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### Chi: The People Who

You already know **chi** as the question word for "who?". However, it also acts as a relative pronoun meaning "whoever," "the one who," or "the people who."

Even when **chi** refers to a plural concept in English like "those who" or "the people who," Italian treats it as a single entity. It always takes a **third-person singular** verb.

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### Proverbs and General Truths

Because it expresses universal rules, **chi** is the foundation of many classic Italian proverbs.

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These sayings often pair two third-person singular verbs to show cause and effect.

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### Chi as an Object

**Chi** doesn't only have to be the subject. It can also act as the object—meaning you can observe, like, or interact with "the people who" do something.

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The people who (chi)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
proverb	il proverbio
whoever / the people who (the one who, those who)	chi
An old proverb says: those who search find.	Un vecchio proverbio dice: chi cerca trova.
Everyone knows this proverb.	Ognuno conosce questo proverbio.
to make a mistake	sbagliare
Those who do nothing never make mistakes.	Chi non fa niente non sbaglia mai.
Even if I make a mistake, I learn from what I do.	Anche se sbaglio, imparo da ciò che faccio.
to break	rompere
Whoever breaks something pays.	Chi rompe qualcosa paga.
I was right: whoever breaks things pays.	Avevo ragione: chi rompe paga.
to be silent	tacere
to consent	acconsentire
Those who stay silent consent.	Chi tace acconsente.
Everyone knows that those who stay silent consent.	Ognuno sa che chi tace acconsente.
to despise	disprezzare
Those who despise, buy.	Chi disprezza compra.
She despises what we had.	Lei disprezza quello che avevamo.
to risk	rischiare
to earn	guadagnare
Those who do not risk do not gain.	Chi non rischia non guadagna.
Marco does not like people who risk too much.	A Marco non piace chi rischia troppo.
I do not earn what I want.	Non guadagno quello che voglio.
to suffer	soffrire
Those who love a lot suffer a lot.	Chi ama molto soffre molto.
Even if I suffer, I want to try.	Anche se soffro, voglio provare.
to deceive	ingannare
Whoever deceives people always loses.	Chi inganna la gente perde sempre.
I do not deceive those who had nothing.	Non inganno chi non aveva niente.

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