1182 Mix up over pronouns

I really enjoyed reading through the thread [I]Let's start at the very beginning[/I] because I too hope to start a college course in September and have been using Michelle Thomas in the mean time. I have an Italian friend and using the language I had learned on the tapes I tried to use the phrase:

[B]It's very good to see you today. (È molto buono vederla)[/B] is what I said to her.

Well, all I got was a blank look. When I asked her how I should say the phrase she said:

[B]È bella vederti[/B]

I couldn't figure out what the pronoun was on the end of the verb. I know about the formal and informal 'you' but I thought that the informal was 'tu' rather than 'ti'. Can anyone clear up the confusion for me?

Thanks in anticipation.

Rainbow.

Category
Che significa? - Italian Language Queries

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/24/2005 - 14:23

Both "la" and "ti" are examples of direct personal pronouns. You'd use "la" if you weren't on familiar terms with the person you're speaking to, and "ti" if you are.

It could be, though, that the blank look you got was more to do with using "buona". It's interesting that in many cases using the literal English translation - in this case from "good" to "buona" - just won't work in certain contexts.

Another example might be if you want to ask how someone is. You wouldn't say "com'e Roberto...", as you might think, but "come sta Roberto...".

"Come'e" in this context would mean "what's Roberto like", rather than "how is he".

Hope this doesn't confuse you even further :) !

Mike

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/24/2005 - 15:48

Thanks Mike for the info'. I guess there's no way of knowing something like that until you plunge in and have a go. Perhaps the other problem was addressing her as a male using buono instead of buona. I must say I am finding learning the language almost impossible at the moment, but I ain't gonna give up.

Rainbow.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/25/2005 - 18:58

It's a red herring, but your "buono" (even tho' not exactly the right word in the context) wouldn't have had to be feminine - it's a describing word (adjective), and it would have described the situation ("it" is good to see you) not the person.

Italian is certainly not as easy as many people I have met seem to think it is!

One tactic is to speak as quickly as possible, then no-one will notice whether you're going masculine/feminine etc because all your words will run into each other in a big heap of noise. :)

Forza e coraggio!

Mike

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 09/05/2005 - 19:00

for this one just rely on 'come va'. - how do you go!.............

......and get a good grammar exercise book. See my reponse to jackie about 'definite articles. Pronouns are a bit difficult, and difficult to practise by your self - get a set of Italian language fidge magnets - thats how I did it.

teniamoci in contatto (keep in touch)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 09/12/2005 - 07:59

[QUOTE=johnsm13]One tactic is to speak as quickly as possible, then no-one will notice whether you're going masculine/feminine etc because all your words will run into each other in a big heap of noise. :)
Mike[/QUOTE]

er... just like the listening element in the GCSE I took this year!!