Difference between qui and

johnnorthrop549

johnnorthrop549

Can anybody tell me what the difference between qui and più - eg if you want to ask is there a bank near here which one do you use?
caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

Hi johnnorthrop549, 
Thanks for your question!
The terms "qui" and "più" have different purposes and uses.

"qui" means "here" :  if you wish to translate your sample question, you would say "C'è una banca qui vicino?"

The opposite of "qui" is "", which means "there" in a very specific way (eg. "La tua borsa è lì!" - "Your bag is there!"). 

However, you could also use "qua" and "": these have a similar meaning to "qui" and "lì" but are less specific.
For instance, you would say "Vieni qua!" ("Come here!") in order to ask someone to come closer to you, while you would say "Vieni qui!" ("Come right here!") in order to ask someone to come exactly here. In a similar way, you would say "Vai là!" ("Go there!") in order to indicate a more generic direction, while you would say "Vai lì!" ("Go right there!") in order to indicate a specific place to go. 

The term "più" could have multiple meanings depending on the sentence structure. It could either mean "more", "anymore", "most" and other slightly different terms. 

Don't hesitate to let me know should you have more questions! :) 
Marsha264

Marsha264

Good morning, my name is Marcia. I am new here and very curious.Can you please explain C' è in the phrase C'è una banca qui vicino?"
Grazie mille
Peter--252

Peter--252

Hi Marcia, I'm not an expert (I'm a student like you) but I think that  C'è is a contraction of "Ci è" which means "There is".
In the sentence above I assume that the speaker will use a rising intonation to indicate a question ("Is there...").

Hopefully Caterina will confirm, or not!
Peter

 
caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

Hi Marsha264, 

Thank you for your question and for joining us here! 

As correctly stated by Peter--252 (Thank you Peter! :-) )  "C'è" is the contracted form of "Ci è", literally meaning "There is". You can use this both when affirming something (as in "C'è una banca." - "There is a bank.") and when asking something (as in "C'è una banca?" - "Is there a bank?"). The plural form is "Ci sono" ("There are").

Hope this helps but feel free to let me know if I can help you further! 
 
Peter--252

Peter--252

Caterina,

Prego !  (I hope that's right :)
caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

È perfetto Peter, grazie di nuovo! :) 
Marsha264

Marsha264

Grazie. e quelle è il significato de ci in questa phrase: Non ci credo por niente. 
caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

Hi Marcia, 

This is an interesting question related to a slightly more complex analysis. 

The term "ci" in your sample sentence "Non ci credo per niente." (I don't believe a word of it) is a demonstrative pronoun and means "a ciò" (to this).  You could replace "ci" with "a ciò" (moving it at the end of the sentence) and the meaning would not change: "Non credo per niente a ciò." In this specific case, the term "ci" is an abbreviated way to refer to what you don't believe it, namely "a word of it").

Hopefully this clarifies but let me know if you need further help!

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