The lesson
Italian changed less over seven centuries than English did, so a modern reader can still open Dante, Leopardi or Manzoni. What you meet there, and on shop signs, in opera libretti and in proverbs, is a layer of older forms: pronouns tacked onto verbs, shortened words, old verb endings and articles.
At C2 the goal is mostly recognition: knowing that ei is egli and fia is sarà. A smaller group is still productive and worth using: sign forms like vendesi, compulsory troncamento in signor Rossi, the optional aver fatto, the spelling qual è, and the set phrases that keep old forms alive.
Signs: affittasi, vendesi, cercasi
Old Italian could attach the pronoun to the end of a finite verb. Today that survives as a label on signs and in ads: affittasi (si affitta, for rent), vendesi (si vende, for sale), cercasi (si cerca, wanted). It’s fully current in writing; in conversation you’d say si affitta or cercano.
With a plural noun, strict grammar makes the verb agree: affittansi appartamenti, vendonsi mobili (si affittano, si vendono). On real signs the frozen singular, affittasi appartamenti, is much more common and is accepted as a fixed label; the agreeing form sounds old and formal.
Spelling: one s, cercasi. Cercassi is the congiuntivo imperfetto (se cercassi).
trattasi, dicesi, vuolsi così, fermossi
Trattasi di (si tratta di, it’s a matter of) is still used in bureaucratic letters. Dicesi (si dice, it is called) opens definitions in old textbooks. Vuolsi così comes from Dante’s Inferno, where Virgil silences Charon: the decision comes from above, don’t argue. Italians still quote it, half joking, for orders from the boss.
In older prose almost any finite verb can carry its pronoun: fermossi (si fermò), levossi (si levò), dissegli (gli disse). After a stressed vowel the consonant doubles, as in dammi: fermò + si → fermossi. You only need to read these.
Troncamento: buon, signor, aver, cuor
Troncamento (apocope) drops the final unstressed vowel of a word after l, m, n or r, usually before a consonant: buono → buon, signore → signor, avere → aver, cuore → cuor, male → mal, fine → fin, mare → mar. A few drop a whole syllable: gran (grande), san (santo), fra (frate), suor (suora).
Some troncamento is compulsory: uno, buono, nessuno, alcuno before a masculine noun (un libro, buon viaggio, but uno studente), bello and quello (bel paese, quel giorno), and titles before a name (signor Rossi, dottor Neri, professor Bianchi, ingegner Conti). Some is optional but common: infinitives in writing (aver fatto, esser stato, poter dire, lasciar perdere) and a few spoken phrases (mi vien da ridere, ben fatto, fin troppo, mal di testa). The rest is poetic: son (sono), han (hanno), amor, cor, andiam, libiam.
Troncamento never takes an apostrophe. Dropping dopo or troppo to dop or tropp is impossible: the vowel must follow l, m, n or r.
Troncamento or elision? qual è, un’amica, po’
Elision drops a vowel only before another vowel, and always shows it with an apostrophe: l’anno, un’amica, quest’estate. Troncamento has no apostrophe, even before a vowel: un amico, buon anno, qual è.
The test: could the short form stand before a consonant? Un libro, buon giorno, qual buon vento: yes, so it’s troncamento. Un’ can’t (there’s no un’casa), so un’amica is elision. That’s why qual’è is wrong, and una buon’amica (feminine, elided) is right.
The exception everyone must learn: po’ (poco) takes an apostrophe and never an accent. Pò is a mistake; Po without anything is the river.
Old and poetic verb forms
Poetry, opera and 19th-century prose use verb forms that sound strange today. In the present: vo (vado), fo (faccio), still heard in Tuscany; debbo (devo), correct and formal; deggio (devo) and veggo, veggio (vedo), purely poetic.
Imperfetti often lose their v: avea (aveva), potea (poteva), dicea (diceva). Fia is a poetic sarà (or sia), fe’ is fece, saria is sarebbe. Older texts also have futures like anderò (andrò).
Recognise these; don’t use them, apart from debbo in very formal writing.
ei, ella, i’, lo mio, de’, li, dì
Ei is poetic egli: Manzoni’s ode on Napoleon opens Ei fu. Ella is a literary she (and, in very old letters, a courtesy you). I’ is Dante’s io. In old poetry ne can mean us or to us, where we’d say ci.
