Italian has a small but extraordinarily productive class of verbs in which ci has fused permanently into the lexeme. In these constructions, ci has no separable meaning — you cannot drop it, replace it, or analyze it as a locative or a pronominal stand-in for "to it". The ci is part of the verb's identity, the way the up in give up is part of that English verb. Esserci (there to be), volerci (to take, to be required), metterci (to take time), farcela (to manage), entrarci (to have to do with), provarci (to try, to hit on someone), capirci qualcosa (to understand any of it) — these are the most common examples, and together they account for an enormous share of everyday Italian conversation. If you want to sound natural, you must learn them as chunks rather than as compositional pieces.
This page catalogues the seven most useful fixed-ci verbs, with their meanings, conjugations in the tenses you actually need, and the pitfalls English speakers consistently fall into.
Esserci: there is, there are
Esserci is the Italian equivalent of English there is / there are. It looks like the verb essere (to be) with a ci stuck in front, and historically that's what it is — but in modern Italian it functions as a single lexical unit meaning "to exist, to be present, to be there".
The most important fact about esserci is agreement: the verb agrees with the noun that follows it. Singular noun → c'è; plural noun → ci sono.
| Tense | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present | c'è | ci sono |
| Imperfect | c'era | c'erano |
| Passato prossimo | c'è stato/a | ci sono stati/e |
| Future | ci sarà | ci saranno |
| Conditional | ci sarebbe | ci sarebbero |
C'è Marco? — No, è uscito un'ora fa.
Is Marco here? — No, he went out an hour ago.
Ci sono troppe persone in questo bar, andiamocene.
There are too many people in this bar, let's get out of here.
Quando sono arrivata, non c'era nessuno.
When I arrived, there was no one there.
C'erano due gatti seduti sul muretto.
There were two cats sitting on the little wall.
Domani ci sarà uno sciopero dei treni, fai attenzione.
Tomorrow there will be a train strike, be careful.
The compound-tense pattern c'è stato / ci sono stati uses essere as auxiliary (because esserci is an essere-verb), with full participle agreement.
Ieri sera ci sono state due chiamate per te.
Last night there were two calls for you.
A practical contrast: c'è is there is; è is it is. They are not the same.
C'è un problema con la macchina.
There is a problem with the car. (existence — esserci)
È un problema serio.
It is a serious problem. (identification — essere)
English uses it is for both functions, which is why English speakers say "è un problema" when they mean "there is a problem". In Italian the two are distinct.
Volerci: it takes, it is required
Volerci expresses what is objectively required — time, money, ingredients, patience, courage. The grammatical subject is the thing required, not the person doing the action. The verb appears only in 3rd person, and it agrees in number with the required thing.
| Italian | English |
|---|---|
| ci vuole tempo | it takes time |
| ci vogliono due ore | it takes two hours |
| ci vuole pazienza | it takes patience |
| ci vogliono 50 euro | it costs 50 euros / 50 euros are needed |
| ci vorrà un miracolo | it'll take a miracle |
| ci sono voluti tre giorni | it took three days |
Per imparare bene una lingua ci vuole tempo, non c'è niente da fare.
To really learn a language takes time, there's nothing you can do about it.
Da Roma a Napoli in treno ci vuole circa un'ora e mezza.
From Rome to Naples by train it takes about an hour and a half.
Ci sono voluti tre giorni per finire il restauro.
It took three days to finish the restoration.
Per fare la pizza ci vogliono farina, acqua, lievito e sale.
To make pizza you need flour, water, yeast, and salt.
Notice the plural agreement: ci vogliono with due ore, tre giorni, cinque uova. A common error is to leave the verb singular: ci vuole due ore — wrong, must be ci vogliono due ore.
In compound tenses, volerci takes essere as auxiliary, and the participle agrees with the required thing: ci sono voluti tre giorni (m.pl.), ci sono volute due ore (f.pl.), c'è voluta molta pazienza (f.sg.).
Metterci: how long someone takes
Metterci is the personal counterpart to volerci. Where volerci asks what does the action objectively require?, metterci asks how long does this specific person actually take to do it? The subject is the person doing the action, the verb conjugates normally in all six persons, and the ci is fixed.
| Person | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| io | ci metto | I take |
| tu | ci metti | you take |
| lui/lei | ci mette | he/she takes |
| noi | ci mettiamo | we take |
| voi | ci mettete | you all take |
| loro | ci mettono | they take |
Quanto ci metti per arrivare in ufficio?
How long does it take you to get to the office?
Mio fratello ci mette sempre un'ora a vestirsi al mattino.
My brother always takes an hour to get dressed in the morning.
Ci ho messo tre ore per finire i compiti.
It took me three hours to finish the homework.
Quanto ci avete messo a tornare?
How long did it take you all to get back?
In compound tenses, metterci takes avere (because mettere is an avere-verb), and the participle does not agree with the time expression: ci ho messo tre ore, not ci ho messe tre ore.
