# Si sente che



## Aryetti

Hello guys! 
As I am watching a YT video that I want to comment on, I realize that I can't come up with the proper way to express "si sente che era un'insegnante!". 
The context is the introduction of a lady and the way she speaks to us is lovely and calm, typical of someone who used to have to do with children (now retired). 
I wanted to comment that "si sente che era un'insegnante" but I'm here for your help. 
What would you suggest? 
Thank you in advance 
PS I don't have my attempt for you to proofread... the only thing I am thinking of is "I can spot that she was a teacher" but it's really forced


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## lövastrell

Come ti sembra "You/One can tell she's been a teacher"?


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## Aryetti

lövastrell said:


> Come ti sembra "You/One can tell she's been a teacher"?


Sì, non mi dispiace


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## rrose17

Personally I wouldn't use "been" here. It makes it sound, somehow, a temporary condition. Nothing wrong with a simple "You can tell she was a teacher."


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## theartichoke

If you know, rather than simply suspect, that she was a teacher, then another option is _It's clear/obvious she used to be a teacher_. (The same implication is there in _You can tell she was...._)

But if _si sente_ means that she _seems _like a retired teacher (but you don't know for a fact that she was one), then you could say _You get the feeling she used to be a teacher_.

For some reason I prefer "used to be" to "was," but both are correct.


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## lövastrell

So, if I'm getting rrose right, "you can tell she's been a teacher" is equivalent to "si vede che _ha fatto _l'insegnante", whereas ""she was a teacher" is more like "si vede che era un'insegnante".


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## puli_dog

Hi,
Just out of curiosity, could "Her manners reveal a (her) teacher's background" convey the right meaning?


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## Aryetti

theartichoke said:


> If you know, rather than simply suspect, that she was a teacher, then another option is _It's clear/obvious she used to be a teacher_. (The same implication is there in _You can tell she was...._)
> 
> But if _si sente_ means that she _seems _like a retired teacher (but you don't know for a fact that she was one), then you could say _You get the feeling she used to be a teacher_.
> 
> For some reason I prefer "used to be" to "was," but both are correct.


In her introduction she said that she was a teacher, she taught children with learning difficulties; she's retired now.
In this case _si sente _stands for _capisco/percepisco che_, because not just her words but also the way she expresses herself during the interview makes it very clear to me that she worked as a teacher, especially a teacher for such particular pupils. 

PS hello Theartichoke, I was hoping you would reply  I hope you're doing well


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## Aryetti

theartichoke said:


> if _si sente_ means that she _seems _like a retired teacher


I understand that maybe the tense I used here


Aryetti said:


> che era un'insegnante"


isn't very clear for a non native Italian speaker. 
The misunderstanding is probably on the *che era* that, if it had to fit your _she seems like a retired teacher_, would have been *sembra che fosse un'insegnante*. 
The _si sente _is not reflexive, it wasn't intended like "she feels like a retired teacher"


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## Pietruzzo

To be precise, "si sente" is about hearing. Listening to her, you can tell she was a teacher. What's implied is that you could guess it even if you didn't know it.
If you could guess it from the way she looks/acts you should say "si vede/ si capisce".


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## puli_dog

Pietruzzo said:


> To be precise, "si sente" is about hearing. Listening to her, you can tell she was a teacher. What's implied is that you could guess it even if you didn't know it.
> If you could guess it from the way she looks/acts you should say "si vede/ si capisce".


Right, hence my suggestion of using _reveal_ to cover both interpretations 

(edit) Btw, I think the OP is looking for the english form, not the italian one...


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## Pietruzzo

puli_dog said:


> edit) Btw, I think the OP is looking for the english form, not the italian one


I thought it could be useful to point out the exact meaning of "si sente", which may be different from "si vede /si capisce". For non native speakers of course.


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## Odysseus54

rrose17 said:


> Personally I wouldn't use "been" here. It makes it sound, somehow, a temporary condition. Nothing wrong with a simple "You can tell she was a teacher."



Adding the idea of 'si sente', I'd say "The way she talks, you can tell that she was a teacher".


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## theartichoke

Aryetti said:


> The _si sente _is not reflexive, it wasn't intended like "she feels like a retired teacher"





Pietruzzo said:


> To be precise, "si sente" is about hearing. Listening to her, you can tell she was a teacher. What's implied is that you could guess it even if you didn't know it.
> If you could guess it from the way she looks/acts you should say "si vede/ si capisce".



