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- "Ci siamo conosciute domenica…
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I am grateful to all of you who have objected to having met Sunday. This really reminded me of how little I know of English English... I would have expected it acceptable as a parallel construction to "we met yesterday." Terse, yes, but at least serviceable here in the US.
On the official web page of the American Embassy in Italy mr John Kerry, Secretary of State, says "And the President decided – I got a call Friday night, we met Saturday morning, and the President decided that he ...". Just observing. My mother tongue is not English but I guess it is for John Kerry.
Is this a reflexive? If so the sentence would mean "We met each other" - this would make the addition of "ci" more understandable.
I think that's correct. It's sort of like 'we met each other'. you could otherways say 'we met someone else' . You need that ci to tell you that we are meeting each other as opposed to someone else.
Ci is reflexive on "Us". "We met ourselves Sunday."
So it's "We met each other on Sunday"
why is this conosciute? I thought conosco means to know. Meet i thought was incontrare. I am just trying to figure out what make conosciute more sensible in this context
I think, conoscersi also has the meaning of "to get to know somebody" and "meet" is used in this sense here "We met Sunday".
Well, they can overlap in meaning, but there are some differences. You would use "ci siamo conosciute" if you have met someone for the first time. Besides, it implies you got to know each other at some minimum level, at least your names. If you say "ci siamo incontrate", you're not necessarily talking about someone you didn't know before. It could be that you and a friend just happened to be at the same place and quickly greeted.
I think "ci" is actually a "reciprocal pronoun." "The plural reflexive pronouns, "ci "vi," "si" are combined with the first, second or third person plural verb to show reciprocal action-here "we met each other." Reciprocal pronouns show two-way action. Another example, "Si parlano al telefono"--"They talk to each other on the telephone."
As a native English speaker, I'm quite confident I've never said "we have met Sunday." We had? Sure.
Confused why the 'ci' is here. Is it always needed if when coupled with words ending in 'iamo'?
-iamo is just the verb ending for the first person plural. Ci can be a frustrating word because the rules are a little messy. Observe the following: noi beviamo il caffè, noi andiamo via, noi lo mangiamo stasera. None of these actually require ci or ce, but it can be used to strengthen or alter the meaning of the sentence: noi ci beviamo il caffè, noi ce ne andiamo via, noi ce lo mangiamo stasera.
For this sentence in particular, ci is necessary because there has to be a way to express who met who. For example, "le abbiamo conosciute domenica" = we met them Sunday. You don't want that kind of confusion! Here, the verb is actually conoscersi conoscere + reflexive pronoun. There are other verbs that can be reflexive (or not):
- Sentirsi: mi sento stanco/I feel tired
- Sentire: sento qualcosa/I hear something
- Chiamarsi: mi chiamo Dario/my name is Dario/I am called Dario
- Chiamare: chiamate la polizia!/call the police!
- Vestirsi: perché non ti vesti?/why don't you get dressed?
- Vestire: la ragazza veste il suo cane/the girl dresses up her dog
It helps me very much knowing that the verb is actually conoscersi. Makes perfect sense now!
Can you maybe clarify why "siamo" is used here instead of "abbiamo"? Or it doesn't matter which one you use? Thanks!
Reflexive verbs require "essere" and the past participle has to agree in number and gender.
Ci siamo conosciute = We met each other (a group of girls or women).
Ci siamo conosciuti = We met each other (a group of men or a mixed group).
Abbiamo conosciuto la ragazza. = We met the girl. . (NOT reflexive).
Conoscevamo la ragazza = We knew the girl. (imperfect tense; not covered yet).
why conoscere is not accepted as to know , v.g.: io lo conosco/ I know him?
That "conosciutE" let me to translate "We met her." Sure, DL didn't accept. Could you explain my mistake, please? Thanks.
Yes, thank you. That's the only explanation I can see, but it would have been nice to have some context so we'd have known to use feminine plural. Absent that, "Ci siamo conosciuti domenica." should be correct. Am I right?
[QUESTION]
How do we make a present continuous tense using a reflexive verb (e.g: He is sitting with me)?
The reflexive pronouns imply that you are doing an action to yourself or that the action implies reciprocity. The first, you can think of verbs like regret, it doesn't require an object, you can't regret someone. You feel regret. The latter take this sentence as an example. You need the reflexive pronoun to indicate that the action is between you two, otherwise the sentence would mean that you both met someone else. Syntactically it is also used to indicate the direct object, much like the dative case in German. "Hanno ti conosciuto" - Here the subject is loro, the verb is conoscere and the object is ti, dative for tu.
"Ci siamo conosciute domenica" means that there were only females meeting on Sunday. As soon as there would have been just one male (even if there would have been a million females), it would become "Ci siamo conosciuti domenica".
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Who is Sunday? If Sunday is a person's name then we met Sunday. Otherwise we met (each other) ON Sunday. (The English is an implied reflexive verb and "each other" is not necessary, but if we don't say "on" then it implies we met someone named "Sunday")
Not native English speaker, but shouldn’t it be ‘we met on Sunday’? For me it reads like ‘the man whose name was Thursday’ met Sunday
I know i have problems with these clitics, but I would be more than grateful if anybody could tell me the usage of "ci" here.
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You would do yourself a favor by reading mukkapazza's post above and make it a habit of reading the posts.
"We met Sunday" isn't correct English. "We met on Sunday" would be acceptable.
- 1857
Nothing! That would be correct if a male had been included in those who met each other. I don't see how we could be expected to know that those who met were feminine.
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Can anyone explain why sometimes DL uses conosciute for 'we met', and sometimes 'incontrati'? I was under the impression that conoscere was to know (someone). I've now got rather confused between the two verbs.
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"conosciuti/e" = met, see each other for first time, got to know; "incontrati/e" = just met, it might be 10th time.
When "ci" is followed by the verb essere (to be).
- Ci sono... = there are...
- C'è... = there is... (remember; c'è = ci + è)
I wonder the same el-montunero: Can you maybe clarify why "siamo" is used here instead of "abbiamo"? Or it doesn't matter which one you use? Thanks!
Does this indicate a particular Sunday "We met (last) Sunday" or is it a general statement "We met (on a) Sunday"? How are these versions of meeting expressed in italian? Thank you!
Unfortunately the android app only allows me to enter "we met Sunday" and not the proper English of "we met on Sunday"
I guess it may be colloquial, but i said "we met together sunday" which sounds right to me, but i guess it would have included "insieme" if that were the case
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Unless it is a person called Sunday (possible) the correct solution is wrong (or at least a sloppy americanism) . "We met ON Sunday"
Guys, no, this is not ok... Not even in the US. You may use it in slang and very casual use, but it's still incorrect for any official/formal/serious use and ESPECIALLY for language teaching / foreign learners.
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'We met Sunday,' is not a complete sentence in English. Unless you met a person called, 'Sunday.'
- 195
Heard of Tuesday Weld, the actress? Well, it's her daughter. If she had married Sgt. Friday (from Dragnet), she would have had an interesting name … but, I digress...
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I didn't hear well it was "e" and wrote "Ci siamo conosciutI domenica", so one heart has gone...
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Shouldn't it be " we were introduced on Sunday?" Conosciute sounds more like an introduction than a meeting ...
