active	passive	si passivante
Gli studenti italiani fanno esami sia orali che scritti. (Italian students take both oral and written exams.)	Gli esami sia orali che scritti sono fatti dagli studenti italiani. (Both oral and written exams are taken by Italian students.)	Nelle università italiane si fanno esami sia orali e che scritti. (In Italian universities, one takes both oral and written exams.)

You can see in the si passivante example that the subject gli studenti italiani disappears completely. The verb is formed with the pronoun si and the third person form of the verb. In the example above, the loro form is used because the subject (gli esami) is plural.

If the object is singular, the lui/lei form is used:

Per protestare le condizioni di lavoro, si fa uno sciopero.

(To protest working conditions, people go on strike).

Let’s look at a few more examples of the si passivante in the present tense.

Es. Negli Stati Uniti si pagano le tasse universitarie molto alte. 

(In the USA, people pay high tuition.)

plural subject – le tasse universitarie

Es. Per comprare una casa, si paga il mutuo ogni mese. 

(To buy a house, one pays the mortgage every month.)

singular subject – il mutuo

What happens if the si passivante is in the past (or other) tenses?

In compound tenses like the passato prossimo, the trapassato prossimo, the futuro anteriore, the condizionale passato, etc… the verb essere is used, and the past participle should agree in gender and number with the subject.

Es. Si è aperta la posizione la settimana scorsa.

(The position was opened last week).

Es. Si sono messi da parte i risparmi.

(Savings were put aside).

If you want to use direct or indirect object pronouns with these sentences, the form changes a bit. You would use the singular form of the verb no matter what, and put the direct object pronoun before the si.

Es. Si mettono da parte i risparmi. → Tipicamente li si mette in banca.

(People put aside their savings. → Typically they are put in the bank.)

Es. Si pagano le tasse universitarie ogni semestre. → Le si paga prima che inizino i corsi.

(We pay tuition every semester. → We pay it before classes begin.)

Il si impersonale

All of the examples we looked at above have one big thing in common: they all have direct objects in the active voice (i.e. they are transitive verbs!). But what if we just want to express a general action, transitive or intransitive? In this case, we use the si impersonale, which is essentially identical in form to the si passivante, with the exception that the form is consistent: the pronoun si + the third person singular form of the verb (the lui/lei form).

Es. Alle università italiane, si studia in modo indipendente.

(At Italian universities, one studies independently.)

Es. Il sabato sera, si esce con gli amici.

(One goes out with one’s friends on Saturday night / We go out with our friends on Saturday night.)

Es. Nelle mense di UMass, si mangia bene.

(You eat well in the dining halls of UMass.)

If the verb in question is essere or diventare (verbs that express a state of being), the form is a bit particular: it uses the third person singular form of the verb but the masculine plural form of the adjective or noun that follows it. This is strange! You’re basically creating a sentence that is both singular and plural and it’s actually grammatically correct (the antithesis of every other rule of agreement you’ve ever learned):

Es. Al lavoro si è cordiali con i colleghi.

(At work one is cordial with one’s colleagues / At work we are cordial with our colleagues.)

Es. Dopo la scuola di medicina, si diventa dottori.

(After medical school, you become doctors.)

So what happens when you have a reflexive or reciprocal verb that already has the si pronoun? How do we make that impersonal or passive? Well, we don’t want to have two si-s in a row, so in order to avoid that, we replaced one with ci.

Es. Ci si sveglia tardi la domenica.

(On Sundays one sleeps late. / On Sundays we sleep late.)

Es. Ci si diverte molto durante le lezioni d’italiano.

(One has fun during Italian class. / We have fun during Italian class.)

Quando si usa?

Whether it’s the si impersonale or passivante, these passive forms are really common in Italian. They are used in conversation and also on signs, advertisements, and announcements. It is not uncommon to see signs that read “Vendesi” or “Affittasi” for apartments, cars, etc…like this one:

You can also see from all of the previous examples that this impersonal form can translate differently: it can mean you, we, one, they, etc…whatever you would use to indicate a general, rather than specific, subject.

Even among friends, it is quite common to use the si impersonale to talk about plans:

Es. Che si fa stasera?

(What are we doing tonight?)

Es. A che ora ci si vede?

(What time are we meeting?)

It can also be used to give information, instructions, or permission.

Es. Si deve aspettare il bando prima di fare domanda per il lavoro.

(You have to wait for the announcement before you apply for the job.)

Es. Non si lavora nei giorni festivi.

(We don’t work on holidays.)

