impersonali

Impersonali is the plural form of impersonal in Italian grammar, referring to constructions and verbs that do not require or express a specific grammatical subject. In linguistic terms, verbi impersonali are verbs whose meanings do not carry a determined subject and are typically used in the third person singular or in fixed impersonal phrases.

Verbi impersonali include several common categories. Weather verbs such as piove and nevica are classic examples, where the action appears without a stated agent or subject. Other impersonal verbs express necessity or obligation, as in bisogna studiare (one must study) or occorre fare attenzione (it is necessary to pay attention). Expressions using the impersonal pronoun si are also widespread, forming impersonal constructions that generalize statements or convey passive meaning, for example si dice che, si parla italiano in questa città. In these cases the subject is not specified and the statement applies generally.

Impersonal constructions can also arise with phrases like fa freddo (it is cold) and basta così (that’s enough), where the syntactic subject is not a person or agent but an abstract or situational condition. While impersonal forms are common across registers, they are especially frequent in descriptive, evaluative, and informative contexts, allowing statements to be made without identifying who performs the action.

See also: impersonal construction, si-passive, weather verb.