I have read the following sentence in an Italian learning tool:
Voglio che ci lavori lui su tutto. (= I want him to work on everything / I want that he work on everything)
What does "ci" mean here ?
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2Possible duplicate of Che cosa significa "ci" in questa frase?, and moreover of this one, and there is already a duplicate question on ci.– DaGCommented Sep 26, 2019 at 5:32
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Sorry, but the first linked question didn't answer my question at all. I understand that "ci" means "there", "us" or "à qualcosa" (the first one in "Ci sto arrivando serenamente", sentence in the first linked question), but none of these meanings seems to fit well in my example. For instance, if "ci" is "there", the translation would be "I want him to work there on everything". Either one works "there" or "on everything" and thus this translation seems very odd. Btw, I have tried to translate my example with Google Translate, but "ci" disappears in the translation.– Alan EvangelistaCommented Sep 26, 2019 at 13:00
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2In this case "ci" is pleonastic, which is why Google ignores it. This sentence construction ("ci lavori lui" rather than "lui lavori") stresses the fact that the speaker wants him ("lui") to be the one doing the work. For what it is worth, I agree with you that this in not a duplicate of the two questions linked.– Rad80Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 14:53
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Alan and @Rad80: OK, I've reopened the question.– Charo ♦Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 16:26
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@Rad80 This seems like it should go in the answer box!– Denis Nardin ♦Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 16:45
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2 Answers
In this sentence, particle "ci" has the meaning of "su tutto". It is used in a pleonastic way because the sentence of your question contains a "dislocazione a destra", a construction typical of oral speech which is explained in detail in this answer.
As in this example given in that question
Non ci sono andato, a Venezia
which comes from the book Grammatica dell'italiano adulto by Vittorio Coletti, the sentence has a complement ("a Venezia" in Coletti's example, "su tutto" in your sentence) that goes after a complete clause ("Non ci sono andato" in Coletti's example, "Voglio che ci lavori" in your sentence) and which is anticipated in this clause by particle "ci".
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Does the same occur in "Ci dovrò lavorare sopra" ? Oddly, the object is ommited in that sentence (eg il progetto, il miei sentimenti), but the preposition "sopra" is kept. I thought the correct would be "ci dovrò lavorare" (no pleonasm), "dovrò lavorare sopra il progetto" (no pleonasm) or "ci dovrò lavorare sopra il progetto" (pleonasm). Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 14:17
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2@AlanEvangelista: No, in this case "ci" is not redundant: it's just that some Italian verbs mantain the preposition when the complement is substituted by a pronoun. For instance, "Devo pensare su questo" --> "Ci devo pensare su".– Charo ♦Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 15:04
In this case "ci" is pleonastic, which is why Google ignores it.
This sentence construction ("ci lavori lui" rather than "lui lavori") stresses the fact that the speaker wants him ("lui") to be the one doing the work.
