A common error in the use of Italian pronouns

Hi, everybody! I'm Luca and this is an Italian learning podcast.

If you prefer, you can activate Italian or English subtitles.

In this brief video lesson, I'd like to talk about a very common mistake. This is an error which is very frequently made by those who learned Italian as a foreign language.

If you are not a native speaker, you quite possibly make this mistake, but you don't know that it's a mistake. That's because this thing isn't typically explained in Italian language classes.

This error is related to the infinitive of reflexive verbs and lies in saying sentences such as: "Dopo cena mi piace rilassarsi". Or: "Mi piace alzarsi presto". Or: "Non mi piace stancarsi".

Well, these forms are wrong. You should say: "Dopo cena mi piace rilassarmi". Or: "Mi piace alzarmi presto". Or: "Non mi piace stancarmi".

As you can see, the pronominal particle should agree with the logical subject of the sentence. In this case, the sentence is "mi piace", the logical subject is I, therefore I should use the pronoun MI. I should therefore say: "Mi piace rilassarmi".

I'm gonna give you another example with a different subject!

For instance, if the subject is YOU, I should use the pronoun TI, and therefore I should say "Ti piace rilassarti". Similarly, I should say "Ti piace alzarti presto" and "Non ti piace stancarti".

So the thing to keep in mind is that in this type of sentences the pronominal particle changes in the infinitive mood too.

But let's do another example!

If the logical subject is HE, I should say: "Gli piace rilassarsi", "Gli piace alzarsi presto", "Non gli piace stancarsi".

If the logical subject is SHE, I should say: "Le piace rilassarsi", "Le piace alzarsi presto", "Non le piace stancarsi".

If the logical subject is WE, we should say: "Ci piace rilassarci", "Ci piace alzarci presto", "Non ci piace stancarci".

If the logical subject is YOU [plural], I should say: "Vi piace rilassarvi", "Vi piace alzarvi presto" and "Non vi piace stancarvi".

Lastly, if the logical subject is THEY, I should say: "Gli piace rilassarsi", "Gli piace alzarsi presto" and "Non gli piace stancarsi".

So, just to give you an overview and make a general comparison across different subjects:

Mi piace rilassarmi,

Ti piace rilassarti,

Gli piace rilassarsi,

Le piace rilassarsi,

Ci piace rilassarci,

Vi piace rilassarvi,

Gli piace rilassarsi.

If you have any queries, please leave a comment below!

Up here I'm gonna add the playlist of the most common errors in Italian. In this playlist I have grouped the mistakes most frequently made by those learning Italian as a foreign language. Check it out!