🔍 In short. Italian has a family of idiomatic verbs that all carry a small, apparently meaningless feminine pronoun la stuck to the end: smetterla (“to stop it”), farcela (“to manage”), cavarsela (“to get by”), sentirsela (“to feel up to”), prendersela (“to take offence”), godersela (“to have a good time”), and a handful of others. Italian la idioms are part of the wider family of pronominal verbs, where la stands roughly for una cosa (an unspecified thing or situation). The pronoun never changes form, but in compound tenses the past participle agrees with it in the feminine singular: ce l’ho fatta, me la sono cavata. This B1 guide walks through the eight most common verbs, the conjugation rules, and a private-tutoring dialogue in Padova.
Cosa impareremo oggi
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- The one-line rule for italian la idioms
- Farcela: to manage, to succeed
- Cavarsela: to get by, to muddle through
- Smetterla and piantarla: to stop it
- Sentirsela: to feel up to it
- Prendersela: to take offence
- Avercela con qualcuno: to hold a grudge
- Godersela: to have a good time
- Squagliarsela and farla finita: to escape, to wrap up
- Past participle agreement with la
- Common mistakes
- Cheat sheet for italian la idioms
- Dialogue: a tutoring session in Padova
- Frequently asked questions
- Related guides
The one-line rule for italian la idioms
The la in italian la idioms is a fossilised clitic. Centuries ago it referred to a specific thing (often una cosa, “a thing”), but in modern usage the link to any concrete object is gone. The result is a set of verbs that always carry la attached, mean something different from the base verb, and follow their own conjugation rules. Smettere means “to stop”; smetterla means “to stop doing something annoying”. Fare means “to make / to do”; farcela means “to manage / succeed”. The pattern is fixed and idiomatic: you learn the pair as a unit.
- Ce l’ho fatta a finire i compiti prima di cena. I managed to finish the homework before dinner.
- Smettila di guardare il telefono mentre ti spiego. Stop looking at your phone while I’m explaining.
- Me la cavo con l’inglese, ma in tedesco no. I get by in English, but not in German.
- Non te la prendere, stavo scherzando. Don’t take it the wrong way, I was joking.
- Te la senti di provare un esercizio più difficile? Do you feel up to trying a harder exercise?
Farcela: to manage, to succeed
The most common of all italian la idioms is farcela. It means “to manage, to succeed, to make it”, often with an undertone of effort or struggle. The structure is fare + ce + la, with the locative ci turning into ce before la. The pronouns travel with the verb: ce la faccio, ce la facciamo, ce l’ho fatta.
- Proprio non ce la faccio più con queste equazioni. I really can’t manage any more with these equations.
- Ce l’ho fatta a parcheggiare in retromarcia. I managed to park in reverse.
- Caterina ce l’ha fatta a finire la tesi in un mese. Caterina managed to finish her thesis in a month.
- Se non ce la fai da solo, chiamami. If you can’t manage on your own, call me.
- Ce la facciamo, basta tenere il ritmo. We’ll make it, we just have to keep the pace.
Notice the past participle agreement: ce l’ho fatta, not ce l’ho fatto. The participle fatto agrees with the feminine pronoun la, becoming fatta. This agreement rule applies to all the la-idioms in compound tenses, and we’ll come back to it in detail below.
Cavarsela: to get by, to muddle through
If farcela is about full success, cavarsela is about scraping by. It means “to manage”, “to get by”, “to muddle through” with a flavour of “I’m not great at this, but I’ll cope”. The structure is reflexive: cavare + se + la, conjugated as me la cavo, te la cavi, se la cava.
- Me la cavo con le derivate, è il limite che mi frega. I get by with derivatives, it’s limits that get me.
- Lorenzo se la cava in inglese, niente di che. Lorenzo gets by in English, nothing special.
- Ce la siamo cavata bene con la traduzione. We managed well with the translation.
- Caterina se la cava in qualsiasi situazione. Caterina gets by in any situation.
- Mi sono cavato dall’imbarazzo con una battuta. I got out of the embarrassment with a joke.
