The phrase "Non ti ci facevo!"

Hi, there! I am Luca and this wonderful video is aimed at those who are learning Italian as a foreign language.

More specifically, this video is geared toward those people who are already able to understand fluent Italian, but would like to improve their Italian.

In particular, I have made this video in response to a request from one of my subscribers, who asked me to explain the idiomatic phrase "NON TI CI FACEVO"! "Non ti ci facevo". Exclamation point.

This person told me that they found this idiom particularly difficult. And it is indeed difficult. Because this is a rather convoluted idiom.

Let me say right away that I don't particularly like this idiom, but, despite that, I will try to explain it to you. You might say: "So, if you don't like it, why are you going to explain it to us?!" Well, I'm going to explain it because this person asked me to explain this idiom. Therefore I will explain it. It's not that I explain only what I like.

Alright! To explain this idiom, I would first take a step back, or rather 2 steps back. I would start from a more general phrase formed using the imperfetto tense of the verb "fare", a personal pronoun, and an adjective, or something used as an adjective.

So let's start from the simplest case, that is, from the first person singular. I said that we need the imperfetto of the verb "fare", that is, "facevo". To that we will add a pronoun.

And we will get... - well, I'm going to skip the first person singular. We will get: ti facevo, lo facevo (or la facevo). Again, I'm going to skip the first person plural. Next, we have "vi facevo" and "li facevo" or "le facevo" for feminine subjects. We can't use the first person for logical reasons you'll understand later on.

To these forms we can add, for example, "più" and next an adjective. For example, I could say: "Lo facevo più furbo". Or: "La facevo più furba". Needless to say, the adjective should agree. If I have a plural noun, I should say: "Li facevo più furbi" (exclamation point). Because this phrase is typically used in exclamative clauses.

Why? Because it typically expresses surprise. In fact, what does "Lo facevo più furbo" mean? It means: I thought he was smarter. Basically, the verb "fare" is used as a synonym for "considerare".

So the sentence "Lo facevo più furbo" has the same meaning of to the sentence "Pensavo che fosse più furbo". You might say: "Well, but if you can say Pensavo che fosse più furbo, why do we say Lo facevo più furbo?". You can say either way.

Similarly, if I'm referring to more people, I can say: "Li facevo più furbi". Meaning: I thought they were smarter.

With feminine subjects, this phrase will be: "Le facevo più furbe". What does it mean? I thought that they were smarter.

So this idiom is typically used to express one's surprise. That is, we assumed something and then find out that in actual fact things are not as we thought.

We can do an example with another adjective. Namely, instead of "furbo", we can use the adjective "intelligente". So I can say: "Lo facevo più intelligente". Or: "La facevo più intelligente". In case of more people, I should say: "Li facevo più intelligenti". For feminine subjects: "Le facevo più intelligenti".

Similarly, I could use, instead of the third-person pronoun - I could use the second -person pronoun. Second person singular. And I could say, for example: "Ti facevo più furbo". What does it mean? I thought that you were smarter. That is, I had such opinion of you: I thought you were smart. Then I actually found out that you are less smart than I thought.

If I'm referring to a feminine subject, I can say: "Ti facevo più furba". What does it mean? I thought that you were smarter. If there are multiple subjects, I can say: "Vi facevo più furbi!". For feminine subjects: "Vi facevo più furbe".

Now you understand why I can use only the second and third person. Because the first person wouldn't make any sense. I can't be surprised by something about myself.

I gave you an example with the imperfetto first-person-singular. In theory, I could also give you an example with the imperfetto third-person-singular.

For example, I could say: "Marco mi faceva più furbo". What does it mean? Marco thought I was smarter.

Another example - I could say: "Marco ti faceva più furbo". In this case I used "ti". What does it mean? Marco thought that you were smarter. Then he actually found out that you are less smart than he thought.

In theory, I could use "faceva" with the third-person-singular pronoun, for example with a feminine form. So that we don't mix things up. We can say: "Marco la faceva più furba". In this case the pronoun "la" clearly refers to a feminine subject. And it means that Marco thought that this person was smarter.

Well, in the video description below in the future I may give you other examples with other forms. Because noe I can't list all possible combinations. But I think you get my point, right? The verb "fare" in the imperfetto means considering, thinking, etc.

Well, I gave you an example with the word "più". In theory, we can also use the word "così" in place of the word "più" in a negative clause. That is, in a sentence starting with "non".

And we can say something along these lines: "Non ti facevo così furbo" (Exclamation point). Alright. The idea is the same. It's just that in this case I chose to use a negative sentence and I used "così" instead of "più". For logical reasons.

In theory, in place of "furbo", I could use the adjective "intelligente": "Non ti facevo così intelligente!".

If we want, we can compare the two sentence templates. On the one hand, we have "Non ti facevo così intelligente" on the other, we have "Ti facevo più stupido". These two sentences mean the same thing. Because in one case I use the adjective "intelligente", in the other I use the adjective "stupido".

Similarly, I could say "Non la facevo così intelligente!". What does it mean? "La facevo più stupida".

Well, I guess you see the point. Or rather, I hope you understood the idea behind this idiom.

Let's do one last example!

If we consider the sentence "Vi facevo più intelligenti", what would be its negative form? Its negative form would be: "Non vi facevo così stupidi!"

Alright! Let's say that this is a more general idiom, based on which we can understand the more specific idiom "Non ti ci facevo!". What's the difference? The difference is that in the example sentences I gave you so far there was an adjective. In this case we have "ci" used in a peculiar way.

Alright! There's no point in trying to understand what "CI" exactly means in this sentence. This sentence should be taken as is. We can only paraphrase it.

What does "Non ti ci facevo" mean? It means: I didn't think you were like this, I didn't think you were capable of doing something like that. I didn't think you were this type of person. That is, in other words: I thought you were different.

When do we use this idiomatic phrase? We use it when we want to show our surprise, that is, someone has done something we didn't expect, so we say: "Ah, però! Non ti ci facevo!". That is: I didn't think you were this kind of person. I didn't think you were capable of doing that.

For example, let's say that you have a friend (male or female), right? - you know this person very well, you have an opinion of them and think that this individual would never do certain things. Then, one day this person tells you that they actually did something which you assumed they would never do. You can reply to them: "Ah, però! Non ti ci facevo!". What does it mean? You surprised me! I didn't think you were like this.

Well, that's it! I hope that you liked this Italian idiom.

If you have any queries or concerns, please leave a comment below.

That being said - Till next time!