2023-06-13 16:04:39
Our reader Pierre Cats suggested that we feature today’s phrase, listen to mewhich he says he first heard from his former mother-in-law as he prepared to take her daughter on a date.
“I didn’t know what it meant then but it sounded like a warning!,” he tells us. “I took it as: ‘You better treat her right, or else.’”
We don’t know his ex-mother-in-law, but we’d bet that’s probably a fair translation. Though it’s not the only one: as we’ll explain, listen to me is usually more of a request than a threat.
I recommend – sounds a lot like ‘recommend’, right? So you’d be forgiven for thinking that the direct translation is ‘I recommend that…’ or, as our reader interpreted it, ‘you’d better…’.
In this case, it’s a false friend. There is an Italian verb, recommend, that means ‘to recommend’, and yes, you can use it to give someone advice.
I recommend this book to you.
You should read this book (or: I recommend this book to you).
I recommend you not to be late.
You’d better not be late.
But take a closer look at those two examples: the personal pronoun (of – ‘you’) and the subject of the verb (I recommend – ‘I recommend’) don’t match. They involve two different people, you and me, because I’m giving you a suggestion.
Yet in the phrase listen to meboth pronoun and verb refer to one person alone – me. That’s because it’s actually the reflexive form of the verb: recommendwhich means ‘to beg’ or ‘to implore’.
It was recommended to hurry.
He begged us to do it quickly.
Or, as a mother-in-law might say to her daughter’s suitor:
I recommend: do not lose sight of my daughter.
I beg of you, don’t let my daughter out of your sight.
While it sounds a bit theatrical in English, in Italian the phrase isn’t nearly so formal: it’s just a way of stressing that what you’re asking is important, a bit like we might start a request with ‘now remember…’ or ‘don’t forget…’.
Please, write to me!
Don’t forget to write to me!
Listen to me! Do not miss it.
Now remember, don’t lose it.
Be careful, please.
Please make sure you’re careful.
So if you hear someone tell you “Listen to me…”, there’s no need to panic.
This is the one and only time we’ll say this, but just do as Silvio Berlusconi advised and ‘make sure you behave’.
Do you have a favourite Italian word, phrase or expression you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
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