The shade between farcela and cavarsela is real. Ce l’ho fatta col compito = “I succeeded in the test”. Me la sono cavata col compito = “I scraped by in the test, not brilliantly, but OK”. The first is triumph; the second is survival. Italians distinguish the two cleanly.
🎯 Mini-challenge: Pick the right la-idiom for each sentence.
- Lorenzo, ____ di fare rumore, sto studiando! (“stop it”)
- Non ____ se ti correggo, è per aiutarti. (“don’t take it the wrong way”)
- ____ a finire l’esercizio prima di cena! (“we managed”)
- Caterina ____ in matematica, ma fatica in chimica. (“gets by”)
- ____ di provare un problema più difficile? (“do you feel up to”)
👉 See answers
1. smettila (imperative tu)
2. te la prendere (negative imperative)
3. Ce l’abbiamo fatta (passato prossimo, agreement feminine: fatta)
4. se la cava (present, 3rd singular)
5. Te la senti (present, 2nd singular)
Smetterla and piantarla: to stop it
Two near-synonyms among italian la idioms: smetterla and piantarla, both meaning “to stop it” or “to cut it out”. Smetterla is the standard form; piantarla is more colloquial and slightly stronger. Both are usually used in the imperative or with la voglio smettere / piantare. They take a complement introduced by di + infinitive: smettila di fare rumore.
- Smettila di guardare il telefono mentre ti spiego. Stop looking at your phone while I’m explaining.
- La vuoi smettere di fare lo scemo? Will you stop being a fool?
- Piantala con quel rumore, ti prego! Cut it out with that noise, please!
- Lorenzo, smettila di lamentarti, sono solo equazioni. Lorenzo, stop complaining, they’re just equations.
- Voglio farla finita con questo capitolo prima di Natale. I want to be done with this chapter before Christmas.
A close cousin: farla finita (“to put an end to it”). The construction is fare + la + finita (adjective agreeing feminine singular). It carries more weight than smetterla: you’re not just stopping, you’re closing the chapter for good. Farla finita con qualcuno can also mean “to break up with someone” in a relationship context.
Sentirsela: to feel up to it
The verb sentirsela means “to feel up to doing something”, and it’s the standard polite way of checking whether someone has the energy or willingness for a task. The structure is sentire + se + la, conjugated as me la sento, te la senti, se la sente. The complement is di + infinitive.
- Te la senti di provare un esercizio più difficile? Do you feel up to trying a harder exercise?
- Proprio non me la sento di uscire stasera. I really don’t feel up to going out tonight.
- Lorenzo non se l’è sentita di affrontare il compito. Lorenzo didn’t feel up to facing the test.
- Se ve la sentite, possiamo fare due ore in più. If you feel up to it, we can do two more hours.
- Caterina se l’è sentita di guidare fino a Trieste senza fermarsi. Caterina felt up to driving to Trieste without stopping.
The verb is reflexive in form but emotional in meaning. It’s not about physical feeling but about willingness. A tutor asking te la senti? is asking “are you ready to handle this?”, not “do you feel well?”. The English match shifts based on context: “do you feel up to it”, “are you ready for it”, “do you feel like doing it”.
Prendersela: to take offence
The verb prendersela means “to take offence”, “to be hurt”, “to take it personally”. The structure is prendere + se + la, with the typical reflexive conjugation. It’s the verb Italians reach for whenever someone reacts badly to a joke or criticism.
- Non te la prendere, stavo scherzando. Don’t take it the wrong way, I was joking.
- Lorenzo se la prende sempre quando lo correggo. Lorenzo always takes offence when I correct him.
- Non me la sono presa per quello che hai detto. I didn’t take offence at what you said.
- Caterina se l’è presa con il commento del prof. Caterina took offence at the teacher’s comment.
- Non te la prendere se ti dico che hai sbagliato. Don’t take it the wrong way if I tell you you made a mistake.
The companion construction prendersela con qualcuno means “to be angry with someone” specifically. Si è presa con me = “she got angry with me”. The preposition con is built into the meaning. Without con, the verb is about taking offence in general, not at one specific person.
