378 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



about thirty-six hours previously. The thorn had penetrated 

 the cornea, pierced the iris, and wounded the lens, and had been 

 immediately withdrawn ; the lens was, of course, opaque, the 

 aqueous humour had escaped, and the anterior chamber was half- 

 filled with matter. There was much injection, severe pain, and 

 little or no perception of light. Guided by the corneal punc- 

 ture, iridectomy (a cutting of the iris) was so performed as to 

 remove the wounded portion of the iris. Forty-eight hours 

 later the wound had healed, the pain and inflammation had sub- 

 sided, the aqueous humour was re-secreted, and the lens was in 

 a fair way to be quietly absorbed." 



These cases read like impossibilities, and those who perform 

 the operation seem to be endowed with superhuman powers ; 

 and so they had almost need to be, when we consider the firm- 

 ness, the gentleness, the courage, and knowledge required to 

 introduce a cutting instrument into the organ of vision. 



LESSONS IN ITALIAN. XXXI. 



IMPERSONAL VERBS (continued.) 



THE second class are impersonal verbs, not in the proper sense, 

 for, being in themselves personal and active, the pronoun si 

 makes them (as it were) impersonal, by expressing their subject 

 as an indeterminate person. In English si is equivalent to one, 

 people, they, etc. ; or also to the passive voice : for example : 



Si dice, one says, people say, they say, it is said. 



Si cre'de, they believe, -it is believed. 



Si spent, they hope, it is hoped. 



Si tetne, they fear, it is feared. 



Si suppoiie, tlietj suppose, it is supposed. 



Si discorrdva, they talked or argued, it was talked or argued. 



Si preteudera, they will maintain, it will be maintained. 



Si, of course, may be incorporated at the end of them ; for 

 example, di-ce-si, cre-de-si, dis-cor-re'-va-si, pre-ten-de-rds-si (see 

 introduction to the reflective verbs), etc. 



When the object of these verbs is expressed, tliey must agree 

 with it in number and gender; for example -. 



Si dicono molte bugie, people tell many lies. 



Si scutono gran nuove, one hears important news. 



Si vedono molti forestu'ri, one sees many foreigners, 



Si souo detto ti'mto bugie, so many lies have been told. 



Si sono veduti molti soldati, so many soldiers have been seen. 



The active form of this class of impersonal verbs has a passive 

 meaning, which will at once be seen by expressly stating their 

 subjects and (just as in the passive voice) placing the propo- 

 sitions da or per before them ; for example, da mol-ti si leg-ge 

 la Bib-bia, many people read the Bible. By changing the active 

 and impersonal verb si leggc into passive, this sentence will run 

 e l&t-ta da rnol-ti la Bib-bia; and by changing si legge into 

 an active and personal verb, it will run mol-ti Idg-go-no la Bib- 

 bia. The meaning of these three sentences is identical, and 

 proves that this class of impersonal verbs serves the purpose 

 of making a passive use of an active form. Only intransitive 

 verbs adopting the impersonal form for example, si va, one 

 goes ; si viS-ne, one comes may perhaps be considered an 

 exception. 



The irregular verb dire, to say, may serve as an example of 

 the conjugation of the second class of impersonal verbs. 



INDICATIVE MOOD. 

 Present. Si dice ; si dicono, it is said. 

 Imperfect. Si dicdva; si dioeVano, it was said. 

 Indeterminate Preterite. Si disse ; si dissero, it was said. 

 Determinate Preterite. Si e ddtt si son de'tti, it has been said. 

 Indeterminate Pluperfect. S' era detto ; s' eran detti, it had been said, 

 Determinate Pluperfect. Si f u de'tto ; si furon de'tti, it had been said. 

 Future. Si dira ; si diranno, it will be said. 



Future Perfect. Si sara detto ; si saranno detti, at will have been said. 

 Conditional Present. Si direbbe ; si direbbero, it u-ould be said. 

 Conditional Past. Si sarebbe delto ; si sarebbero detti, it would have 

 been said. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

 Present. Si dica ; si dicano, it may be said. 

 Imperfect. Si dict^sse ; si dicessero, it might be said. 

 Perfect. Si sia detto ; si siaii detti, it may liave been said. 

 Pluperfect. : Si fosse dett9; si fossero de'tti, it might have been said. 



The third class of impersonal verbs consists of reflective verbs 

 used impersonally. They require the pronouns mi, me, or to 

 me ; U, thee, or to thee ; gli, him, or to him ; le, her, or to her ; 



ci, us, or to us; vi, you, or to you, generally to bo placed before, 



and 16-ro, them, or to them, after the verb. They invariably 



have the third person, which must be plural when a plural object 



of the verb is named : for example : 



Mi rincre'sce, it displeases me (I am sorry, displeased, annoyed). 



