Question 1

Where does ce la faccio come from, and how does it mean "I manage"?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the pronominal verb farcela, which means "to manage" or "to succeed." It's built from fare (to do) + the pronouns ci + la. When you conjugate it for "I", fare becomes faccio. The ci changes to ce because it is placed right next to another pronoun (la).

Question 2

Does the la in ce la faccio refer to la porta (the door) since it's feminine?

Accepted Answer

That is a great guess, but no! In the verb farcela, the ci and la are fixed parts of the verb itself. They are "fossilized" and don't refer to any specific object in the sentence. Even if you were trying to open il cancello (the gate, which is masculine), you would still say non ce la faccio.

Question 3

Why is there an ad before aprire?

Accepted Answer

When farcela is followed by another verb to say what you are managing to do, you must connect them with the preposition a. Because the next verb, aprire (to open), starts with an "a" sound, Italian adds a "d" to make it flow smoothly when speaking. So, a aprire becomes ad aprire.

Question 4

Why use the "they" form suonano if we don't know who is at the door?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, using the third-person plural ("they" form) without a stated subject is a very common way to say that an unknown "someone" is doing an action. While it literally translates to "They ring the doorbell," a natural English equivalent is "Someone is ringing the doorbell."

Suonano il campanello ma non ce la faccio ad aprire la porta.

Breakdown of Suonano il campanello ma non ce la faccio ad aprire la porta.

Questions & Answers about Suonano il campanello ma non ce la faccio ad aprire la porta.

Learn Suonano il campanello ma non ce la faccio ad aprire la porta and more in Italian