Breakdown of Non ti muovere! C'è un orso!
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
non
not
ci
there (clitic)
l'orso
the bear (m)
muoversi
to move (one's body), to be in motion / to hurry up, get a move on
Questions & Answers about Non ti muovere! C'è un orso!
Why does the sentence use the infinitive muovere instead of a conjugated verb like muovi?
Could the pronoun ti go somewhere else in Non ti muovere?
Yes! With negative commands in the tu form, you have a choice. The reflexive pronoun ti can go before the verb (Non ti muovere!) or it can attach to the end of the infinitive, dropping the final "e" (Non muoverti!). Both are completely natural and mean exactly the same thing.
Why do we need the pronoun ti here at all? Can't I just say Non muovere?
If you just say Non muovere, it usually means "Don't move (something else)," like a piece of furniture or an object. Because you are telling the person not to move their own body, Italian uses the reflexive verb muoversi. The ti shows that the action reflects back onto the person you are talking to.
Since orso (bear) starts with a vowel, shouldn't it be written as un'orso with an apostrophe?
No, because orso is a masculine noun. The word for "a" or "an" (un) doesn't take an apostrophe before masculine words starting with a vowel. You only use un' (with an apostrophe) for feminine words that start with a vowel, like un'amica.
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