10.5. Pronoun of location, ci

As we have seen, the pronoun form ci can have many meanings in Italian—it can be the noi form of a reflexive, a direct-object, or an indirect-object pronoun. In this section we will only focus on its use as a “locative” pronoun. The closest equivalent in English is “there,” e.g.,

Sei mai stato a Pisa? > Ci sei mai stato? > Sì, ci sono andato diverse volte.

Have you ever been to Pisa? > Have you ever been there? Yes, I’ve been there several times.

Ci stands for noun phrases indicating “location in/at” or “motion to”. As we said above, ci is close in meaning to the English “there/here,” except that it can only be used with reference to a location or direction previously mentioned in an explicit way:

Vai spesso a Roma? > No, non ci vado mai.

Do you go often to Rome? > No, I never go there.