Old articles: lo before any consonant (lo mio maestro), ’l for il, li for gli or i. They survive in per lo più (mostly), per lo meno (at least) and in old dates: Firenze, li 3 maggio 1890 (no accent: it’s the article, not lì). De’ and ne’ are dei and nei: Lorenzo de’ Medici, Libiam ne’ lieti calici.
Dì (day) gives buondì, notte e dì, di dì in dì and the weekdays from lunedì to venerdì.
Inversion in poetry and opera
To fit metre and rhyme, poets move the predicate, the object or a complement in front of the verb: Dolce e chiara è la notte e senza vento (Leopardi), Del bel paese là dove ’l sì suona (Dante). Read it by rebuilding the prose order: La notte è dolce e chiara e senza vento.
Opera libretti do the same, with troncamento on top: La donna è mobile qual piuma al vento (like a feather in the wind), Nessun dorma (let no one sleep).
Set phrases that keep old forms
Proverbs and set phrases are where these forms stay alive in speech: Cuor contento il ciel l’aiuta, Mal comune, mezzo gaudio, a fin di bene (with good intentions), Buon per te! (good for you), Ognun per sé e Dio per tutti, il bel paese (Italy), or sono tre anni (three years ago, formal), or ora (just now), per lo più, Gran Bretagna, Mar Tirreno.
In these the old form is part of the phrase: a fine di bene or cuore contento il cielo l’aiuta sound wrong.
Common mistakes
- Qual’è il problema?Qual è il problema?Qual is troncamento (qual buon vento), so there’s no apostrophe.
- Aspetta un pò.Aspetta un po’.Po’ is short for poco: an apostrophe, never an accent.
- È un buon’amico.È un buon amico.Masculine buon is troncamento. Only the feminine elides: una buon’amica.
- Buongiorno, signore Rossi.Buongiorno, signor Rossi.Titles before a name lose their -e: signor, dottor, professor.
- Cercassi cameriere.Cercasi cameriere.The sign is cerca + si, one s: cercasi. Cercassi is the congiuntivo imperfetto.
- Firenze, lì 3 maggio 1890.Firenze, li 3 maggio 1890.In old dates li is an article, so no accent.
Old forms and their modern twins
The literary or frozen form first, then the everyday one.
| signs | affittasi, vendesi, cercasi → si affitta, si vende, si cerca |
| plural signs | affittansi, vendonsi (traditional) · affittasi (common) |
| offices, old books | trattasi di → si tratta di · dicesi → si dice, si chiama |
| troncamento, compulsory | buon amico · un amico · signor Rossi · dottor Neri |
| troncamento, optional | aver fatto · esser stato · fin da · cuor · mal |
| syllable dropped | gran parte · San Marco · fra Cristoforo · suor Angela |
| no apostrophe | qual è · un amico · but un’amica, un po’ |
| old verbs | vo, fo, debbo, veggo, fia, fe’, avea, saria |
| old pronouns, articles | ei, ella, i’ · lo mio, ’l · de’, ne’ · li 3 maggio |
| set phrases | cuor contento · a fin di bene · buon per te · or sono · per lo più |
Troncamento follows l, m, n or r, and never takes an apostrophe (except po’).
Elision is only before a vowel, and always takes one: un’amica, l’anno.
Recognise the poetic forms; use the signs, titles, infinitives and set phrases.
In short
- Signs fuse si onto the verb: affittasi, vendesi, cercasi; strict agreement gives affittansi, vendonsi.
- Troncamento drops a vowel after l, m, n, r with no apostrophe: buon amico, signor Rossi, aver fatto, qual è. Elision takes one: un’amica. And po’.
- Recognise old verbs (vo, fo, deggio, veggo, fia, fe’, avea, saria) and pronouns and articles (ei, ella, i’, lo mio, ’l, de’, ne’, li).
- Poetry inverts word order: rebuild subject, verb, the rest.
- Set phrases keep old forms alive: cuor contento, a fin di bene, mal comune mezzo gaudio, or sono, per lo più.