Learn the idiomatic phrase "Mettere in testa" (advanced Italian)

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

More specifically, this video is geared toward those learners who have already reached an intermediate or upper intermediate level and wish to improve their Italian.

This video, in fact, is part of a video series dedicated to the idiomatic phrases used by native speakers of Italian, which in my opinion are essential, if someone wants to go from an intermediate to an advanced level.

Why am I saying this? Because in my opinion, if someone truly wants to speak Italian well, they should also learn the idiomatic phrases used by native speakers.

Because in the end, you know better than I, grammar is undoubtedly important, but it's also important to expand one's vocabulary and keep learning new words. I mean words and idioms.

In particular, in this episode I'd like to explain the idiom "METTERE IN TESTA". Please pay attention that I said "mettere in testa" - not "mettersi in testa".

I originally planned to explain both idioms, that is, "mettere in testa" and "mettersi in testa", and to make a single video about both idiomatic phrases. Later, though, I thought over it and changed my mind, because these two idioms are slightly different, and, if I put both of them in the same video, the video would have ended up being too long.

Therefore in this video I'm gonna explain only the idiom "mettere in testa", whereas in a separate video I'm gonna discuss the idiom "mettersi in testa".

I said "mettere in testa", but to be precise the pattern of this phrase is: "mettere qualcosa in testa a qualcuno". Or, if we want to change the word order, "mettere a qualcuno qualcosa in testa", "mettere in testa a qualcuno qualcosa".

So there are two arguments: something, and to someone. So, in other words, when we use this phrase, we should reply to two questions. The first one is "What?", that is "Che cosa mettiamo in testa?". And the second is "To whom?", that is, "A quale persona mettiamo in testa questo qualcosa?".

I want to emphasize this because, while that may be obvious for some of you, I've actually noticed that many foreigners learning Italian make mistakes with the phrases where they should specify two different things, that is "What?" and "To whom?".

Because we can't use this idiom without specifying to whom we "mettiamo in testa qualcosa". We can't say: "Hanno messo in testa un'idea strana". In this case, we have specified what we put in somebody's head, but we have not specified to whom. Well, such sentence is not ok.

But let's jump straight into an example!

For instance, let's take the present tense, even though it's not the most common tense used with this phrase. In any case, let's start from the present tense.

Let's start from the case where I (subject) put something into somebody's head. Let's see what I should say in the various cases.

Alright! In theory, the first person should be "Io mi metto in testa". I say "in theory", because in fact this is "mettersi in testa". Why? Because I am the subject and I'm also the person into whose head I put something, so this is "mettersi in testa". It's not "mettere in testa". So in theory it should be like this, but in fact this is "mettersi in testa".

But let's move on to the case where I put something into your head. Well, in this case it should be: "io ti metto in testa qualcosa".

By contrast, if I put something into his head, I should say: "io gli metto in testa qualcosa".

Into her head: "io le metto in testa qualcosa".

Into our head - such sentence would sound incredibly weird, but in theory it should be "Io ci metto in testa". Obviously, such sentence is absurd and you will never hear it.

Into your head (plural): "Io vi metto in testa qualcosa".

Into their head: "Io gli metto in testa qualcosa", or "Io metto loro in testa qualcosa".

Let's do an example with the passato prossimo tense, which is for sure more common than the present. Its forms are:

Next, we have "io ti ho messo in testa", "io gli ho messo in testa", "io le ho messo in testa".

We skip the first-person-plural. We skip it for logical reasons.

Next, we have: "io vi ho messo in testa qualcosa" and "io gli ho messo in testa qualcosa". Or "io ho messo in testa loro qualcosa". Sorry, I got the word order wrong. "Io ho messo loro in testa qualcosa".

Well, I wanted to point this out because I've noticed that many non-native speakers who study Italian make mistakes with these phrases. They use the pronouns incorrectly. Because it's indeed very easy to mix things up.

I mean, as you can see, in this case I am the subject, and in addition I should specify the pronoun of the person to whom I'm doing something. In this specific case, into whose head I'm putting something.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that in 95% of cases in Italian the subject pronoun is dropped. As a consequence, people may get confused and make mistakes with the pronouns.

To help you understand, I have always repeated "io", "io", "io", ecc. In actual fact, though, in real life, nobody says "io". The forms are:

ti metto in testa, or ti ho messo in testa,

gli metto in testa, or gli ho messo in testa,

le metto in testa, le ho messo in testa,

vi metto in testa or vi ho messo in testa,

gli metto in testa or metto loro in testa. And so on.

As you can see, it is precisely in these cases, where the pronoun is dropped, that people get confused.

Just to be sure that everything is clear, I'm gonna give you another example where the subject is not "I", but it's "you". In this case, the forms are:

"tu mi metti in testa",

in theory "tu ti metti in testa" should be the second-person-singular form, however in this case too this is just a theoretical form, because in fact this is "mettersi in testa". Because you put something into your own head. So this is a reflexive verb.

Next, we have "tu gli metti in testa",

"tu le metti in testa",

"tu ci metti in testa" (to us),

"tu vi metti in testa" is nonsense, you will never hear this phrase.

And next, "tu gli metti in testa" or "tu metti loro in testa".