Thanks for the clarification about _si sente_: I didn't think it was reflexive, but that it meant "one feels...." rather than "one hears...". Is the point, then, that a native speaker easily recognizes that _sentire_ in this context is _to hear_ (i.e., you can tell it from the way she speaks) and not the more general _to feel / to sense _(i.e., you can sense it from something [unspecified] about her)? And if so, are there contexts in Italian where one _could_ use _si sente _to mean that you can intuit or deduce or suspect something, as in the English expression "you get the feeling that...."? Or was I just drawing the wrong conclusion by choosing the wrong verb and then translating it literally into an English expression?


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## Odysseus54

theartichoke said:


> Thanks for the clarification about _si sente_: I didn't think it was reflexive, but that it meant "one feels...." rather than "one hears...". Is the point, then, that a native speaker easily recognizes that _sentire_ in this context is _to hear_ (i.e., you can tell it from the way she speaks) and not the more general _to feel / to sense _(i.e., you can sense it from something [unspecified] about her)? And if so, are there contexts in Italian where one _could_ use _si sente _to mean that you can intuit or deduce or suspect something, as in the English expression "you get the feeling that...."? Or was I just drawing the wrong conclusion by choosing the wrong verb and then translating it literally into an English expression?



It's a great subject.  With 'sentire' in Italian you can express : hearing, tasting, feeling by touching, having one's  sensibilities affected by something.

Si sentiva dal rumore del vento che il tempo stava cambiando.

Si sente che hanno messo parecchia cipolla.

Si sentiva che aveva la febbre alta.

Sentivamo ancora la sua mancanza.



In questo caso non direi che si tratti di una forma riflessiva, ma di un si impersonale.

"In quel ristorante si mangia bene"  =  si impersonale, che rappresenta un soggetto generico

"Eustorgia si lava una volta al mese"  =  si riflessivo, il soggetto e' anche oggetto dell'azione


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## lövastrell

Interesting indeed. I hadn't thought of this, but "si sente che era..." gives actually a bit more information than "you can tell", since it's related to hearing (in this case I'd say touching is unlikely, let alone tasting)--most probably the way she speaks is the giveaway. Had it been something about her outward appearance, I'd have said "si vede che era un'insegnante". And for a more noncommittal expression, I'd say "si intuisce" or "si capisce che era un'insegnante".


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## theartichoke

Odysseus54 said:


> It's a great subject.  With 'sentire' in Italian you can express : hearing, tasting, feeling by touching, having one's  sensibilities affected by something.
> 
> Si sentiva dal rumore del vento che il tempo stava cambiando.
> 
> Si sente che hanno messo parecchia cipolla.
> 
> Si sentiva che aveva la febbre alta.
> 
> Sentivamo ancora la sua mancanza.


Would there be a problem with saying "Si sente ancora la sua mancanza" to mean "His loss / absence is still felt" (i.e., "many (unspecified) people still miss him")? Or what about a sentence like "Si sente che Marco non vuole essere qui stasera" to mean "You get the feeling / you can tell that Marco doesn't want to be here tonight"?


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## Aryetti

theartichoke said:


> Is the point, then, that a native speaker easily recognizes that _sentire_ in this context is _to hear_ (i.e., you can tell it from the way she speaks) and not the more general _to feel / to sense _(i.e., you can sense it from something [unspecified] about her)? And if so, are there contexts in Italian where one _could_ use _si sente _to mean that you can intuit or deduce or suspect something, as in the English expression "you get the feeling that...."?


Hai colto perfettamente nel segno! 
I was using _si sente _to express my intuition because yes, she said that she was a teacher before she retired, but I didn't just listen to her words... It was the way she used her voice that made me understand what was her job. 
Therefore yes, you can use the verb *sentire* when you sense/feel/can intuit something that is not expressed out loud (for example when somebody is talking about a topic in a way that it makes you think "they must have experienced this event in person").



theartichoke said:


> Would there be a problem with saying "Si sente ancora la sua mancanza" to mean "His loss / absence is still felt" (i.e., "many (unspecified) people still miss him")? Or what about a sentence like "Si sente che Marco non vuole essere qui stasera" to mean "You get the feeling / you can tell that Marco doesn't want to be here tonight"?