Es. Si può chiedere un aumento di stipendio una volta all’anno.

(You can ask for a raise once a year.)

Struttura 8.3 Il discorso indiretto

“Il fine giustifica i mezzi” – you’ve probably encountered this quote from Machiavelli’s Il principe in your studies of Italian, or political science. We can attribute this quote to Machiavelli by saying something like Machiavelli scrisse: “Il fine giustifica i mezzi”  (Il principe, pg x). This citation is an example of direct discourse, which means that we relay verbatim the words that were said, usually using quotation marks. You’re familiar with this, right?

Well, what happens if we want to relay the gist of the idea but not necessarily the direct quote? Changing from direct discourse to indirect discourse can require a shift in certain elements of the sentence (this will be reminiscent of tense sequencing – sorry!).

In the example above, we can change the sentence from direct to indirect discourse in the following way:

Es. Machiavelli scrisse che il fine giustificava i mezzi.

(Machiavelli wrote that the ends justified the means.)

Because the verb in the first part of the sentence is in the past, then the verb after che has to shift as well. Sometimes the shift from direct to indirect discourse involves nothing more than that che, and other times the sentence has to undergo a greater transformation.

Come si forma?

Let’s start with the combinations that undergo the fewest changes.

1. When the verbs that introduce the indirect discourse (like dire, chiedere, rispondere) and the verbs in the quotation are similar in tense (like present, future, imperfect or trapassato), there is no change in tense (just in conjugation).

present	Michele dice: “Faccio domanda per quel lavoro.” (diretto) Michele dice che fa domanda per quel lavoro. (indiretto) (Michele says he’s going to apply for that job.)
future	Michele chiede: “Quando ci sarà il colloquio?” (diretto) Michele chiede quando ci sarà il colloquio.  (indiretto) (Michele asks when the interview will be.)
imperfect	Michele ha detto: “Sembrava una bella posizione di lavoro. (diretto) Michele ha detto che sembrava una bella posizione di lavoro. (indiretto) (Michele said that it seemed like a good job.)
trapassato	Michele ha domandato: “Avevate ricevuto il mio CV?” (diretto) Michele ha domandato se avevamo ricevuto il suo CV. (indiretto) (Michele asked if we had received his CV.)

These might seem a little strange, particularly the shift from the future to the conditional past in the second example. It will definitely take practice before these become second nature, but just like tense sequencing, they do follow a formula. In the final example of the imperative, either option (the congiuntivo imperfetto or di + infinitive) is acceptable.

3. Finally, hypothetical phrases (which you studied in Unità 7), all shift to the same tenses in the indirect discourse: congiuntivo trapassato (past perfect subjunctive) in the “if” clause and condizionale passato (past conditional) in the main clause.

discorso diretto	discorso indiretto
Martina ha detto: “Se andremo in pizzeria, prenderò una margherita.”	Martina ha detto che se fossimo andati in pizzeria, avrebbe preso una margherita. (Martina said that if we had gone to the pizzeria, she would have gotten a margherita pizza.)
Martina ha detto: “Se andassimo in pizzeria, prenderei una margherita.”	Martina ha detto che se fossimo andati in pizzeria, avrebbe preso una margherita. (Martina said that if we had gone to the pizzeria, she would have gotten a margherita pizza.)
Martina ha detto: “Se fossimo andati in pizzeria, avrei preso una margherita.”	Martina ha detto che se fossimo andati in pizzeria, avrebbe preso una margherita. (Martina said that if we had gone to the pizzeria, she would have gotten a margherita pizza.)

Quando si usa?

There are lots of situations that require indirect discourse. We don’t go around directly quoting people all day long! It is common to relay information in this way. Common verbs that introduce this discourse are dire, chiedere, domandare, rispondere, and ripetere.

Es. Marcello ha detto: “Arriverò alle 8!” → Marcello ha detto che sarebbe arrivato alle 8. 

(Marcello said he’d be here at 8.)

Es. Flavio ha chiesto: “Potete aiutarmi ora?” → Flavio ha chiesto se potevamo aiutarlo allora.

(Flavio asked if we could help him then.)

 

Es. Io ho risposto: “Ti possiamo aiutare adesso.” → Io ho risposto che lo potevamo aiutare in quel momento.

(I responded that we could help him in that moment.)

Note all of the other changes that need to happen to the sentence, from verb tenses to pronouns (ti → lo) to time expressions (ora → allora). You can do this! You have all the tools to adjust all of these elements of the sentence – it’s a great way to remind you of all you have learned about Italian up to now.