Ti rincrdsce, it displeases thee (thou art sorry, etc.). 



Gli rincresce, it displeases 7iim (he is sorry, etc.). 



!Le rincresce, it displeases her (she is sorry, etc.). 



Ci riiicresce, it displeases us (we are sorry, etc.). 



Vi rincresce, it displeases you (you are sorry, etc.). 



Rincrdsce loro, it displeases them, (they are sorry, etc.). 



M' accade, "j 



M' avvieue, > it happens to me. 



M* occorre, ) 



Mi aggrada, it pleases me. 



Mi basta, it is enough for me. 



Mi bisogna, it behoves me, I want, need, or must. 



Mi conviene, it behoves me, 1 must. 



Mi pare, it appears to me. 



Mi piace, it pleases me, I like it, I am glad. 



Mi sembra, it seems to me. 



Mi sovviene, it occurs to my recollection, I remember or recollect. 



Mi duole il capo, my head aches, I have a pain in my head. 



Mi dolgono gli ocelli, I have sore eyes. 



Gli e accaduto una disgrazia, an accident has liappened to him. 



Gli convenne partirsi, he u'as obliged to depart. 



Mi accadde di farno meuzione, I happened to mention it. 



Mi riucrebbe Alia fine di guardarla, at length it annoyed me to loofc at 7ier. 



Non vi rincresca, Signore, di aspettaro un tautmo, be pleased, Sir, to 



wait a litde. 



M' occorso di vedere, I happened to see. 

 Non vi paja strano, it must not appear strange to you. 

 Gli affari mi pajono mutati, it appears to me that the things 7iave changed. 



The conjugation of this class of impersonal verbs can offer 

 no difficulties, and the irregular verb mi di-spid-ce, it displeases 

 me, or I am sorry, may be taken as an example : 



INDICATIVE MOOD. 



Present. Mi displace, it displeases me, 1 am sorry, etc. 

 Imperfect. Mi dispiaceva, it displeased r/ic, I was sorry, etc. 

 Indeterminate Preterite. Mi dispiacque, it displeased me, I was sorry, etc. 

 Determinate Preterite. Mi e dispiaciuto, it has displeased me, I have been 



sorry, etc. 

 Indeterminate Pluperfect. Mi era dispiaciuto, it had displeased me, I had 



been sorry, etc. 



.Future. Mi dispiacera, it will displease me, I shall be sorry, etc. 

 Conditional Present. Mi dispiacerebbe, it would displease me, I should 

 be sorry, etc. 



IMPERATIVE MOOD. 

 Dispiacciati, may it displease thee, be thou sorry, etc. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 



Present. Mi dispiaccia, it may displease me, I may be sorry, et). 

 Imperfect. Mi dispiace'sse, it might displease me, I might be sorry, etc. 

 And so on with the other tenses. 



With regard to all classes of impersonal verbs, it may bo 

 stated that egli is occasionally found before them, which, how- 

 ever, in these cases, is merely an elegant expletive ; for without 

 its aid an impersonal verb is fully sufficient to convey the notion 

 of an indeterminate or uncertain subject : for example : 

 figli e il vdro, it is the truth. 

 E egli ve'ro ? is it true ? 



A me pare dgli esser certo, it appears io me to b certain. 

 Egli non sono ancora molti anni passati, it is not yet many years since. 

 O che caldo fa <%li, how u-arin it is. 



figli avviene soveute che i grandi abbiano bisogno de' piccoli, it fre- 

 quently happens that the great have occasion for the little ones. 

 With regard to the impersonal verbs which require the plural 

 of the third person when a plural object is named, it may be 

 added that a merely indirect connection of a plural object with 

 a verb for example, by means of the genitive case cannot 

 come under this rule, and leaves the singular of the third person 

 unchanged, as si par-la di guer-re, they talk of wars ; si di-scor-re 

 (L&l-le cu-se pas-sd-te, they discourse upon things past. 



INTRANSITIVE, OR NEUTER VERBS. 



These verbs require 110 other case but the nominative to form 

 a complete sentence, for their subjects act on no objects : for 

 example, Ot-to-ne non dor-mi-va, Otho did not sleep ; d-gli gia 

 ri-tor-nd-to, he has already returned. They are called neuter 

 verbs because Latin grammar considers them neither to be 

 active nor passive that is, neither to act on some object, nor 

 to denote the passive state of some subject. Active verbs 