The volerci/metterci contrast — critical
This is one of the cleanest minimal pairs in Italian and worth memorizing:
Da Bologna a Firenze ci vogliono cinquanta minuti in treno.
From Bologna to Florence it takes fifty minutes by train. (objective fact about the journey)
Da Bologna a Firenze ci metto sempre un'ora, perché prendo il treno regionale.
From Bologna to Florence I always take an hour, because I take the regional train. (my personal time, longer than average)
The first describes the route; the second describes the speaker. Both can be true at once, and they are not interchangeable. If the question is how long is this trip in general?, you answer with volerci. If the question is how long does it take you?, you answer with metterci.
A practical rule: volerci has no human subject — the verb is locked at 3sg or 3pl, and the time/thing is the subject. Metterci always has a human subject who is conjugating the verb in their own person. If you find yourself wanting to say I take or we take in this construction, you need metterci.
Farcela: to manage, to make it
Farcela is one of the most expressive verbs in Italian. It means "to manage", "to succeed", "to make it", "to be able to cope" — and structurally it's a triple compound: fa(re) + ce + la. The ce is ci changed to e before another vowel-initial clitic, and the la is a generic feminine direct object referring to "the situation, the thing, life itself". Trying to translate it literally produces nonsense ("I do it the situation"); the construction must be learned as a unit.
| Person | Present | Passato prossimo |
|---|---|---|
| io | ce la faccio | ce l'ho fatta |
| tu | ce la fai | ce l'hai fatta |
| lui/lei | ce la fa | ce l'ha fatta |
| noi | ce la facciamo | ce l'abbiamo fatta |
| voi | ce la fate | ce l'avete fatta |
| loro | ce la fanno | ce l'hanno fatta |
Non ce la faccio più, sono troppo stanco.
I can't take it anymore, I'm too tired.
Ce la farai, ne sono sicura.
You'll make it, I'm sure of it.
Ce l'abbiamo fatta! Abbiamo finito il progetto in tempo.
We did it! We finished the project on time.
Mi dispiace, non ce la faccio a venire stasera.
I'm sorry, I can't make it tonight.
A vent'anni pensavo che non ce l'avrei mai fatta.
At twenty I thought I'd never make it.
Notice the participle in the passato prossimo: ce l'ho fatta — feminine singular, agreeing with the fossilized la. This agreement is invariable: it's fatta, not fatto, regardless of the speaker's gender.
The infinitive of the action that follows farcela is introduced by a: ce la faccio a finire, non ce la faccio a sopportarlo.
Entrarci: to have to do with
Entrarci literally means "to fit in, to be relevant" — it's about whether something belongs in the discussion. Used almost exclusively in negative or interrogative contexts, it's how Italians say "what does that have to do with anything?"
Cosa c'entra Marco? Stavamo parlando di tua sorella!
What does Marco have to do with this? We were talking about your sister!
Non c'entra niente con quello che ti sto dicendo.
It has nothing to do with what I'm telling you.
Io non c'entro, è stato lui a rompere il vaso.
I have nothing to do with it, he was the one who broke the vase.
Che c'entri tu in tutto questo?
What do you have to do with all of this?
In compound tenses, entrarci takes essere: non c'è entrato niente, che c'entra in present, non c'è entrato in past. But honestly — present-tense c'entra is by far the most common form, and you'll hear it dozens of times a day in Italian conversation.
Provarci: to give it a try, to hit on someone
Provarci has two distinct meanings, and Italians use both constantly. The neutral meaning is "to give something a try". The colloquial-slang meaning is "to make a romantic/sexual advance" — to hit on someone.
Non sono sicuro di riuscirci, ma ci provo.
I'm not sure I can do it, but I'll give it a try.
Ci ho provato, ma non c'è stato niente da fare.
I tried, but there was nothing to be done.
Ci ha provato con me alla festa di sabato.
He hit on me at the party on Saturday. (colloquial)
Ogni volta che lo vedo, ci prova.
Every time I see him, he tries to hit on me. (colloquial)
The romantic-advance reading is unambiguous when the prepositional object is a person: ci ha provato con Anna = he hit on Anna. The neutral "give it a try" reading appears with abstract goals: ci provo = I'll try (to do it).
Capirci qualcosa: to understand any of it
Capirci qualcosa is the standard construction for "to understand any of it", almost always used in the negative. It captures that universal feeling of being utterly lost.
Non ci capisco niente di matematica.
I don't understand any of this math stuff.
Tu ci capisci qualcosa di queste istruzioni?
Do you understand any of these instructions?
A scuola non ci capivo niente, poi è arrivato un professore bravo e ho cominciato a capire.
At school I didn't understand any of it, then a good teacher came along and I started to understand.
The construction is ci + capire + qualcosa / niente / poco / molto — the ci is fossilized, the qualcosa/niente is the partitive object. Without ci, non capisco niente is fine but it loses the slightly idiomatic flavor of "I don't get any of this stuff in particular".
