"Ci avevo pensato tante volte."

Translation: I had thought about it many times.

[h0w412d]

Why can't this be "I had thought about us many times"?

[scotthannigan]

Yes it's mystifying isn't it? I'm totallly confused about those ci things that pop up at the front of sentences.

[xyphax]

I think ci refers to something that is not described in this sentence .. but perhaps in a previous sentence, like 'What about our love?' or 'Did you ever want to go skiing?' Then the English translation makes sense, in response to some other sentence.

[Jim93487]

In cases like this, Duolingo really should provide a previous sentence for context.

[oktaya]

I am wondering the same thing. Maybe it has something to do with pensatO referring to it. Though I don't know how it would be different for US.

[German4me22]

I had thought about us = Avevo pensato a noi. In this case the verb is not Pensare but...Pensarci a pronomial verb meaning to think about it or to take care of it.
Ci penso = I think about it.
Ci penso io. = I'll take care of it/sort it out. Note you must include the personal pronoun for this meaning.
Ci pensano = They think about it.
Ci pensano loro. = They'll take care of it/sort it out.

[sophia.pry]

If you wanted to say about us you would use "a noi"

[dufajjulie]

But I thought there were 2 ways to say it, one with "ci" and one with "a noi" at the end.

[SchubertNo21]

Not necessarily, 'ci' is the weak form of the indirect object pronoun whereas, 'a noi' or 'per noi' is the strong form. They occupy different places in a sentence 'ci' being close to the verb as in the example.

[Fran975881]

Thats what i thought because of th 'Ci'

[oneshy]

ci and ne. banes of my existence

[xyphax]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvAip0RqN1A&feature=youtu.be

[fificat1]

Thank you. But that works wonderfully if you have a previous sentence where 'ci' can refer back to 'it'. Since one does not exist here, 'us' should be accepted in this case . It does make sense for this sentence.

[name971579]

Yeah I watched the video and it acknowledges that ci can mean us but doesn't say anything about telling the difference. It seems to rely solely on context.

[Fran975881]

I hear ya buddy

[rljones]

Secondo Collins: "ci penso io I'll see to o take care of it" Unless you disbelieve Collins, this sentence means "I took care of it many times."

Probably not a good sentence to produce arguments about translating "ci" as "of it" or "us." One of Duo's very troublesome efforts.

[garagonp]

Just when I thought I had understood "Ci".. omg..

[ackworth]

Add me to the list of the confused .

[wiplala]

and me!

[mariaelena256]

me four lol

[Rydey]

I did the same - it looks like it's the verb "pensare" that is causing the problem... my book says that "ci" is sometimes used to mean "it" or "about it" with certain verbs... one of those being pensare (also capire, credere?). It says that it is used when the verb would normally take "a" after it - so that's pensare again.

My question is therefore, how do you say "i had thought about them?"

[ghordano]

avevo pensato di loro?

[wiplala]

that would be: "gli avevo pensato" I think

[Rob676803]

This is why grammar is so important. Ci and ne are used for indirect cases. Something we haven't learned so far in DL.

[luke.floyd24]

I had thought it many times....How is that not right?

[liam.mulla]

There is a subtle difference between thinking something and thinking about something

[Teresinha]

I agree but where in the Italian sentence this appears?

[HaroldWonh]

I haven't got the hang of "ci" at all. I still can't see why it cannot be "us" in this sentence.

[xyphax]

Here's a fabulous video on ci and ne. I believe the way that ci works here is covered about 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvAip0RqN1A&feature=youtu.be

[wiplala]

Now this is really great. Thanks!

[Cecilia5678]

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing.

[purler]

Then how would you say "I had thought about us many times"?

[JeanLutun]

did the same mistake... but thinking it would most probably be wrong as "ci" before the auxiliary means that the past participle has to be agreed and should therefore have been "pensati" ... but still confused, I hate all those ci, cui, coi (if this one exists?) and it's frustrating not to know!

[Marifka]

I also have a problem with this ://

[sandrabruck]

Maybe this helps a little bit:

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/2566087

[Marifka]

Thanks, it is quite nice explanation :) Still i'm not sure if i can distinguish the indirect from direct pronoun ans so on....

[sandrabruck]

It's not so hard to understand.

Verbs without a preposition need the direct object pronoun

• aspettare qualcuno/qualcosa

• aiutare qualcuno

• ringraziare qualcuno (la ringrazio)

Verbs with a preposition (normally a, di) need the indirect object pronoun

• scrivere a qualcuno (le scrivo)

• occuparsi di qualcosa/qualcuno

There are also some verbs that can have both:

• consigliare qualcosa a qualcuno (te lo consiglio)

[stuart.hol2]

Thanks for that YouTube link, I'll subscribe to that channel I think!

[HaroldWonh]

Hm. How did you people manage to hear this link? It was so quiet and monotone and mumbled!

[silkwarrior]

"I had thought that many times"

Disallowed.

Surely it is OK?

[HaroldWonh]

I thought that too. It is SO confusing.

[lizbritton]

me too - "think OVER that" given as correct instead = not fluent English, surely ? Reported.

[SueWaller]

I also don't understand why "ci" here cannot refer to "us" rather than "it". Reading comments below confirms my confusion.

[Macossay]

I don't know why either, but I did a search on the sentence to see how Italian speakers used it in context. And the context always indicated that ci meant "it" rather than "us."

"Io le risposi che ci avevo pensato molte volte, ma da sola non era facile" (I told her that I had thought about it many times, but it was not easy on my own)

"Guarda, io sono sempre stato molto vicino alla chiesa, fin da quando ero bambino. ci avevo pensato molte volte" (Look, I've always been very close to the church since I was a child. I had thought about it many times)

"lol all'idea di un remake ci avevo pensato molte volte molto molto tempo fà." ( lol to the idea of a remake I had thought about it many times a long long time ago)

[PATRICKPIZ1]

Italian verbs take many forms. 'andare'--to go, 'andarsene'--to go away; 'chiedere'--to ask, 'chiedersi'--to wonder; 'mangiare'--to eat, 'mangiarsi--to be enraged. 'pensare--to think, 'pensarci'--to consider something. this would be equivalent of 'pensare+the preposition 'a'+a noun (sto pensando alla vacance. ci sto pensando) having written all of this it's not clear to me that ci can't mean 'us'. the only reason that comes to mind is the highly idiomatic meaning of 'pensarci'--to consider it or to take care of it. here are two sites that answer this issue. http://www.dummies.com/languages/italian/conjugating-italian-verbs-with-ci/
and https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/tricky-little-words-%E2%80%9Cci%E2%80%9D/

[Nat654016]

How is it possible to understand when CI replaces We/ Us and when IT?