Breakdown of Se vuoi fare due passi, ci sto; poi citofoniamo a Marta.
Questions & Answers about Se vuoi fare due passi, ci sto; poi citofoniamo a Marta.
Literally it’s “to take two steps,” but idiomatically it means “to go for a short walk.” It’s casual and suggests something brief and easy.
- Alternatives: fare quattro passi (same idea: a short stroll), fare una passeggiata (a neutral “go for a walk,” not necessarily short).
- You’ll also hear invitations like Facciamo due passi? (“Shall we go for a walk?”).
Italian uses the present indicative in real, likely conditions: Se vuoi… (“If you want…”). The form Se vorresti is generally considered a mistake in standard Italian.
- More hypothetical/polite: Se volessi… (“If you wanted…”).
- Future-oriented: Se vorrai… (“If you will want/If you want later…”), used when referring to a future moment.
- Softer alternative: Se ti va (di)… (“If you feel like…”), very common in speech.
No. Here ci sto comes from the idiomatic verb starci (“to be up for it / to agree / to go along with it”). It means “I’m in,” “I’m up for it,” or “I’m okay with that.” It’s a friendly, informal acceptance of the suggestion.
- Rough synonyms: Va bene (per me), Sono d’accordo, Mi va, Ci sto volentieri.
The clitic ci here means “to it/with it/there,” referring to the proposed plan. With starci, ci encodes “being okay with that thing.” Compare:
- Sto = “I stay/I am (in a place)/I’m doing fine” (context-dependent).
- Ci sto = “I agree/I’m in (on that plan).”
- Negative: Non ci sto (“I’m not in / I’m not okay with it”).
- Yes/no questions: Ci stai? (“Are you in?”), Ci state? (to a group), Ci sta? (about someone/it).
- Past: Ci sono stato/a (“I was in / I agreed [that time]”).
- Future: Ci starò (“I’ll be in”).
Yes:
- Physical fit: Il libro non ci sta nello zaino (“The book doesn’t fit in the backpack”).
- “Fair enough / that works”: Ci sta! (very common, esp. colloquial).
- “Make sense”: Ci sta che sia stanco (“It makes sense that he’s tired”).
They overlap but aren’t identical.
- Poi is a sequencing adverb within a narrative: Facciamo X, poi Y (“We do X, then Y”).
- Dopo means “after(wards)” and can be an adverb or preposition: Dopo facciamo Y; Dopo la cena, facciamo Y. In your sentence, poi sounds especially natural; Dopo citofoniamo a Marta is possible but a touch less tight as a connector.
Standard usage is citofonare a [someone] (“to ring [someone’s] intercom”). The person is an indirect object marked by a:
- Citofoniamo a Marta.
- Less standard/colloquial: citofonare [someone] as a transitive verb; better to avoid in careful Italian.
Yes, with an indirect-object clitic:
- Feminine singular: Le citofoniamo (“We ring her intercom”).
- Masculine singular: Gli citofoniamo (“We ring his intercom”). Note: In colloquial speech, many Italians use gli for both genders, but in standard Italian gli = to him, le = to her. Also common and very clear: Le/lui suoniamo il citofono or Le/lui diamo un colpo di citofono.
- Citofono = intercom/buzzer at the building entrance (often with a speaker/microphone).
- Campanello = doorbell at the door of the apartment/house itself. So you citofonare a qualcuno from the street to be let in; you suonare il campanello once you’re at their door.
Different prepositional roles:
- citofonare a [someone]: the person is the indirect object of the action (you are ringing to them).
- andare da [someone]: da marks someone’s place/home or the person you’re going to see. Example: Dopo andiamo da Marta (“Afterwards we’ll go to Marta’s place”).
- vuoi: the uo is a diphthong; say something like “vwoy.”
- poi: “poy.”
- ci sto: “chee stoh.”
- citofoniamo: stress on -nià-: “chee-toh-foh-NYAH-moh.”
- due: “DOO-eh.”
- Marta: stress on the first syllable: “MAR-ta.”