In a previous lesson we talked about the verb seguire (to follow). Here are two other words that have the same root and are related, but mean something else: Proseguire and inseguire.
In Italian, we can use the verb continuare, an easy cognate, but sometimes it's nice to change. Proseguire is a verb you will hear a lot, especially when someone is giving you directions.
Come posso arrivare alla spiaggia più vicina? Guarda, se proseguite sulla strada che fat' [sic] stavate facendo...
How can I reach the closest beach? Look, if you continue on the road you tak [sic] were taking...
Captions 17-18, Una gita al lago - Part 1
Play Caption
Il nostro viaggio prosegue in Piemonte,
Our journey continues in Piedmont,
Caption 7, Meraviglie EP. 5 - Part 4
Play Caption
You might ask, "Is there a difference between continuare and proseguire?" Well, much of the time they are interchangeable, but sometimes continuare can imply that you keep doing the same thing.
Continuo a non capire (I still don't understand).
But with proseguire, you continue on, you advance, you proceed. Think of an arrow in one direction.
Prosegua pure, prego.
Go ahead and continue, please.
Caption 35, PsicoVip La lavatrice - Ep 23
Play Caption
We could also have translated this with the verb "to proceed."
There is a noun form of this word: il proseguo.
...questa è diventata una, una realtà e sicuramente, eh, anche per il proseguo...
...this has become a, a reality and surely, uh, also for the aftermath...
Caption 40, Calcio Intervista con il Prof. Cravero
Play Caption
When you are saying goodbye to someone, instead of saying buona giornata or buona serata, you might say, buon proseguimento if you know that whomever you are saying goodbye to is off to do something else, not just going home.
Buon proseguimento (I wish you well in whatever you do next).
Or
Per il telegiornale oggi è tutto, io vi auguro un buon proseguimento di giornata.
That's all for the newscast for today. I wish you a good rest of the day.
Captions 56-57, Anna e Marika in TG Yabla Italia e Meteo - Part 4
Play Caption
Allora, il ragioniere, terrorizzato, scappa verso il salone, ma Menicucci lo insegue e gli spara una seconda volta.
So the accountant, terrified, runs towards the living room, but Menicucci chases him down and shoots him a second time.
Captions 51-52, Provaci ancora prof! S2EP1 - La finestra sulla scuola - Part 23
Play Caption
We can also use the word "to follow" as a translation, but the intention changes from seguire.
We have a noun associated with this word, too: l'inseguimento (the chase, the pursuit).
Ma i bolidi sfreccianti verso Parma sembrano sfidare il nostro inseguimento celeste.
But the race cars speeding towards Parma seem to defy our airborne pursuit.
Captions 9-10, La Mille Miglia del passato per vivere quella di oggi - Part 2
Play Caption
Susseguirsi (to follow one another in succession)
We have inserted this verb with its reflexive ending, which is actually a reciprocal form, and is used as a noun in our example, something that's quite common.
Ora è il turno della parola: tempo, con la quale indichiamo il susseguirsi dei minuti, delle ore, dei giorni.
Now, it's time for the word "tempo," with which we indicate the passing of minutes, hours, days.
Captions 46-47, Marika spiega Parole con più significati - Part 1
Play Caption
We can visualize the seconds following one another on a clock... We can talk about un susseguirsi di eventi (a chain of events or a series of events).
For more on the reflexive versus reciprocal verbs, see this video, presented by Marika.
For a lesson in English that explains the reciprocal form of verbs, see this lesson.
We hope we haven't filled your brain with words that are too similar. Please work on each one separately if you if that works best for you!
We saw in the last lesson how the verb sentire takes care of several of our senses. Not to leave out the sense of sight (la vista), let’s look at how it‘s used in some common expressions.
If we translate the English expression “I can’t wait” literally, it becomes non posso aspettare, and while this can be useful if someone is late, and you really can’t wait for him, we sometimes mean we are looking forward to something with anticipation. As we see in the following example, Italian uses the verb vedere (to see) to express this.
Francesca had been going back and forth about learning to drive. But now, she’s really looking forward to getting started, so much so that she “can’t see the hour.”
Ma invece adesso sono convintissima,
But now however I'm totally convinced,
motivata e non vedo l'ora di cominciare.
motivated and I can't wait to start.
Caption 4, Francesca - alla guida
Play Caption
If there’s someone you don’t like very much, it’s probably someone you don’t want to see. In fact, if you say, non lo posso vedere (I can’t see him), you’re really saying you can’t bear seeing him. Note: If you do want to say that you can’t see something or someone, just say, non lo vedo (I don’t see it/him) or non riesco a vederlo (I don’t succeed in seeing it/him).
You might be so hungry you can’t see straight. It so happens that an expression made famous in an Italian TV commercial for a candy bar says just that. Non ci vedo più dalla fame! (I can’t see straight from hunger [I’m famished]!)
Many expressions using vedere (to see) and occhio (eye) do indeed coincide with the English use of the sense of sight. For example, visto che translates easily as “seeing that,” although we would usually sooner use “since.” It’s a good expression to have handy when you are explaining something, like the woman telling us about her day at the lake.
E visto che siamo solo ad un chilometro,
And since we are just one kilometer away,
penso che andrò e tenterò di rilassarmi tutto il giorno.
I think that I will go and try to relax all day.
Captions 12-13, Una gita - al lago
Play Caption
When you want to talk to someone privately, you want to see the expression in their eyes as they speak, so parlare a quattr’occhi (to speak with four eyes) is to have a conversation face to face.
If something is super expensive, you might describe it as costing un occhio della testa (an eye of the head), which isn’t that different from paying “through the nose,” or something costing “an arm and a leg!"
When something is too obvious to question, you might hear this: Vorrei anche vedere (I’d also like to see that), meaning something like, “I should think so/not!” “Yeah, right,” or “No way.”
Putting it all together just for fun:
Stamattina sono andata a parlare a quattr’occhi con la mia professoressa anche se non la posso vedere. Ora non vedo l’ora di arrivare a casa perché non ci vedo più dalla fame. Visto che I panini al bar costavano un occhio della testa, vorrei anche vedere se ne compravo uno.
This morning I went to talk face to face with my teacher even though I can’t stand her. Now I can’t wait to get home because I’m starving. Seeing that the sandwiches at the bar cost an arm and a leg, there was no way I was buying one.
And to really conclude, chi s’è visto s’è visto (literally, “we’ve seen whomever we’ve seen” meaning, “that’s the end of it”).
Learning suggestion:
Practice using the expressions in this lesson until they feel comfortable. (Think about all the the things you are looking forward to!) Then visit WordReference to see all the modi di dire connected with vedere, and add one or two more to your repertory.
Spanish
French
German
Chinese
English
English 
Español
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