Avercela con qualcuno: to hold a grudge
One of the trickiest italian la idioms because of the spelling: avercela (literally “to have it”) almost always appears with con + person, and it means “to be annoyed with someone”, “to hold a grudge against them”. The structure is avere + ce + la, conjugated as ce l’ho, ce l’hai, ce l’ha. The contracted form ce l’ + verb is standard in writing.
- Non ce l’ho con te ma col tuo prof di matematica. I’m not annoyed with you, but with your maths teacher.
- Lorenzo ce l’ha con tutti oggi. Lorenzo is annoyed with everyone today.
- Perché ce l’hai con me? Non ho fatto niente. Why are you annoyed with me? I didn’t do anything.
- Caterina ce l’aveva con la scuola da settimane. Caterina had been annoyed with the school for weeks.
Don’t confuse ce l’ho con qualcuno (“I’m annoyed with someone”) with ce l’ho + object (“I have it”). The two look identical: ce l’ho in ce l’ho col tuo prof means “annoyed with”; ce l’ho in ce l’ho il libro means “I have the book”. Context decides, and the preposition con + person is the giveaway for the idiomatic meaning.
Godersela: to have a good time
The verb godersela means “to have a good time”, “to enjoy oneself”. Built from godere (“to enjoy”) + se + la, it carries the flavour of relaxing, treating yourself, enjoying life. In some contexts it can also imply taking it easy while others are working.
- E io devo lavorare mentre voi ve la godete. And I have to work while you enjoy yourselves.
- Lorenzo se la sta godendo al mare con i cugini. Lorenzo is enjoying himself at the sea with his cousins.
- Me la sono goduta proprio, quella serata. I really enjoyed that evening.
- Goditela finché puoi, le vacanze finiscono presto. Enjoy it while you can, holidays end soon.
- Se la godono in pensione, viaggiano tutti i mesi. They’re enjoying retirement, they travel every month.
The imperative goditela is one of the most affectionate Italian expressions: a friend wishing you well as you head off on holiday will say goditela! (“enjoy it!”). The verb captures a specifically Italian attitude to leisure: you don’t just have free time, you savour it.
Squagliarsela and farla finita: to escape, to wrap up
Two more colourful italian la idioms. Squagliarsela means “to make a run for it”, “to slip away unnoticed”. Squagliare literally means “to melt”, and the reflexive form with la evokes someone melting away from a scene. The verb is colloquial and very Italian, with no clean English equivalent.
- Hanno approfittato della distrazione del prof per squagliarsela. They took advantage of the teacher’s distraction to slip away.
- Quando ha visto i compiti, Lorenzo se l’è squagliata in bagno. When he saw the test, Lorenzo slipped off to the bathroom.
- Volevo squagliarmela prima della riunione, ma Caterina mi ha visto. I wanted to slip away before the meeting, but Caterina saw me.
And farla finita, already mentioned, means “to put an end to it”, with the participle finita agreeing feminine singular with la. It can describe ending a chapter of study, ending a relationship, or, in more grim contexts, ending one’s life (use with care).
Past participle agreement with la
The defining grammatical feature of italian la idioms in compound tenses: the past participle agrees with the feminine pronoun la, not with the subject. Even though the verb might take avere as auxiliary (which usually means no agreement), la forces the participle into the feminine singular -a ending.
| Infinitive | Passato prossimo | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| farcela | ce l’ho fatta | fatta (feminine -a) |
| cavarsela | me la sono cavata | cavata |
| smetterla | l’ho smessa | smessa |
| sentirsela | me la sono sentita | sentita |
| prendersela | me la sono presa | presa |
| godersela | me la sono goduta | goduta |
| squagliarsela | me la sono squagliata | squagliata |
| farla finita | l’ho fatta finita | fatta (+ adj finita) |
A man says ce l’ho fatta; a woman also says ce l’ho fatta. Both agree with la, not with the speaker. The same rule applies to all the la-idioms: l’ho smessa regardless of who is speaking, me la sono cavata for any speaker. This is one of the most distinctive features of italian la idioms and worth memorising.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the feminine agreement: ce l’ho fatto instead of ce l’ho fatta. The participle agrees with la, not the subject.
