Farcela: a pronominal verb to have in your toolkit

By Sigrid Lee

We have talked about pronominal verbs before, but pronominal verbs are tricky, so we've come back to them once again.

For more about pronominal verbs, check out this lesson.

This time, let's look at a pronominal verb people use all the time: farcela. It's about succeeding, managing, being able, making it — or not.

One tricky thing about pronominal verbs is that when they are conjugated, you have to find the parts. These verbs are more recognizable when they're in the infinitive as in the following example.

Non so se potrò farcela senza di lei.

I don't know if I can manage without her.

Caption 46, Provaci ancora prof! S2EP2 Una mina vagante - Part 25
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Let's take it apart

If we take farcela apart, we get the verb fare (to do, to make); we get ce. Let's keep in mind that ce means the same thing as ci, but when we have a direct object in addition to the indirect object pronoun ci, then ci turns into ce! Very tricky! Then we have la. La stands for "it" and is a direct object pronoun.

Let's also remember that when you say (in English), "I made it," you can mean you baked the cake, and in this case "to make" is transitive, or you can mean you succeeded in doing something, you managed, you were able. The verb "to succeed" is intransitive — we need a preposition after it. This may help in understanding farcela.

Be', in qualche modo ce l'abbiamo fatta e questo ci ha rafforzati.

Well, somehow we did it and this made us stronger.

Captions 60-61, COVID-19 3) La quarantena
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Finalmente ce l'hai fatta a farti sospendere dal servizio.

Finally, you managed to get yourself suspended from service.

Caption 30, Il Commissario Manara S2EP8 - Fuori servizio - Part 10
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Word order

A pronominal verb gets separated into its parts when it's conjugated. Often we find the indirect object pronoun first (ce). Then we have the direct object pronoun (la). We have the conjugated verb, which, in this case, is in the passato prossimo tense. It uses the helping verb avere (to have) and the past participle of the verb fare (to do, to make). If the pronominal verb were to occur in the present tense, then fare would be the conjugated verb.

Eh, basta, croce. Non ce la faccio più.

Uh, that's it, forget it. I can't manage any longer.

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Non ce la faccio, mi fai cadere.

I can't keep up, you'll make me fall.

Caption 2, Il Commissario Manara S1EP1 - Un delitto perfetto - Part 1
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Handy!

Farcela is very handy when you can't succeed in something (as well as when you can!). It might be getting to a party, or it might be running an errand. It might be running a race.

One way to say you can't make it (to a party, an appointment, etc) is simply:

Non ce la faccio, mi dispiace (I can't make it, I'm sorry).

Non ce la faccio a venire (I can't make it, I'm sorry).

But we can use it in other tenses, too.

T'ho detto che ce l'avrei fatta, va be', nie' [niente].

I told you I would have made it, OK, I didn't.

Caption 24, Chi m'ha visto film - Part 6
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"Non ce l'ho fatta ad arrivare fino a casa con tutta quella neve".

"I wasn't able to get all the way home with all this snow."

Captions 39-40, Corso di italiano con Daniela Fino a e Finché - Part 1
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Things to keep in mind

Note that there are plenty of different ways to translate farcela depending on the context. As you might have noticed, farcela sometimes has to do with keeping up. There are a whole lot of things this pronominal verb can be used for.

So stay on the lookout for this handy pronominal verb and learn to use it by repeating what you hear and see.

Important: Since the direct object pronoun is a feminine one, always la, the past participle takes the same feminine ending, fatta, not fatto. Remembering this will make it easier to use and recognize it.

Topics "Verbi pronominali" Expressions Pronominal verbs