Wrong!! I rest myself is an appropriate translation, and is in common usage, at least in UK englis
as said below, if you can rest your legs, surely you can rest yourself, so dont understand the amount of upvotes for this comment.
'Riposo' is not the same as 'resto.'
Riposo = rest myself
Resto = I rest [something else] - I rest my case = io resto il mio caso
Resto also means "I stay" or "I remain" (also remainder/change as noun) e.g. Resto qui = I'll stay here
Riposo is can mean "I rest/sleep" or as a noun "rest/relax/sleep".
Since it's a noun you can use it to say "at ease / relax". So: "mi riposo" makes it clear your talking about yourself, but I think "riposo" is also valid for this case.
Riposo tutto il giorno = "I rest all day". So you don't always need the "mi" but it would make it clearer.
There is a bit of cross over between resto and riposo in that they both can mean "rest" in different senses in english.
I think resto is more towards "remain/stay" and riposo more towards "resting/break/retirement".
http://www.wordreference.com/iten/Riposo http://www.wordreference.com/iten/resto
Exactly the same question here. It doesn't seem to make any sense (to me at least).
I was thinking I started to get the hang of these clitics but seeing this again. No idea why they use here Mi instead of Io. Hopefully someone can explain ...
The verb appear to be "Risposarsi," so it's a reflexive. Like in most sentences in Italian, the subject can be excluded. The sentence could be "Io mi risposo," as long as the "mi" is before it.
I really have hard time to differ when it is a reflexive verb or not. Maybe I don't get the basic idea, I don't know. Is there a way to configure how to know if it is a reflexive verb?
I don't think there's a hard and true rule here. When you are doing something to yourself, there is usually a pronoun: I rest (myself) - mi riposo I get (myself) up - mi also I sit (myself) down - mi assido
But I am sure there are exceptions. The simplest trick is to buy an italian verbs app and check there if the infinite version of the verb finishes in -si :)
If I understand correctly, this is a reflexive verb so you can never just say, "Riposo" to mean "I rest." (Like you say "Mangio" or "Bevo" or other verbs where you can leave off the Io.)
From wikipedia: "In grammar, a reflexive verb is, loosely, a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject, for example, "I wash myself". " So the verb being reflexive means that it goes together with a reflexive pronoun like myself, ourselves, etc.
The sentence "I rest myself" could alo be translated as "io mi riposo", the reflexive pronoun "mi" basically means "myself". "Yourself" (single person) is translated as "ti", etc.
The fact that you can leave out personal pronouns (I, he, she etc.) in Italian can make it a bit confusing!
Because it's a reflexive verb in Italian and it needs the 'myself', see above
I assume ti riposi would mean you rest (yourself) but I don't think I can rest you
Are you sure? But Duolingo offers it as another correct translation. You should report that.
- 2021
Unlike Spanish, in Italian "mi" never means "my".
Reflexive verb
- (it) mi riposo = (es) me reposo
Possessive + noun
- (it) il mio riposo = (es) mi reposo
Conversational English would say "I am resting" I rest is very stiff, unless you are in court
