"Non ci siamo visti sin da mercoledì."
Translation:We have not seen each other since Wednesday.
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The hover hints for "vista" and "visti" (and probably "visto") are completely misleading. I've tried reporting it, but no changes so far.
In any case, what part of that sentence means "each other"? The only word that it could be is "ci"; another good reason to HATE that word, which is now also a phrase...
yes "ci" , is the culprit :) it comes from "vedersi" which can mean:
- To see oneself or each other (since "ci" is 1. person plural it is "each other")
- To realize, to find oneself, to be
- To show (be visible)
So, why is "visti" here, anyway? It seems very second-person to me, but maybe there is a reason for that....
Check the conjugation table for essere http://italian.about.com/od/verbs/a/italian-verbs-auxiliary.htm
Notice that when forming passato prossimo with auxiliary verb essere, past participle changes its ending according to the gender and number of the subject.
Does damm clitics are really everywhere. I'm beginning to understand a bit more but it's still very difficult
I am completely confused here especially since vistare in the PP is supposed to use avere visitato. Am I wrong? Please explain.
Auxiliary verb avere is used when forming passato prossimo with "vedere", but here we have reflexive verb "vedersi" which forms passato prossimo with "essere". http://italian.about.com/library/verb/blverb_vedersi.htm
Kind of. I've only just grasped this, thanks to the excellent discussion comments.
There really are two different verbs here:
vedere - to see.
vedersi - to meet.
vedere uses avere as an auxiliary, as with most verbs, while vedersi uses essere, as all reflexive verbs do.
So I now think of these are two completely different verbs that just share the same conjugations.
wow reading the comments in this stream confused me more, i think the ci is just meaning 'us' as in we have not seen us since wednesday, and you are just supposed to figure out that in english that makes no sense at all and change us to each other. i didn't know that but i do for next time. practice makes perfect guys, if it takes ten times to get the lesson done then even better, cause you'll be sure to remember it after that