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In società ci si comporta con educazione.

In società ci si comporta con educazione.
In society, one behaves with manners.
From Lesson 171:Impersonal reflexives (ci si)·Italian

Questions & Answers about In società ci si comporta con educazione.

Why is there a ci here instead of just si comporta?
The verb is comportarsi (to behave), which is reflexive and already has its own si. When making a reflexive verb impersonal, you would theoretically get si si comporta. Because that stutters and sounds awkward, Italian changes the first si to ci, creating ci si comporta (one behaves).
Does educazione mean "education" in this context?
No, educazione is a classic false friend! Here it means "manners," "politeness," or "upbringing." If you want to talk about academic schooling or education, you would use the word istruzione.
Is the verb comporta conjugated to match the singular noun società?
No, comporta is conjugated in the third-person singular (the he/she/it form) because of the impersonal ci si structure. When you use the impersonal si (or ci si) for a general statement without a plural direct object following it, the verb always takes the third-person singular to mean "one behaves" or "people behave."
Why is it in società rather than nella società?
In società is used here as a broad, abstract concept meaning "in public" or "in polite society." When talking about society in this general sense, Italian often drops the definite article. You would usually only use the combined preposition nella if you were specifying a particular society, like nella società moderna (in modern society).

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