Page 58 - verbo italiano

48 / Webster’s New World 575+ Italian Verbs

Often an Italian reflexive corresponds to the English verbs “to get,” “to fall,” or “to
become” as in the examples below:
arrabbiarsi to get angry
alzarsi to get up
ubriacarsi to get drunk
innamorarsi to fall in love
addormentarsi to fall asleep

In Italian reflexive verbs are commonly used to express reciprocal actions. While
English uses “each other” and “one another,” Italian uses the plural reflexive pro-
nouns ci, vi, and si with the correspondent plural forms of the verb.
Ci vediamo domani. See you tomorrow. (Literally: We see
each other tomorrow.)
Dove vi incontrate? Where are you meeting (each other)?
Gianna e Alberto si sposano a giugno. Gianna and Alberto are getting
married in June.

Here are a few common verbs that can have reciprocal meaning with their transi-
tive counterpart:
aiutare (to help) aiutarsi (to help each other)
amare (to love) amarsi (to love each other)
baciare (to kiss) baciarsi (to kiss each other)
capire (to understand) capirsi (to understand each other)
conoscere (to know) conoscersi (to know each other, to
meet [for the first time])
incontrare (to meet) incontrarsi (to meet each other)
odiare (to hate) odiarsi (to hate each other)
salutare (to greet) salutarsi (to greet each other)
sposare (to marry) sposarsi (to get married)
vedere (to see) vedersi (to see each other)

Note that the transitive counterpart forms the compound tenses with avere while
the reflexive form always uses essere:
La madre ha abbracciato il figlio. The mother embraced the son.
Madre e figlio si sono abbracciati. Mother and son embraced each other.

A group of Italian reflexive verbs have a form that is reflexive, though there is not
any real reflexive meaning. In English, the equivalent verb is not reflexive. Fol-
lowing is a list of verbs that in Italian have only reflexive form, but no reflexive
meaning:
accorgersi di (“to realize”)
arrabbiarsi (“to get angry”)
congratularsi con (“to congratulate”)
fidarsi di (“to trust”)
ostinarsi a (“to persist”)
pentirsi di (“to repent”)
ribellarsi (“to rebel”)
vergognarsi (“to be ashamed”)