Let's do an example with the passato prossimo tense, which, like I said, it's the most common form - later on you'll understand why. Alright! The forms are:

tu (subject) mi hai messo in testa.

Tu... - we skip the second person, it should be "tu ti sei messo in testa" but this is "mettersi in testa".

The third-person-singular is "tu gli hai messo in testa", or "le hai messo in testa".

"Tu ci hai messo in testa".

Tu... - we skip the second-person -plural because it would be absurd.

And next we have "tu hai messo loro in testa". Or "tu gli hai messo in testa".

Well, I only gave you examples with "I" or "you" as subject. I can't review all grammatical persons, because otherwise this video would end up becoming too long. Later on, I may add the other forms in the video description below. For example, the forms in case the subject is "lui", in case the subject is "lei", if the subject is "noi", etc.

Well, that is all as for the forms of the idiom "mettere in testa".

What does "mettere in testa" mean?

It essentially means convincing someone of something. But please pay attention! Because the phrase "mettere in testa" has a specific shade of meaning. And it is typically used when someone is convinced of an idea which is rather questionable or unreasonable.

And the idiom "mettere in testa" specifically places emphasis on the fact that this person passively takes this kind of persuasion or brainwashing. Basically, this person is seen as passive.

This idiomatic phrase is based on crystal clear imagery. Namely, there's somebody who is taking something and putting it into the head, that is, through the head, of another person.

Well, from such imagery, you understand that this is some form of brainwashing, not a form of sharing which leads the individual to think with their own head and draw the same conclusions. That's not the case. There is somebody passively learning what they are told.

So the verb "convincere" is more generic, whereas "mettere in testa" is closer in meaning to the idea of indoctrination or brainwashing. But above all it puts emphasis on the fact that the person into whose head something is being put takes it lying down.

Like I said, "mettere in testa" is typically used in reference to questionable or somewhat unreasonable ideas. Not in the absolute sense, obviously. Questionable in the eyes of the person using this idiomatic phrase.

For example, if someone says: "Le hanno messo in testa delle idee assurde". Or: "Le hanno messo in testa alcune idee assurde". Or: "Le hanno messo in testa un'idea bizzarra". Or, another example could be: "Le hanno messo in testa tante cose stupide". Or: "Le hanno messo in testa tante assurdità".

Well, let's say that in the first part of the video, when I discussed the forms, I gave you an example with the first-person-singular, that is, "io" (subject) metto in testa.

You won't usually find this idiom with the first-person-singular, because, like I said, this phrase has a special shade of meaning. That is, it implies brainwashing someone. It's not so much about convincing, but rather indoctrinating, or brainwashing someone who takes lying down what we tell them, they passively get convinced.

So, for these reasons, people usually don't say "io metto in testa a un altro". Because doing that is wrong, so to speak. Let's say that it's not nice to put something into somebody's head. Because it means that we convince them of something questionable.

And, secondly, this person takes lying down our attempt at persuasion. Meaning that this individual in fact is not that used to think with their own head, we say something to them and this person gets convinced.

So, for these reasons, usually you won't find this phrase with the first-person-singular. I gave you an example with the first-person-singular, because it's the most convenient for explaining the forms.

You will undoubtedly hear this phrase more often with the third-person-singular, that is, "gli ha messo in testa", "ti ha messo in testa", "le ha messo in testa" and so on. Because, like I said, this idiom implies criticism. Negative criticism.

I don't know if you know the verb "indottrinare". In Italian there's a rather particular, refined verb, which is "indottrinare". Which basically is used in those cases in which someone teaches something to somebody else. But this "something" is passively received by this person.

That is, someone teaches by saying "You should do this! You should do that! You shouldn't do that!" The other person says "Yes, yes, yes, it's true, it's true, yes, yes, it's true" in a passive way, without understanding. Well, we can say that this person "viene indottrinata".

So, if we say that they put something into somebody's head, we are referring to the fact that this person didn't ask themselves if this thing is actually true or not, they didn't ask themselves why you should act in a certain way. Someone told this person to do that, and this person does that.

Alright. As we have seen, this idiom can be used with a noun. That is, "mettere in testa qualcosa a qualcuno". So, for example, we can replace "something" with "un'idea assurda", or "delle idee assurde". That is, "mettere in testa a qualcuno un'idea assurda". Or: "Mettere in testa a qualcuno delle idee assurde".

Alternatively, we can use "che" followed by a sentence. For example: "Gli hanno messo in testa che mangiare dopo le sei di sera fa ingrasssare". Or: "Gli hanno messo in testa che, se mangia dopo le sei di sera, ingrassa". Or: "Le hanno messo in testa che mangiare più di due uova alla settimana fa male".

In this case, what does the phrase "le hanno messo in testa" mean? It means: the convinced her and she let them convince her of something questionable.

Another example could be: "Le hanno messo in testa che bisogna bere due litri di acqua al giorno". What does "le hanno messo in testa" mean? They convinced her of this thing. And specifically, she let them convince her. She passively took this information, without processing it with her own head, so to speak.

This is what is emphasized by the idiom "mettere in testa qualcosa a qualcuno".

Well, that's it! I hope that you have found this video helpful and, above all, that you liked this Italian idiom!

That being said - Bye!

And may the Force of Advanced Italian always be with you!