Breakdown of La sfortuna esiste, ma io non ci bado.
io
I
ma
but
non
not
esistere
to exist
ci
about it / in it (with verbs taking 'a')
la sfortuna
the bad luck
badare
to pay attention
Questions & Answers about La sfortuna esiste, ma io non ci bado.
What does ci mean here? Does it mean "there"?
In this sentence, ci doesn't mean "there". It replaces the phrase "to it" (meaning "to bad luck"). The verb badare (to pay attention / to mind) is followed by the preposition a (to). Instead of saying non bado alla sfortuna (I don't pay attention to bad luck), we use ci to replace a + the thing we are talking about.
Is badare a common verb and does it always use a?
badare means "to pay attention", "to mind", or "to look after". It is almost always followed by the preposition a (like badare ai bambini - to look after the kids). Because it requires a, you will see it paired with ci very often when the object has already been mentioned, as in non ci bado (I don't pay attention to it).
Why is the word order non ci bado instead of ci non bado?
Why does it say La sfortuna instead of just Sfortuna esiste?
In Italian, general concepts and abstract nouns (like luck, love, or life) require a definite article (il, la, etc.), even though we usually drop the article in English. So "Bad luck exists" must be written as La sfortuna esiste.
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