FOCUSING ON THE ACTION
19.5
In the ‘small ads’ a reverse combination of verb + si is often used. In the plural form, the final vowel is dropped (affittano > affittan): Vendesi appartamento di quattro vani. Four-room apartment for sale. Affittasi monolocale. One-room apartment for rent. Affittansi camere. Rooms for rent.
19.5
Si impersonale (impersonal si) The si impersonale structure (see 2.1.8), equivalent of the English ‘one’, is often confused with si passivante. The si passivante is always used with a transitive verb, and has both singular and plural forms, while the si impersonale is used with an intransitive verb and is only singular. Often the si impersonale is not really impersonal but is used as a substitute for ‘we’: Domenica si va al mare. On Sundays we go to the seaside. In genere, si parte presto quando si va all’aeroporto. In general, one leaves early when one is going to the airport. Both past participle and adjectives, when used with si impersonale, are plural. The compound tenses take essere: La sera dopo una giornata di lavoro, si è stanchi. In the evening, after a day at work, one is tired. Si è partiti la mattina presto, e si è arrivati la sera tardi. One (we) left in the morning early, and one (we) arrived in the evening late.
19.6
Focusing on the object of the action Italian has more freedom to change word order (see also 40.7). The normal order of subject, verb, object can be reversed; we can emphasise the object of an action (rather than the subject or author of it) by keeping the active form of the sentence, but placing the object in a more prominent position before the verb. The pronoun (in this case, lo) is used as well (see 3.4.1) to mark the unusual and emphatic position of the object:
Emphasising the subject Subject – verb – object Il direttore ha già firmato il contratto. The manager has already signed the contract.
Emphasising the object Object – pronoun – verb – subject Il contratto lo ha già firmato il direttore. The contract has already been signed by the manager.
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