To exist or not to exist

By Sigrid Lee

Figuring out what the verb esistere means is not complicated if you already know a bit of Italian. The cognate, "to exist," sounds a bit formal sometimes, but in Italian, esistere is pretty ordinary. Here's an example.

[Ferrari Testarossa. Non esiste emozione più bella al mondo che guidare una Ferrari a duecentoquaranta km/h].

[Ferrari Testarossa. There is no greater emotion in the world than driving a Ferrari at two hundred and forty kilometers per hour.]

Caption 18, Autocollection EP2 - Part 2

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In the following example, a mechanic is talking about the Bianchina, a car from the sixties with no bells and whistles. It could easily be translated by using "there is. "

Qui, più semplice non esiste. [C'è] solo quello che è veramente utile. L'inutile non esiste.

Here, simpler doesn't exist, only what is truly useful. There's nothing non-essential.

In this case, there's no such thing as "simpler." There's nothing non-essential.

Captions 42-44, Autocollection EP2 - Part 9
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Even though we could use the verb "to exist," just as in Italian, we tend to use "there is" in English. In other words, we use the verb "to be" (with "there") to say whether something is present or not. If we wanted to use "exist," we would have to change the word order and put the verb after the subject.

Al contrario, esiste l'apprendimento non supervisionato che si riferisce a un approccio di apprendimento automatico in cui gli algoritmi identificano modelli e relazioni nei dati..

Conversely, there is unsupervised learning, which refers to a machine learning approach in which algorithms identify patterns and relationships in data..Captions 43-45, Vocaboliamo Intelligenza Artificiale - Part 2

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Conversely, unsupervised learning exists, referring to a machine...

The equivalent of "there is" is also very common in Italian: It's esserci (to be there, to exist), or, used in the third person singular, c'è (there is), which is a contracted version of ci è. In this case, ci means "there" or "here."

Secondo me, deve esserci un nesso.

In my opinion, there must be a connection.

Caption 28, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 7
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Another way to say the same thing in Italian is:

Secondo me, ci deve essere un nesso.

In the following example, we can see that both esistere and esserci mean the same thing.

Non c'è, non esisteva nient'altro al mondo.

There isn't, there was nothing else in the world.

Caption 16, Guido Crepax Cercando Valentina - Part 10
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In fact, Italians use c'è (there is/is there) perhaps even more than English speakers do. When asking if someone is at home, or available to talk, we can use c'è, forming a question:

C'è nessuno?

Anybody home? [Is there nobody?]

Anybody here?

Caption 28, Provaci ancora prof! S1E4 - La mia compagna di banco - Part 9
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See this lesson all about the ci in c'è!

Finally, let's mention an expression with esistere. It's very easy and it's what you can say to mean "No way!" Not as a reaction of surprise, but as a way of saying an emphatic "no."

Non esiste (no way). This is a milder version and is often part of a longer phrase.

Non esiste proprio (no way in hell, not a chance, ain't gonna happen, not happening)! Proprio can mean plenty of things, but mostly "exactly" or "really."

Ma scusate, ma voi fate la dieta, volete il vino bianco? Ma, ma state scherzando? Ma non esiste proprio.

But excuse me, but you are on a diet, you want white wine? But, but are you kidding? But absolutely no way.

Captions 20-21, La linea verticale EP 7 - Part 7
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Però penso che dovrai rimandare l'appuntamento dall'estetista, facciamo straordinari oggi. -No, ma non esiste proprio. -No, esiste proprio.

But I think you will have to postpone the appointment at the beautician, we're doing overtime today. -No, no way that is happening. -No, it is really going to happen.

Captions 52-54, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP5 Rione Serra Venerdì - Part 22
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