Ne and Ci

 

Ne and Ci

Practice:Ne and Ci

When you master ne and ci in your writing and speaking, you will be very accomplished. They seem hard at first, because they do not have a direct correlate in English. Ne and ci are both pronouns, taking the place of a noun. But in many cases, they also take the place of a noun and a preposition. Compare the two cases that follow:
Case I

Leggi il libro? Are you reading the book?

Si', lo leggo. Yes, I'm reading it.

lo = it

In Italian, just like in English, the pronoun takes the place of the noun.
Case II

Parlate del libro? Are you all talking about the book?	Si', ne parliamo. Yes, we are talking about it.
Credete alla tesi del libro? Do you believe in the thesis of the book?	Si, ci crediamo. Yes, we believe in it.

ne = about it ci = in it

In Italian, unlike in English, the pronouns ne and ci take the place of a noun and the preposition that comes before it (e.g. di or a).

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Uses of Ne

I. Substitutes for a preposition + noun in expressions with the preposition di.

question	answer
Hai bisogno degli occhiali? Do you need your glasses?	No, non ne ho bisogno. No, I don't need them.
Avete voglia di un gelato? Do you feel like an ice cream?	Si', ne abbiamo voglia. Yes, we feel like one.
Parlano spesso di politica? Do they talk often about politics?	Si', ne parlano sempre. Yes, they always talk about it.

II. Substitutes for a noun in an expression of quantity.

question	answer
Quanti libri prendi? How many books are you getting?	Ne prendo tre. I'm getting three (of them).
Quanti chili di banane comprate voi? How many kilos of bananas are you buying?	Ne compriamo quattro. We're buying four (of them).
Hai mangiato tutta la pizza? Did you eat the whole pizza?	Ne ho mangiata tanta. I ate a lot of it.
Vuoi del latte? Do you want some milk?	No, non ne prendo. No, I don't take any (of it).

Also in cases in which you use the partitive (di + article) to convey a sense of some, you use ne as the pronoun substituting for the noun, instead of lo, as in the final example above.

When you use ne in place of a quantity or partitive in a passato prossimo sentence, the ending of the past participle must agree with the noun replaced by ne:

• Quanti chili di banana hai comprato?
  Ne ho comprati due.
• Hai preso dell'acqua?
  Si', ne ho presa.

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Uses of Ci

I. Substitutes for a preposition + noun in expressions with the prepositions a, in, da or su.

question	answer
Pensi molto agli errori del passato? Do you think a lot about the mistakes of the past?	Si, ci penso spesso. Yes, I think about them often.
Credi alla magia? Do you believe in magic?	No, non ci credo molto. No, I don't believe much in it.
A che ora andiamo al ristorante? What time are we going to the restaurant?	Ci andiamo alle otto. We are going (there) at 8:00.
Sei mai stata in Sicilia? Have you ever been to Sicily?	No, non ci sono mai stata. No, I have never been there
Siete saliti sul treno? Did you get on the train?	Si', ci siamo saliti. Yes, we got on (it).

You do not use ci however, to substitute for nouns which function as indirect objects, which are also introduced by the preposition a. Rather, you use the indirect object pronoun.
E.g. Hai dato l’anello al tuo fidanzato? Sì gli ho dato l’anello.

Just like the direct and indirect object pronouns, both ne and ci, (as you have noticed) go before the verb, except in cases in which there are two verbs. With two verbs, you should attach them to the infinitive of the second verb:

no pronoun	pronoun w/ 1 verb	pronoun w/ 2 verbs
Parliamo del viaggio.	Ne parliamo.	Vogliamo parlarne.
Non andiamo all'aeroporto.	Non ci andiamo.	Non possiamo andarci.

Practice Exercises