Your examples are totally correct


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## Odysseus54

theartichoke said:


> Would there be a problem with saying (1) "Si sente ancora la sua mancanza" to mean "His loss / absence is still felt" (i.e., "many (unspecified) people still miss him")? Or what about a sentence like (2) "Si sente che Marco non vuole essere qui stasera" to mean "You get the feeling / you can tell that Marco doesn't want to be here tonight"?



(1) That's exactly the meaning of the Italian sentence.

(2) No, that would not work.  To translate "(a) You get the feeling / (b) you can tell that Marco doesn't want to be here tonight" I would probably say (a) "Da' l'impressione che Marco non voglia essere qui stasera" and (b) "Si capisce proprio/e' chiaro che Marco non vuole essere qui stasera.

I also see a difference between a and b in terms of degree of certainty.  B sounds more of a matter of fact, a is a hypothesis.


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## lövastrell

Odysseus54 said:


> (2) No, that would not work. To translate "(a) You get the feeling / (b) you can tell that Marco doesn't want to be here tonight" I would probably say (a) "Da' l'impressione che Marco non voglia essere qui stasera" and (b) "Si capisce proprio/e' chiaro che Marco non vuole essere qui stasera.


Agreed. The problem is the ambiguity of "sentire": the "feeling" meaning is trumped by the "hearing" meaning, which is the main one. So, an Italian speaker, on hearing "Si sente che Marco non vorrebbe essere qui", would normally take it to mean "you can tell _from his words _(or other audible clues) that...".


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## theartichoke

Thanks, everyone. It's fascinating to learn that despite the many meanings of "sentire," it actually can't be used to express the English "I get/have the feeling that....." or the even more literal-seeming translation, "I sense that....."!


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## lövastrell

Sorry, theartichoke, I have been unclear. Of course "sentire" can be used to express "sense, feel" etc. The ambiguity is usually sorted by the context. If someone says "si sente che Marco è a disagio" when nobody spoke a word, it clearly means "feel". But, if Marco has just said something, and I want to express "feeling", and _rule out _hearing, I'll go for a less ambiguous turn of phrase, like "si ha la sensazione che sia a disagio" or "si ha l'impressione", or "si direbbe che...". Because if I use "sentire", people will first look at _what _he said. Also, in the appropriate context (e.g. when Marco isn't there), the sentence "Sento che Marco è a disagio" will be taken to mean "I heard that Marco is uncomfortable", i.e. someone reported to me that he is uncomfortable. Clearer now?


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## theartichoke

lövastrell said:


> Sorry, theartichoke, I have been unclear. Of course "sentire" can be used to express "sense, feel" etc. The ambiguity is usually sorted by the context. If someone says "si sente che Marco è a disagio" when nobody spoke a word, it clearly means "feel". But, if Marco has just said something, and I want to express "feeling", and _rule out _hearing, I'll go for a less ambiguous turn of phrase, like "si ha la sensazione che sia a disagio" or "si ha l'impressione", or "si direbbe che...". Because if I use "sentire", people will first look at _what _he said. Also, in the appropriate context (e.g. when Marco isn't there), the sentence "Sento che Marco è a disagio" will be taken to mean "I heard that Marco is uncomfortable", i.e. someone reported to me that he is uncomfortable. Clearer now?



Clearer, and also more to remember.  But yes, I get now how it's context dependent and that, as you said earlier, "hearing" trumps "feeling" if the context doesn't make it clear that it has to be feeling.


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## Odysseus54

lövastrell said:


> "si sente che Marco è a disagio" when nobody spoke a word, it clearly means "feel".



Not to my ears. 

Scenario :  We are discussing something among friends, and Marco is sitting in a corner, not saying a word but looking unhappy.  In English I'd say "I have a/the feeling that Marco is not comfortable with our conversation".  In Italian I wold say "Ho l'impressione che Marco sia a disagio". 

"Si sente che ecc." mi sembrerebbe proprio incomprensibile. 

"Sento che.." invece funziona bene, anche se non e' frequentissimo, come "They say that.."


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## puli_dog

theartichoke said:


> Clearer, and also more to remember.  But yes, I get now how it's context dependent and that, as you said earlier, "hearing" trumps "feeling" if the context doesn't make it clear that it has to be feeling.



Anyway it is worth remembering that the verb _sentire_, although broadly used in italian to mean "to hear", derives from latin _sentio_, which meaning is "to perceive / feel / understand / assume" but in _no way "_to hear". For that, there's another more specific verb, _audio_.


