27 Comments
That's right. You could even use the reflexive pronouns in certain cases:
He sees himself in the mirror = vede se stesso allo specchio/si vede allo specchio
I never saw this use of 'se stesso' before. Does it get used with other verbs besides 'ver'?
Sure. Literally it is one (se) + self (stesso), so it is often used just like that. Here are a few possibilities:
- Cucino per me stesso/I cook for myself
- Lei compra il vestito per se stessa/She buys the dress for herself
- Abbiamo rispetto per noi stessi/We have respect for ourselves
These are really helpful, thank you :) So if I am a women, it is 'Cucino per me stessa?', right?
Thanks, those examples are a good help, because i would have translated 'she sees herself' as 'si vede nello specchio'.
Your examples are much better because they show when the construction is really useful. Saying 'Mi cucino' or 'Si compra' wouldn't work the same way!
Thanks!
Well they could if you follow up with something:
- Mi cucino un uovo
- Lei si compra un divano
There are a few ways to indicate someone is doing something for or by themselves, you'll find more as you go along :)
Cheers, I just put forward a question to a similar question where "...nello specchio (..in the mirror) is in the statement. This is the exactly answer that I needed.
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"Se stesso" would be "himself", "se stessa" is "herself", "se stesse/i" would be "themselves". Normally you'd use "sé" so it isn't confused with the conjunction "se" which means "if". But apparently if you follow "se" with stesso/stessa/stesse/stessi you can relax that rule (you can either use "se stessa" or "sé stessa", it doesn't matter). "sé" means "himself/herself/itself", while stesso/stessa/stessi/stesse is an adjective meaning "same", by combining the two you get a gender specific emphasis for himself/herself/themselves, rather than depending just on the context of the sentence. (update: correction to use the right accented e for sé)
I think that 'vedere' is just to see in general, ie the use of one's eyes whereas 'guardare' is more 'to look at' or, even better, 'to reGARD'.
Two confusing words here, se and si. For me they mean if and yes. Yet they are being used for other meaning. Non è facile!
"Se" might mean 'if' and 'him/her/it-self' as a reflexive pronoun. "Si" is a reflexive pronoun, just like above, but used in different situations. "Sì", with a grave accent, means 'yes'.
Sì, se si vede allo specchio, chi sono io? Yes, if you see yourself in the mirror, who am I?
Capisce?
I agree. Italian is confusing in that 'se' is used for 'if', unlike French and Spanish where (in different positions) it indicates a reflexive verb. And 'si', which seems a more intuitive way to say 'if', or 'yes' (ignoring the accent), indicates a reflexive verb. But it's all grist to the mill of learning, I suppose.
