What does avercela mean?
Avercela (con qualcuno) is a pronominal verb that means:
- to be mad at someone
- to have something against someone
- to have beef with someone
It’s always followed by the preposition con.
Examples in Context
- Ce l’hai con me? → Are you mad at me?
- Perché ce l’avete sempre con lui? → Why are you always mad at him?
- Non ce l’ho con te. → I’m not mad at you.
- Con chi ce l’hai? → Who are you mad at?
- Ce l’abbiamo con i nostri vicini. → We’re mad at our neighbors.
Conjugation of Avercela
Avercela is made up of avere + ce + la.
When conjugating, you just conjugate avere as usual. The ce la (or ce l’ before vowels) stays invariable for all persons.
Present tense:
- Io ce l’ho (con…)
- Tu ce l’hai (con…)
- Lui/Lei ce l’ha (con…)
- Noi ce l’abbiamo (con…)
- Voi ce l’avete (con…)
- Loro ce l’hanno (con…)
Ce l’ho vs Ce l’ho con te
This is where learners often get tripped up.
Ce l’ho (without con) → I have it / I’ve got it.
Here, the ce is just a little “helper” sound (called a pleonastic pronoun) and doesn’t mean anything special.
- Ce l’hai il passaporto?
- Sì, ce l’ho. → Yes, I’ve got it.
Ce l’ho con… → I’m mad at… / I’ve got beef with…
Here, we’re using the pronominal verb avercela.
- Ce l’ho con Laura. → I’m mad at Laura
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