- Using the base verb instead of the la-idiom: smetti di parlare works (it means “stop talking”), but smettila is the natural Italian form, with the added flavour “I’m tired of this”. The la-version is more emphatic.
- Translating ce l’ho con te as “I have it with you”. The idiom means “I’m annoyed with you”, not “I have something with you”. The English translation has to switch verbs entirely.
- Mixing up farcela and fare a meno di. Farcela = to manage; fare a meno di = to do without. Ce la faccio senza il dizionario = I’ll manage without the dictionary; faccio a meno del dizionario = I’ll do without the dictionary.
- Pronouncing ce l’ho as separate words. The pronouns blend: ce l’ho sounds like one continuous unit, cel-lo. In writing, the apostrophe is mandatory.
- Using the la-idioms in formal academic writing. These are colloquial-leaning expressions. In a thesis or legal document, prefer the base verbs: riuscire instead of farcela, arrabbiarsi con instead of avercela con.
Cheat sheet for italian la idioms
Quick reference for the eight most common italian la idioms.
| Verb | Meaning | Present (io) | Passato prossimo (io) |
|---|---|---|---|
| farcela | to manage, succeed | ce la faccio | ce l’ho fatta |
| cavarsela | to get by, muddle through | me la cavo | me la sono cavata |
| smetterla | to stop it | la smetto | l’ho smessa |
| piantarla | to stop it (colloquial) | la pianto | l’ho piantata |
| sentirsela | to feel up to it | me la sento | me la sono sentita |
| prendersela | to take offence | me la prendo | me la sono presa |
| avercela con | to hold a grudge against | ce l’ho (con X) | ce l’ho avuta (con X) |
| godersela | to have a good time | me la godo | me la sono goduta |
| squagliarsela | to slip away | me la squaglio | me la sono squagliata |
| farla finita | to put an end to it | la faccio finita | l’ho fatta finita |
Dialogue: a tutoring session in Padova
The following dialogue shows italian la idioms in everyday B1 use. Caterina runs maths tutoring sessions for high school students in Padova. Lorenzo is one of her regulars: bright but easily distracted. Today they’re prepping for a test on equations.
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Lorenzo, smettila di guardare il telefono. Tra mezz’ora ci sono i tuoi genitori e voglio vederti pronto per il compito.
👨🏼🦰 Lorenzo: Scusa, era mia sorella. Comunque non ce la faccio più con queste equazioni di secondo grado.
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Te la senti di provare un esercizio tipo, senza guardare le formule? Vediamo dove sei.
👨🏼🦰 Lorenzo: Va bene. Però non te la prendere se sbaglio. La prof ieri mi ha sgridato davanti a tutti per uno svarione.
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Tranquillo, non me la prendo. Anzi, ce l’ho un po’ con la tua prof: con uno studente così bravo come te, doveva essere più paziente.
👨🏼🦰 Lorenzo: Sì, ce l’ha con me da settimane. Comunque io me la cavo con le equazioni semplici, ma quando ci sono le radici quadrate mi blocco.
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Allora partiamo da lì. Piantala con la paura della radice, è solo un’operazione. Ce la fai a fare questa?
👨🏼🦰 Lorenzo: Provo. Ma se mi blocco di nuovo, voglio farla finita con la matematica e iscrivermi a lettere.
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Non dirlo nemmeno per scherzo. Mio cugino Pietro voleva squagliarsela alla terza superiore e oggi fa l’ingegnere a Bologna.
👨🏼🦰 Lorenzo: Ah, ce l’ho fatta! Mi è uscito quindici. È giusto?
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Esatto. Visto che ce l’hai fatta? Adesso un’altra: te la senti di farne due in fila?
👨🏼🦰 Lorenzo: Me la sento. E poi me la godo un po’ al parco con Federica, ho meritato la pausa.
👩🏽🦱 Caterina: Godetevela tutta. Però lunedì vieni con l’esercitazione completa, eh.
