Meaning of the phrase PER INTERPOSTA PERSONA

Hi, everybody! I'm Luca and this video is for those amazing people who are learning Italian as a foreign language.

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In this lesson I wanted to reply to a request that I received not long ago from one of my subscribers.

This individual essentially asked me to explain the Italian phrase PER INTERPOSTA PERSONA. That is, "fare qualcosa per interposta persona".

So in this video I'll try to explain the meaning of the phrase "per interposta persona" and how it's used.

Alright. First of all, let me say that this a rather technical phrase which I have learnt, I guess, at middle school.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that this expression is quite difficult to learn for non-native speakers who are studying Italian.

I vividly remember that a classmate of mine, when I was in middle school, used it often. He would often say "per interposta persona" - and I wondered what he meant. I didn't understand what "per interposta persona" meant.

Then, well, one day I asked this classmate of mine to explain to me what the expression "per interposta persona" meant and he explained it to me.

Well, let's say that "per interposta persona" is a quite technical phrase which in fact has a rather simple meaning.

Basically, "per interposta persona" means indirectly, or through another person, through an intermediary. I would say that, strictly speaking, the phrase "per interposta persona" means through an intermediary, through another individual.

Because, if we look closer at this expression, we can see that it includes the past participle "interposta". "Interposta" is the past participle of the verb "interporre", which is compound verb, i.e. "inter" plus "porre", meaning "porre tra".

"Una persona interposta" is someone going between two people. Here there is one person, here another person. If a third person goes between the two, well, this is called "persona interposta". That is, they put themselves between these two people. That is: here you have one person, there the other person, a third person comes, and they put themselves in-between.

Well, I'd say that back in the day in Italian people often said "interporsi". In old-fashioned Italian this verb was common, but I would say that today people usually say "mettersi tra".

Let's say that the expression "per interposta persona" is normally used when talking about deals, agreements which are concluded thanks to a third person, thanks to an intermediary.

That is, there are two parties, two individuals wishing to strike a deal. These people manage to come to an agreement thanks to a go-between.

So there are two people, one is here, the other is here. The intermediary goes between them, right? The go-between is called "intermediario" precisely for this reason. And the intermediary, or mediator, will help this two people strike a deal.

So, once these people have come to an agreement, we can say that they have struck a deal "per interposta persona". That is, they have struck a deal thanks to an intermediary.

Alternatively, instead of using the word "grazie" (thanks to), we could use the word "tramite" (through) and say: "Hanno concluso l'affare tramite un intermediario". Or: tramite un mediatore.

In theory, in place of the word "intermediario" or "mediatore", we could use the phrase "una terza parte". So we could say: "Hanno concluso l'affare tramite una terza parte".

Basically, "per interposta persona" means indirectly. That is, the two parties didn't communicate directly, they didn't negotiate directly, but they used a go-between.

Another example could be: "Le due aziende sono riuscite a trovare una soluzione per interposta persona". What does it mean? That they have found a solution thanks to a third party which went between them and acted as a mediator or intermediary.

Well, let's say that this is the strict meaning of the expression "per interposta persona".

In addition to that, this phrase is used in a slightly different way, especially in everyday speech, in those cases where people essentially want to say that a given result was obtained indirectly.

And this is precisely the way my classmate in middle school used this expression.

He would say, for example: "L'ho saputo per interposta persona". That is: I learned this "per interposta persona".

What did he mean?

He meant that he had learned this piece of news not straight from the affected person, but from another person. That is: it's not that the affected person told him that, somebody else told him that.

Alternatively, one could also say, for instance: "Ne sono venuto a conoscenza per interposta persona". What does it mean? I have learned this through a third person. That is, indirectly. In other words: I didn't learn this from the affected individual, somebody else told me that.

Like I said, this phrase is quite common. Regardless, this expression sounds technical, actually it is a technical phrase, because the past participle is placed before the noun.

I'd also say that, generally speaking, the past participle "interposto", "interposta", "interposti", "interposte" is no longer used in today's Italian. At least in today's Italian, it's quite rare. It is used only, or rather not "only" but "almost exclusively", in this phrase.

Like I said, in old-fashioned Italian "interporsi" was a quite common verb, but in contemporary Italian, in fact, it's almost no longer used.

"Per interposta persona" is an expression which clearly has a technical origin and is used quite often in everyday speech.

As we have seen, though, the meaning of this phrase is quite simple.

Well, that's it!

I hope you have found this lesson helpful.

If you have any queries, like always, please let me know below.

In the top corner I'll add a card to a video I made a while ago about a phrase that I for one would put in the same group as "per interposta persona".

The phrase is: "a misura d'uomo". This expression doesn't have the same meaning as "per interposta persona", but it's a rather technical phrase which I have possibly learned roughly in the same period when I have learned the phrase "per interposta persona".

So you might wanna check also this video out!