Esserlo

Esserlo is a term used in Italian grammar and linguistics to refer to a contracted infinitive form of the verb essere when combined with the clitic pronoun lo. The form can be read as “to be it” or “to be that,” and it surfaces in contexts where the infinitive governs a direct object pronoun.

Origin and use

Esserlo arises from the traditional tendency in Italian to attach clitic pronouns to nonfinite verb forms. In scholarly discussions, it is described as a stylistic or archaic variant, more common in historical texts, poetry, or linguistic analysis than in everyday speech. In contemporary writing, speakers typically avoid this contraction and prefer to restructure the sentence (for example, using essere plus the pronoun separately or replacing it with a demonstrative such as quello/tale).

Context and nuance

The form often signals emphasis on identity or specification, as when an author highlights what something “is” in a particular sense. Because of its rarity outside literary or pedagogical contexts, esserlo is mainly encountered in discussions of Italian syntax, cliticization, or in quotations from older texts.

Examples

- Desiderava esserlo, non soltanto sembrare.

- È difficile esserlo quando la situazione cambia.

See also

Italian grammar; clitic pronouns; infinitives in Italian; archaisms in Italian literature.

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