Sicilian: passato remoto in Sicilian

T

Tofino

Member
English
Hi,

I know that passato remoto is more used in Sicily than in the north, but is it so
that Sicilians use passato remoto when they want to express present tense as well as past tense?

And does anyone know what this means: "A cu o' mazzao ...
Ci scippo ' core."

Thank you
 
    • "Ci scippo' core" in Italian is: Gli rubo il cuore (related to a male or female).

    In English it should be something like: I steal his/her heart
     
    I would say that in southern Italy (from Rome downward, probably) they use past tense more frequently than northern Italians. As well as the personal pronoun Voi instead of Lei. I don't know about the use to express present tense, but it sounds a bit weird. But everything is possible :)

    As a northern Italian, my poor attempt at translating that sentence is: "I'm going to snatch/steal the heart of whoever killed him/her". But it's probably totally wrong.
     
    Thank you so much for your replies. I'm so grateful for your help!

    I'm trying to work my way through a long and (for me) very difficult piece of text. The story is set in Sicily and the topic is mafia. I've been using my dictionaries, but there are unfortunately phrases I haven't been able to figure out by myself, so this forum is a tremendous help.

    You'll be hearing from me again soon. :)
     
    As far as I know, Passato prossimo/Present Perfect does not even exist in Sicilian (or in some varieties of it?!) but the other day I noticed to my surprise that Sicilian girl used the form "l'aju vasatu" literally I have kissed him. I am wondering whether this is a recent formation in Sicilian or the Passato prossimo has always existed without my knowledge.
    On the other hand, the preterite/passato remoto no longer exists in many northern dialects/languages of Italy.
     
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