Breakdown of Noi siamo bloccati nel traffico, ci mettiamo un'ora.
essere
to be
una
a / an (feminine)
noi
we
il traffico
the traffic
l'ora
hour
nel
in the (in + il) / while / upon (doing something)
metterci
to take (time, personal)
bloccato
blocked, stuck
Questions & Answers about Noi siamo bloccati nel traffico, ci mettiamo un'ora.
Why do we use ci mettiamo here instead of ci vuole?
Metterci is used when a specific person or group is taking the time to do something. Since we are the ones taking an hour, we conjugate the verb for noi, giving us ci mettiamo. You would use ci vuole (from volerci) if you were talking about the time an action takes in general, without focusing on who is doing it.
Does the ci in ci mettiamo mean us?
No, in this case ci is just a fixed part of the verb metterci (to take time). It changes the meaning of the base verb mettere (to put). Even though it looks exactly like the pronoun for us, here it is simply a built-in piece of the verb used for expressing how long someone takes to do something.
Why does bloccati end with an -i?
Why is it nel traffico and not just in traffico?
In Italian, you often need a definite article (the) before general nouns. You are literally saying in the traffic. The preposition in combines with the masculine singular article il to create the combined word nel.
Why is there an apostrophe in un'ora?
Ora is a feminine word that starts with a vowel. The feminine word for a or an is una. When una is followed by a vowel, it drops its final letter and uses an apostrophe for smoother pronunciation. Remember that masculine words starting with a vowel, like un anno, just use un without an apostrophe!
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