Let's talk about some adverbs of time and how Italians use them. Some adverbs of time have multiple meanings and need context to be understood and used precisely.
We can detect the noun notte (night) as part of the time adverb stanotte. The beginning, on the other hand, is sta, a short form of questa (this).
Non ti dispiace se rimango qui stanotte, vero?
You don't mind if I stay here tonight, do you?
Caption 4, Il Commissario Manara S1EP7 - Sogni di Vetro - Part 9
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But sometimes, the same adverb stanotte refers to "last night."
E mio marito non è rientrato stanotte e non ha nemmeno avvertito...
And my husband didn't come home last night and he didn't even let me know...
Caption 16, Il Commissario Manara S1EP6 - Reazione a Catena - Part 2
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We can use the same form to talk about the evening: stasera. Normally, we'd say that stasera means "this evening" but in English, we often use "tonight" when referring to the dinner hour, so sometimes "tonight" is the best translation.
La lista della spesa per la cena di stasera.
The shopping list for tonight's dinner.
Caption 2, Anna e Marika La mozzarella di bufala - La produzione e i tagli - Part 1
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While we say things like "I'm going out tonight," Italians will choose stasera over stanotte, unless we are talking about something happening in the middle of the night. But let's remember that sera generally means "evening."
Ma', stasera esco. -Dove vai?
Mom, tonight I'm going out. -Where are you going?
Caption 53, Acqua in bocca Un amico per Pippo - Ep 1
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Also, let's take the opportunity to remind ourselves that buonasera is a greeting upon arrival, whereas buonanotte is when you're leaving (and perhaps headed for bed).
You may already be familiar with the word for "yesterday." It's ieri. Just in case stanotte might not be clear enough, we have the choice of using ieri notte to mean "last night." If you are just getting up in the morning, you'll probably use stanotte to talk about the night before, but if it is later in the day, ieri notte makes sense.
Ieri notte tre ladri hanno pensato bene di svaligiare un atelier di abiti da sposa.
Last night, three thieves had the bright idea of cleaning out a wedding gown studio.
Caption 40, La Ladra EP. 2 - Viva le spose - Part 13
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If we say ieri sera, we can translate it with either "last night" or "yesterday evening," depending on how we think of it. But sera is generally used until late, let's say, until bedtime, whenever that is.
E voi due ieri sera eravate in casa? Sì, stavamo guardando la televisione.
And you two last night were at home? Yes, we were watching television.
Captions 47-48, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP4 Gelo - Part 2
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We have said that ieri means "yesterday," but what about the day before yesterday?
One way to say this is l'altro ieri (the other yesterday).
Quando l'hai vista l'ultima volta? -L'altro ieri.
When did you last see her? -The day before yesterday.
Captions 5-6, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP4 Gelo - Part 5
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Some people invert the words and say ieri l'altro.
Of course, we can also say due giorni fa (2 days ago).
E quando l'hai vista l'ultima volta? -Due giorni fa.
And when did you see her last? -Two days ago.
Captions 50-51, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone EP4 Gelo - Part 4
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If we don't need to be precise, we can say "the other day."
No, scusa l'altro giorno non t'ho potuto richiamare, ma dovevi dirmi qualcosa di lavoro?
No, sorry, the other day I couldn't call you back, but did you have something about work to tell me?
Captions 29-30, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP1 L'estate del dito - Part 16
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When we're referring to the past with these adverbs of time, we'll want to use the passato prossimo (which works like the present perfect) tense. The exception is when we use the verb essere (to be). In this case, we might also use the imperfetto.
Note that we don't say il giorno prima di ieri to correspond to "the day before yesterday!" But if that's all you can think of, people will understand. They'll probably say, "Oh, sì, l'altro ieri."
A Yabla subscriber has asked us to shed some light on the difference between noioso and annoiato. They are both adjectives and can be used to describe a person. There are some intricacies involved with these words, which we'll get to, but let's start out with the noun: la noia.
Che noia!
What a bore!
Caption 9, Acqua in bocca - Un amico per Pippo
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What is tricky about this noun (and its related adjectives) is that it can indeed imply boredom, but it can also mean "the bother" or "the nuisance." In fact, in the previous example, we don't know the context, but the meaning could also have been "what a nuisance," or "what a pain." The noun noia rarely refers to a person him- or herself, as "bore" would in English.
The following example is from Tuscany where noia is used a great deal to mean "bother." And it's often used with the verb dare (to give) — dare noia (to be a bother, to be annoying, to be in the way).
Erano alberi che davano noia e basta,
They were trees that were a bother and nothing more,
Caption 30, Gianni si racconta - L'olivo e i rovi
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So che noia can mean "what boredom" or "what a pain!" And dare noia can be interpreted as bothering, or being a bother, or being in the way.
We also have the verb annoiare that does remind one of the verb "to annoy." Indeed, that is one of the meanings and comes from the Latin "inodiare" — avere in odio (to have hateful feelings for).
Mi disturba, mi annoia,
You're bothering me, you're annoying me,
Caption 11, L'Italia a tavola - Interrogazione sul Piemonte
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But it is much more common for this verb to be used in its reflexive form annoiarsi. In this case it's always about being bored or possibly fed up.
Io non mi annoio mai quando sto con lui, mai.
I never get bored when I am with him, ever.
Caption 34, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E3 - Una piccola bestia ferita
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We've seen that noia isn't just about boredom, so likewise, noioso can mean boring, but not necessarily. Let's look at some examples of the different nuances.