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## Odysseus54

puli_dog said:


> Anyway it is worth remembering that the verb _sentire_, although broadly used in italian to mean "to hear", derives from latin _sentio_, which meaning is "to perceive / feel / understand / assume" but in _no way "t_o hear". For that, there's another more specific verb, _audio_.



True.  However, the discussion here is not about romance philology, but about if, when, how, "I have a feeling that.." can be translated as "Sento che..", and vice-versa.


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## puli_dog

Odysseus54 said:


> Yes.  And?


And thus I wouldn't be that sure about which trumps which...


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## puli_dog

Odysseus54 said:


> True.  However, the discussion here is not about romance philology, but about if, when, how, "I have a feeling that.." can be translated as "Sento che..", and vice-versa.


My remark about the _etymology_ of "sentire" was simply driven by the concern that the latest posts could give theartichoke the (false) impression of a "set priority" of _hear_ over _feel_ meaning.


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## Pietruzzo

theartichoke said:


> are there contexts in Italian where one _could_ use _si sente _to mean that you can intuit or deduce or suspect something, as in the English expression "you get the feeling that...."


In my opinion the impersonal form is used with a "physical" meaning in most cases. Things are different for personal forms. Eg. "Sento che mi stai nascondendo qualcosa" "I have the feeling...". I would never say "Si sente che sta nascondendo qualcosa" unless I was referring to the tone of their voice. I would say "Si capisce...".
I'd just add that "sentire" means also "smelling" and feeling (eg. when you touch something). This reminds me of an old commercial in which someone said "Non uso deodorante" and then there was this comment "Si sente!".


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## puli_dog

Pietruzzo said:


> I would never say "Si sente che sta nascondendo qualcosa" unless I was referring to the tone of their voice. I would say "Si capisce..."


Well, to me there's a subtly different nuance between the two, being _si capisce_ referred to something that's fairly evident, while _si sente_ to something sensed or guessed.
_Si capisce_ is a rational deduction, _si sente_ an intuitive one.


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## Pietruzzo

puli_dog said:


> Well, to me there's a subtly different nuance between the two, being _si capisce_ referred to something that's fairly evident, while _si sente_ to something sensed or guessed.
> _Si capisce_ is a rational deduction, _si sente_ an intuitive one.


You could say "si intuisce" or "si ha l'impressione"
My point was that I would not use "si sente".


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## Odysseus54

theartichoke said:


> Clearer, and also more to remember.  But yes, I get now how it's context dependent and that, as you said earlier, "hearing" trumps "feeling" if the context doesn't make it clear that it has to be feeling.



'Sentire' is the primary verb both for 'feel' and 'hear' (and for 'taste' and 'feel by touching', see above).  It's not a matter of trumping, the verb by itself can have either meaning, depending on object and context.

"Lo senti anche tu?" = "Do you feel it too?" or "Do you hear it too?"

"Ho sentito una scossa verso le tre del mattino"  (felt a quake)
"Ho sentito un'esplosione"  (Heard an explosion)

Interestingly, if you do a Google search with "sento che" you'll get all the results as 'I feel that' (a lot of songs and arias, sentimental stuff), whereas with "ho sentito che" the results are all 'I heard that', and are about more mundane subjects.


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## puli_dog

Odysseus54 said:


> Interestingly, if you do a Google search with "sento che" you'll get all the results as 'I feel that' (a lot of songs and arias, sentimental stuff), whereas with "ho sentito che" the results are all 'I heard that', and are about more mundane subjects.


Yep, that's probably because "sento" is pertaining to an inner, personal feeling whereas "ho sentito che" means just reporting someone else's opinion.


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## NewYorktoLA

Odysseus54 said:


> It's a great subject.  With 'sentire' in Italian you can express : hearing, tasting, feeling by touching, having one's  sensibilities affected by something.
> 
> Si sentiva dal rumore del vento che il tempo stava cambiando.
> 
> Si sente che hanno messo parecchia cipolla.
> 
> Si sentiva che aveva la febbre alta.
> 
> Sentivamo ancora la sua mancanza.
> 
> 
> 
> In questo caso non direi che si tratti di una forma riflessiva, ma di un si impersonale.
> 
> "In quel ristorante si mangia bene"  =  si impersonale, che rappresenta un soggetto generico
> 
> "Eustorgia si lava una volta al mese"  =  si riflessivo, il soggetto e' anche oggetto dell'azione


Thank you so much for these examples!


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