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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Ci siamo’

Are you up to speed with this useful phrase?

Italian expression of the day ci siamo
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

If you’ve ever agonised over an Italian menu – and frankly who hasn’t – the chances are a waiter has eventually attempted to bring your deliberations to a close by inquiring: “Ci siamo?

Made up of the verb essere (‘to be’) and the adverb ci (‘here/there’), it literally translates as ‘here we are’, but in the form of a question it can mean anything from ‘Are you ready?’ to ‘All good?’

You can use it to check that someone has understood you, that they agree with you, or that they’re good to go. When a waiter asks your party “Ci siamo?“, he’s checking if you’re ready to order, while if a teacher breaks off her lesson to ask the class “Ci siamo?“, she’s making sure that everyone’s following.

You can also use it as a statement: it’s like saying ‘Here we go’, ‘That’s settled’ or ‘All good!’

Think of ci siamo as a way to say you’ve arrived at a certain point, whether that’s a point of readiness (‘Good to go!’), a point of completion (‘All done!’), a point of understanding (‘Got it!’), or a point of departure (‘Here we go…’).

If you want to be really emphatic, you can say something like “ora sì che ci siamo” – ‘Now we’re talking!’ or ‘Now we’re really getting somewhere!’

Naturally, the opposite is non ci siamo – ‘that’s not it’, ‘this is going nowhere’, ‘that’s not on’.

You can even abbreviate it to NCS: ‘nope!’ or ‘nuh-uh!’

And if you’re closer to CS than NCS but not quite there yet, you can say ci siamo quasi: ‘we’re almost there’ or ‘we’re close’.

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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian expression of the day: ‘Cambiare registro’

Here's the Italian phrase you'll need if you're looking for a change.

Italian expression of the day: ‘Cambiare registro’

If you live in Italy or have spent a considerable amount of time in the country, you may have overheard an Italian parent telling their child they needed to cambiare registro right after they threw a tantrum. 

If you work or have worked in Italy, you may also have had one of your superiors tell you that a cambio di registro was needed in the office. 

But what do Italians really mean when they tell someone they need to ‘change register’?

Italians use cambiare registro to tell someone that they need to change their behaviour, manners or way to approach a particular task (including work or school assignments), usually because they’re not particularly happy with the way they’re currently handling things. 

It is generally used with the verb dovere (must/have to), which must be conjugated according to the person who could do with a ‘change of register’. For instance:

Non hai passato gli ultimi tre test. Devi cambiare registro se vuoi tenere la tua paghetta settimanale.  

You failed the past three exams. You need to turn things around if you want to keep your weekly allowance.

La tua performance al lavoro e’ stata insoddisfacente questo trimestre. Devi veramente cambiare registro il prossimo mese.

Your performance at work has been unsatisfactory this quarter. You really need to turn things around next month.

You could also say that a situation you’re unhappy with needs ‘a change of register’, without addressing anyone in particular. 

Ci sono cose ovunque. C’e’ bisogno di un cambio di registro in questa casa.

There’s stuff all over the place. Changes are needed in this house.

As you can see from these examples, there’s no single way to translate the phrase into English, though ‘turning things around’ and ‘changing up’ are popular translations.

And if you’re wondering where the expression comes from, it has nothing to do with Italy’s Registry Office (or Anagrafe), nor with any other part of the country’s public administration. 

Cambiare registro was originally a music-related expression as it referred to the act of changing the tone or range (registro in Italian) of some musical instruments, including pipe organs.

But, as in the case of many other Italian phrases and expressions, its usage was later extended to daily life situations to express a need for major changes.

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