The Impersonal "ci si" in the Past
When describing the strict daily routine at a spiritual retreat (il ritiro spirituale) or a monastery, you will often talk about what "one" did or what "people" generally did.
You already know that to make a reflexive verb impersonal, we use ci si instead of "si si" (for example, ci si sveglia for "one wakes up").
When you move this construction into a compound tense like the passato prossimo, two strict rules apply:
- The auxiliary verb is always essere, conjugated in the third-person singular (è).
- The past participle always takes a plural ending (usually the masculine plural -i).
Notice how the auxiliary è is singular in the examples below, but the past participles (abituati, svegliati) end in -i.
| During the spiritual retreat, one got used to an austere life. | Durante il ritiro spirituale, ci si è abituati a una vita austera. |
| In the monastery, one woke up early because of the morning bell. | Nel monastero ci si è svegliati presto a causa della campana mattutina. |
Consistent Plural Agreement
This plural agreement rule applies to any reflexive verb made impersonal. Whether "one" is sitting down (sedersi), dedicating oneself (dedicarsi), or washing up (lavarsi), the past participle must end in a plural vowel.
If a sentence contains a sequence of actions, every past participle in the ci si structure takes the plural ending, as seen with lavati and vestiti below.
| After the prayer, one sat down in silence with devotion. | Dopo la preghiera, ci si è seduti in silenzio con devozione. |
| During that retreat, one washed and dressed before the morning sun. | Durante quel ritiro, ci si è lavati e vestiti prima del sole mattutino. |
| On this spiritual journey, one dedicated oneself to devotion with a lot of discipline. | In questo viaggio spirituale ci si è dedicati alla devozione con molta disciplina. |