Ci sono and C’e’. . . .because it’s snowing!

Welcome to Italian Class! I’m an experienced private language tutor operating in the London, UK area, offering lessons in your own home or here on site.

• Read about my qualifications and background here.
• Check out services and prices for private and group tutoring.
• Browse the collection of links to learn more about Italian language and culture.
• Write to me at SpringfieldItalian@gmail.com with any questions or feedback!

Ci sono and C’e’. . .and some wintery, snowy Italian!

My lesson for this afternoon called and canceled, because here in Chicago we’ve got a good bit of snow on the ground, and the driving is more or less. . .what’s the word. . . . .ridiculously impossible . . . on a normal day, so when there’s snow and I’ve got a 1.5 hour commute to the lesson site, a pausa is totally okay.

Dobbiaco, Italy – Italian Alps, near Austrain border. (We ate lunch here right before I face-planted all the way down a ski run) 🙂

So,  in honor of the falling neve, I thought I’d do a post about Italian snow, winter and fabulous (if you’re not a klutz like me) skiing opportunities in Italy. And, to be educational, throw in a quick explanation of “Ci Sono” and “C’e'” for those who want to say “There is no death wish quite like taking on a black diamond run with four hours of ski lessons under your belt!”

Ci Sono: There are

C’e’: There is

There is semi-complicated grammar behind why these phrases mean what they do, but if you ask me, it’s easiest to understand and use in conversation if you don’t even worry about the grammar and just think of them like vocab words you memorzie. Casa means house, Ci sono just simply means “there are” and C’e’ means “there is.” Done.

Ci sono due lividi gigante sulla mia gamba.
(There are two giant bruises on my leg.)
C’e’ una ragione per questo: non puoi sciare.
(There is a reason for this: you can’t ski.)

Sometimes I think students of Italian stress out too much over the grammar and the reason behind certain words.  Yes, sono is a verb meaning “I am” or “They are” and “Ci” is a reflexive pronouns most often meaning “we”. . .so how the Bologna do you get “Ci Sono” meaning “There are”?  My advice:  don’t worry about. Just remember it like any other vocabulary word, and use it as such.

What’s great about both “Ci sono” and “C’e’” is that they don’t change – you don’t need to conjugate them. So don’t worry about the grammar behind it. They are static, immovable words with a fixed meaning. Rare enough in Italian, so during this holiday season, take the presents when they come.

Yep, they have reindeer in Italy. Seriously! I swear! This was taken in Alto Adiage, near the Austrain border. Maybe it was a runway, but it was on the Italian side, no doubts.

Now, for some great Italian snow/winter facts and figures:

• “Neve” means snow in Italian – but that “snow” you see on your TV after a blizzard has knocked out your cable? It’s called “nebbia” in Italian, or fog.
• Yep, flurry or flurries, are real English words and you bet they’ve got great Italian counterparts: “turbini” means flurries, and “turbini di neve” might be even more adorable to say than “snow flurries”.
• Italians celebrate “Settimana bianca” or “white week” during the winter; it’s a ski holiday! Baustelle’s got a pretty terrible song about it, and lot’s of Italians have posted their skiing videos and pictures snapped during this not-quite-spring-break week online.
• Italy celebrations for winter include Christmas (Buon Natatle!) and one of my favorites, La Befana. As Natale gets closer, I’ll post more about these traditions and some awesome Befana witch pictures

Rome, in it’s delicious warm weather glory, on Jan 1, 2007.

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The inverno (winter) in Italy varies dramatically, depending on where you are. This is a picture of blooming Rome on Capodanno (New Year’s Day) 2007, with blue skies, green grass and about 60 degrees. I don’t think I was even wearing a coat that day.

However, if you’re up in Trento, the average inverno temperature in January is around 28 degrees Farenheit, while in Palermo (down in Sicily) you’re practically tropical with an average 63 degrees in February.

So, it’s still snowing here in Chicago, although it’s let up a bit. I don’t feel too bad though, because it snows in Italy – they’ve got great skiing and sledding (andare in slitta) and it get’s cold there too. So I’m going to make a cup of hot chocolate (latte con cacao) and pretend I’m in Trentino, among the Alps and icicles.

-Aimee

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Interested in Learning Italian? Live in the Chicago area?

Contact Aimee!

• Read about my qualifications here.
• Check out services and prices for private and group tutoring.
• Browse the collection of links to learn more about Italian language and culture.
• Write to me at SpringfieldItalian@gmail.com with any questions or feedback!
• Call me at(217) 299 – 9199 to speak personally about setting up your perfect lesson.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user James Cridland.