What to notice in the dialogue
- smettila, piantala con la paura: smetterla / piantarla in the imperative.
- non ce la faccio, ce la fai, ce l’ho fatta: farcela across tenses, with participle agreement in fatta.
- te la senti, me la sento: sentirsela for willingness check.
- non te la prendere, non me la prendo: prendersela for taking offence.
- ce l’ho con la prof, ce l’ha con me: avercela con for holding a grudge.
- me la cavo con le equazioni: cavarsela for getting by.
- voglio farla finita, squagliarsela: farla finita and squagliarsela for putting an end / escaping.
- me la godo, godetevela: godersela for enjoying time off.
Test your understanding
Take the quiz below to test what you’ve learned about italian la idioms.
(Quiz coming soon)
Frequently asked questions
These questions about italian la idioms come from real B1 learners untangling Italian pronominal verbs. For the dictionary view, the Treccani entries on farcela and cavarsela give the full picture in standard Italian.
What does the la in smetterla refer to?
In modern Italian, nothing concrete. The la in italian la idioms is a fossilised pronoun that originally referred to a specific thing (often una cosa, a thing or situation), but in current usage the connection to any concrete noun is gone. The la is now part of the verb itself, like a fixed suffix. Smetterla means to stop it, with it being an unspecified annoying thing. The same logic applies to farcela, cavarsela, prendersela: la stands for the situation, the thing, the moment.
Smettila or smettila di + infinitive: which is correct?
Both are correct, with different functions. Smettila on its own is a command meaning stop it!, addressed to someone doing something annoying. Smettila di + infinitive specifies what to stop: smettila di fare rumore (stop making noise), smettila di lamentarti (stop complaining). Italians often use the bare form for short commands and the di + infinitive form when they want to spell out exactly what bothers them.
How do I make these compound tenses?
All italian la idioms use the same rule in compound tenses: the past participle agrees with la in the feminine singular. So ce l’ho fatta (not ce l’ho fatto), me la sono cavata (not cavato), l’ho smessa (not smesso), me la sono goduta (not goduto). Even when the speaker is male, the agreement is feminine because it tracks la, not the subject. Reflexive la-idioms (cavarsela, sentirsela, prendersela, godersela, squagliarsela) take essere as auxiliary; farcela and avercela take avere.
What’s the difference between smetterla and piantarla?
They mean roughly the same thing (to stop it), but the register differs. Smetterla is standard and works in any context. Piantarla is more colloquial and slightly stronger, with a flavour of frustration. Piantala con quel rumore is a more emphatic version of smettila con quel rumore. In writing, prefer smetterla; in heated speech, piantarla works. Both take di + infinitive: smettila di + infinitive, piantala di + infinitive.
Farcela vs cavarsela: how do they differ?
Farcela is about full success: I made it, I managed (often after effort). Cavarsela is about scraping by: I got by, I muddled through (with the implication that I’m not great at this). Ce l’ho fatta col compito = I succeeded in the test (good result). Me la sono cavata col compito = I scraped by in the test (passing but not impressive). Italians distinguish the two cleanly, and the choice tells the listener whether you triumphed or just survived.
Why ce l’ho fatta and not ce l’ho fatto?
Because the past participle agrees with the feminine pronoun la, not with the speaker or the subject. La is feminine singular, so the participle ends in -a: fatta. This rule is mandatory and applies regardless of who is speaking. A man who succeeded says ce l’ho fatta; a woman who succeeded says ce l’ho fatta. Both forms are identical because the agreement is with la, not with the gender of the speaker. The same logic governs me la sono cavata, l’ho smessa, me la sono goduta.
Can I use these in formal Italian?
Sparingly. Italian la idioms are colloquial-leaning expressions, comfortable in everyday speech, friendly writing, informal emails, and conversational journalism. In academic prose, legal documents, or formal reports, prefer the base verbs: riuscire instead of farcela (sono riuscito a finire = ce l’ho fatta a finire), arrabbiarsi con instead of avercela con, smettere di instead of smetterla. The la-idioms aren’t wrong in formal writing, but they sound out of register.
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