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What are Italian Pronominal Verbs?

Italian Lesson

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Video transcript

Hey there and welcome to Ablas! Today we’re going to cover Italian pronominal verbs. We’ll explore what they are, how to conjugate them, and look at some examples. Be sure to download the PDF of today’s lesson from the link in the description!

What is a pronominal verb?

So what exactly is a pronominal verb in Italian?

Pronominal verbs are a special kind of verb that include one or two pronouns, like ce, ne and la. They’re slightly different to reflexive verbs because they often change the meaning of the original verb. For example, if we change the verb to go, andare, to andarsene, it now means to go away or to leave. They’re common in both formal and informal Italian, so it’s important to master them to sound more authentic.

Conjugation

Let’s see how we can conjugate some pronominal verbs.

We’ll take the verb farcela as an example. We first take the original verb, fare. Then we drop the letter E on the end, and add on the pronouns ce and la. And so we’re left with a verb that means “to manage”.

The conjugation of farcela is quite straightforward.

Notice that the pronouns used here don’t change in the conjugation. However, if a verb contains the reflexive pronoun se, it would need to decline.

farcela

andarsene

io

ce la faccio

me ne vado

tu

ce la fai

te ne vai

lui/lei

ce la fa

se ne va

noi

ce la facciamo

ce ne andiamo

voi

ce la fate

ve ne andate

loro

ce la fanno

se ne vanno

In compound tenses like the passato prossimo, pronominal verbs ending in ci, sela or sene, require the auxiliary verb, essere. This means that the past participle needs to agree with the gender in the sentence. For example: Lui se n'è andato, (he left). Lei se n'è andata, (she left).

And if we’re referring to multiple people, we’d need to change the past participle again. For example: Io ci sono riuscito, (I succeeded). Loro ci sono riusciti, (they succeeded).

Common examples

We’ll now cover some common pronominal verbs.

It's a difficult concept, but I finally understood it. È un concetto difficile, ma alla fine ci sono arrivato.
How do we get out of this problem? Come ne usciamo da questo problema?
We had a blast at the party! Ci siamo spassati un mondo alla festa!
Why are you mad at me? Perché ce l’hai con me?

Story

Now that we’ve covered what a pronominal verb is and how to conjugate it, let’s put it all into practice with a short story.

Marco didn’t expect Milan to be so lively. Marco non se l’aspettava così vivace, Milano.
As soon as he arrived, he headed straight to the city centre, determined to enjoy it. Appena arrivato, se ne è andato subito in centro, deciso a godersela.
He stopped in front of the Duomo and couldn’t resist taking a photo. Si è fermato davanti al Duomo e non ha potuto trattenersi dal fotografarlo.
“I need to remember this,” he thought. “Me lo devo ricordare,” ha pensato.
Then he treated himself to a warm panzerotto from a nearby bakery. Poi si è voluto concedere un panzerotto caldo preso in una panetteria vicina.
He savoured it slowly, sitting on a bench beneath the shade of a tree. Se l’è gustato con calma, seduto su una panchina all’ombra di un albero.
He felt like exploring the Navigli, but first wanted to learn about some hidden gems of the city. Gli è venuta voglia di esplorare i Navigli, ma prima si è voluto informare su qualche angolo nascosto della città.
In the afternoon, he stumbled upon a fashion show. Nel pomeriggio, si è imbattuto in una sfilata di moda.
He didn’t know much about it, but still had fun. Non se ne intendeva, ma ci si è divertito lo stesso.
Towards the evening, he said: “I’ll head back to the hotel, but tomorrow I’ll take it slower.” Verso sera, si è detto: “Me ne torno in albergo, ma domani me la prendo con più calma.”
Milan stayed in his heart. Milano gli è rimasta nel cuore.
He didn’t want to leave, but in the end, he had to accept it. Non se ne voleva andare, ma alla fine ha dovuto farsene una ragione.

It’s quiz time!

Did you spot the pronominal verbs in that story? You can always download the PDF of today’s lesson which will include the full translation. But now it’s quiz time!

What is the meaning of the pronominal verb 'farcela'?

  1. To manage

  2. To leave

  3. To care about something

Which of these is a pronominal verb?

  1. Andarsene

  2. Scrivere

  3. Parlare

Your task

Well done for getting this far!

Now your task is to extend the story from earlier so that Marco visits a friend in Milan. Try to throw in some examples of pronominal verbs where possible.

Be sure to leave a like if you enjoyed this lesson and hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out on future videos. Our website is full of fun games across 7 languages, so head on over and put your skills to the test! Until next time, thanks for watching!

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