Tenerci: to care about (briefly)
Tenerci means "to care deeply about something, to value something" — it gets its own dedicated treatment, but it's worth flagging here because it's structurally a fossilized-ci verb. The pattern is tenere + ci + a + thing: ci tengo a Marco (I care about Marco), ci tiene molto al suo lavoro (he cares a lot about his job).
Ci tengo molto alla nostra amicizia, lo sai.
I care a lot about our friendship, you know.
Tieni alla tua salute? Allora smetti di fumare.
Do you care about your health? Then stop smoking. (alternate phrasing without ci, more formal)
For the full treatment, see the dedicated page on tenerci and pronominal-ci verbs.
Why these expressions resist translation
English handles all of these meanings with a patchwork of different idioms — there is/are, it takes, I take time, to manage, to have to do with, to give it a try, to understand any of. Italian compresses them all into the same structural pattern: a verb with ci welded onto it. From the inside, a native speaker doesn't feel ci as a separable particle — they feel esserci and farcela as single words, the way an English speaker feels give up as a single concept.
For a learner, the best strategy is to stop analyzing and start memorizing chunks. Every time you encounter one of these verbs in the wild, store the whole conjugated form: ce la faccio, non ce la faccio, ci ha messo tre ore, ci sono voluti due giorni, non c'entra niente. Within a few months these will feel as automatic as English there are.
Common mistakes
❌ Voglio tempo per finire questo lavoro.
Wrong meaning — 'voglio tempo' means 'I want time' (like demanding it). For 'it takes time' use ci vuole tempo.
✅ Ci vuole tempo per finire questo lavoro.
Correct — 'it takes time to finish this work.'
❌ Ci vuole due ore.
Incorrect agreement — with plural 'due ore' the verb must be plural too.
✅ Ci vogliono due ore.
Correct — ci vogliono with plural required things.
❌ Ci metto due ore (when meaning 'the trip takes two hours' as an objective fact).
Wrong construction — metterci is personal ('I take two hours'). For the objective duration use volerci.
✅ Ci vogliono due ore.
Correct — objective duration uses volerci.
❌ È un problema con la macchina.
Wrong meaning for 'there is a problem' — 'è un problema' means 'it is a problem' (identifying something as such).
✅ C'è un problema con la macchina.
Correct — 'c'è' for 'there is' (existential).
❌ Ce l'ho fatto!
Wrong agreement — in farcela the participle is locked feminine singular, agreeing with the fossilized 'la'.
✅ Ce l'ho fatta!
Correct — always 'fatta', regardless of the speaker's gender.
❌ Cosa entra Marco in tutto questo?
Missing the obligatory ci — entrarci requires ci to deliver the 'have to do with' meaning.
✅ Cosa c'entra Marco in tutto questo?
Correct — c'entra is the standard construction.
Key takeaways
- Esserci = there is/are. Agrees with the noun: c'è (sg.), ci sono (pl.). Compound tense: c'è stato / ci sono stati.
- Volerci = it takes / is required (objective). Subject is the thing required; verb in 3sg or 3pl. Compound auxiliary: essere with full agreement.
- Metterci = how long someone takes (personal). Subject is the person; verb conjugates fully. Compound auxiliary: avere, no agreement.
- Farcela = to manage, to make it. Triple compound; participle locked feminine singular: ce l'ho fatta.
- Entrarci = to have to do with. Most common in present: cosa c'entra?, non c'entra niente.
- Provarci = to try / to hit on (colloquial). Two meanings, both very common.
- Capirci qualcosa = to understand any of it. Almost always negative: non ci capisco niente.
These verbs cover an enormous slice of everyday Italian. Don't try to derive them from their parts — learn them as units, drill the conjugations, and use them in real conversation as soon as you can.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- The Particle Ci: OverviewA2 — Italy's most overworked little word. The five functions of ci — object pronoun, reflexive, locative 'there', pronominal a-replacement, and fossilised in c'è / ci vuole / farcela — laid out as a single semantic gradient from concrete to empty.
- Locative Ci: ThereA2 — How ci replaces 'a / in / su / da + place' to mean 'there'. Vado a Roma → Ci vado. Placement, the ci → ce shift before other clitics, and how it differs from the adverb 'lì'.
- Fixed Expressions with Ne: andarsene, fregarseneB1 — Italian's most idiomatic ne-constructions — me ne vado, me ne frego, non ne posso più — where ne is fossilized into the verb and learned as a chunk.
- The Particle Ne: OverviewA2 — A complete map of Italian ne — partitive (some, of them), pronominal (about it, of it), origin (from there), and fossilized (andarsene, fregarsene), with the agreement rules English speakers stumble over.
- Italian Pronouns: OverviewA1 — A roadmap of the entire Italian pronoun system — subject, object, reflexive, disjunctive, possessive, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, indefinite, plus the special particles ci and ne.
- Volerci and Metterci: Expressions of Time/RequirementA2 — How Italian distinguishes objective time required (volerci) from personal time taken (metterci) — two pronominal verbs that look similar but behave very differently.