The Impersonal Reflexive: "Ci si"
You already know that the impersonal si means "one," "people," or "we" in a general sense (like si mangia, "one eats"). But what happens when you use the impersonal form with a reflexive verb like comportarsi (to behave)?
Since the third-person reflexive pronoun is also si, you would technically end up with si si comporta ("one behaves oneself"). To avoid this awkward repetition, Italian changes the first si to ci.
The structure simply becomes ci si + [3rd-person singular verb].
| one (impersonal with reflexive verbs) | ci si |
| In society, one behaves with manners. | In società ci si comporta con educazione. |
| If there is respect, one does not get offended easily. | Se c'è rispetto, non ci si offende facilmente. |
Mixing "Si" and "Ci si"
When talking about general rules or social etiquette, you will often combine regular and reflexive verbs in the same sentence. Use the standard impersonal si for regular verbs, and ci si for reflexive verbs.
| If one makes a mistake, one always apologizes. | Se si sbaglia, ci si scusa sempre. |
| When one receives an invitation, one dresses in an appropriate way. | Quando si riceve un invito, ci si veste in modo adeguato. |
"Ci si" in Daily Routines and the Past
Impersonal reflexives are incredibly common when describing how "one" goes about a daily routine.
| In the morning, one washes and combs one's hair. | La mattina ci si lava e ci si pettina. |
This rule applies across all tenses. When describing how things generally used to be in the past, simply pair ci si with the imperfect tense.
| Before, one used to wake up early. | Prima ci si svegliava presto. |
| After work, one used to fall asleep quickly. | Dopo il lavoro ci si addormentava velocemente. |
