Meanings of Italian “CI” (1)

Some students have a lot of trouble with the Italian “CI” because it has several different meanings.

– The most common meaning of “CI” is the adverb of place = “There”, do you remember “c’è” and “ci sono”= “There is” and “there are”?
Also we use it to avoid repeating the name of a place which we have already mentioned
e.g. – Sei mai stato in Italia? = Have you ever been to Italy?
Sì, CI sono stato = Yes, I’ve been there

– Besides “CI” is a personal pronoun and it can be a reflexive, a direct object or an indirect object pronoun.

– In addition to this, in everyday speech the “CI” is often used with the verb “avere” and means possession. Generally we used it to reply:

Hai una sigaretta? (or, very informal language, “c’hai una sigaretta?”) –> Do you have a cigarette?/ Have you got a cigarette?

In the answer we MUST use “CI” + the direct pronouns (lo; la; li; le) or “ne” of quantity (but not only) “CI” becomes “CE”:

Sì, ce l’ho! –> Yes, I have it

CI + LO = CE LO   because:

+	(Oggetto diretto maschile sing.) LO	(Oggetto diretto femminile sing.) LA	(Oggetto diretto maschile pl.) … LI	(Oggetto diretto femminile pl.) … LE	(Ogg. diretto di quantità sing. e pl.) NE
CI	CE LO CE L’	CE LA CE L’	CE LI MAI CON L’APOSTROFO!	CE LE MAI CON L’APOSTROFO!	CE NE

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