Noioso can describe a person who is not very interesting, a dull person:
Abbiamo solamente avuto un piccolo flirt.
We just had a little fling.
Genere depresso e noioso, capisci?
Depressed and boring type, you understand?
Captions 9-10, Provaci ancora prof! - S1E1 - Il regalo di Babbo Natale
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It can also describe a movie, for example:
Il film era noioso, purtroppo (the movie was boring, unfortunately).
Here's a perfect example of something that is not boring. It's annoying. And in fact, the N and O sounds can hint at that.
Eh, povero Dixi, il singhiozzo è noioso
Oh, poor Dixi, the hiccups are bothersome
Caption 15, Dixiland - Il singhiozzo
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Annoiato can be used as the past participle of annoiare, or more often, as we mentioned above, the past participle of the reflexive verb annoiarsi. In this case, it means "to get or to be bored."
Oppure: "No, non andrò alla festa di Marcello.
Or: "No, I won't go to Marcello's party.
Ci sono già stato l'anno scorso e mi sono annoiato".
I already went to it last year and I got bored."
Captions 48-49, Corso di italiano con Daniela - Particella Ci e Ne
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But as often occurs, past participles are also used as adjectives. With annoiato, this can describe one's state of being.
Ciao. Sei annoiato o annoiata
Hi. Are you bored (m) or bored (f)
e ti vuoi divertire e rilassare?
and you want to have a good time and relax?
Captions 3-4, Marika spiega - Il cinema
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Let's try using all these forms in a silly, made-up dialogue.
Lei: Sembri annoiato, è così? (You seem bored. Are you?)
Lui: No, ho solo sonno (No, I'm just sleepy.) E inoltre, come posso annoiarmi ad ascoltare i tuoi racconti per l'ennesima volta? (And besides, how can I get bored listening to you tell your stories for the umteenth time?)
Lei: Beh, so che posso essere un po' noiosa a volte, scusami (Well, I know I can be a bit boring at times, sorry.) Allora smetto di darti noia, e me ne vado (I'll stop bothering you, then, and I'll leave.)
Lui: No, aspetta, se vai via mi annoierò davvero (If you leave, I will get bored for real.) E tra l'altro, ho dei lavori noiosissimi da fare e non ne ho nessuna voglia (And besides, I have some really tedious jobs to do and I have no desire to do them.)
Lei: OK, so che sono noiosa, ma non sarebbe meglio fare quei lavori dato che siano anche urgenti (OK, I know I am being a pain, but wouldn't it be better to do those jobs, given that they're urgent?)
Lui: OK, ora sei noiosa davvero. Mi sono ampiamente annoiato con questa storia (OK, now you are really being boring/irritating. I'm pretty sick of this thing), quindi forse è meglio se te ne vai... (so maybe it's better if you do leave.)
OK, ciao. Non ti voglio annoiare con un'altra delle mie storie noiose. (OK, bye. I don't want to bore you with another of my boring stories.)
There's still a lot more to talk about regarding the impersonale. Review previous lessons here.
Sometimes the verbs we use in the impersonal form, happen to be reflexive verbs as well. Before tackling reflexive verbs in the impersonal, it's a good idea to be familiar with how reflexive verbs work. But we're in luck because this week, Daniela happens to be talking about just that in her video lesson!
As also mentioned in previous lessons, reflexive verbs have si attached to them in the infinitive, for example, lavarsi (to wash oneself). When conjugated, the verbs are commonly separated into si + verb root:
Mario si lava ogni mattina.
Mario washes [himself] every morning.
Daniela explains that if you know how to conjugate the verb root, then you know how to conjugate the reflexive verb.
In the above example, Mario is the subject, and Mario is also the object (si), which is what reflexive verbs are all about.
So we've seen that the reflexive form uses si, (as part of the infinitive, and in the third person singular conjugation) but it's not the same as the si in the impersonal, so this is where things get a bit tricky. To avoid using si twice in a row, we use ci for the impersonal.
Marika gives us the rule:
La forma impersonale dei verbi riflessivi invece si forma con:
The impersonal form of reflexive verbs on the other hand is made with:
"ci "più il verbo alla terza persona singolare.
"ci" plus the verb in the third person singular.
Per esempio: in Italia ci si sposa sempre più tardi,
For example: In Italy one gets married later and later,
quindi il verbo sposarsi più "ci", più "si".
so the verb to get married plus "ci" plus "si."
Captions 45-48, Marika spiega - La forma impersonale
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So where you might think: si (impersonal) si (reflexive) sposa (verb in the third person), you need to use ci in place of the impersonal si. Here's a practical example:
Con loro non ci si annoia mai.
With them you are never bored.
Caption 41, Acqua in bocca - Un amico per Pippo
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Attenzione! Ci also has a long list of uses, which you can check out in these lessons.
The good news is that you can get by most of the time without using the impersonal plus reflexive. Don't let it prevent you from trying to express yourself in Italian. One workaround is to avoid using too many pronouns at once. Common expressions using both can be learned one by one, con calma (without rushing it).
You could say for example, remembering that "people" is singular in Italian (the si is reflexive):
La gente si sposa sempre più tardi.
People get married later and later.
For more about what’s been discussed in these lessons, see these very helpful blog entries:
We're still not entirely finished with the impersonal, but there's already plenty to digest.
We'll be back!
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