What I’m looking for

At one time or another, we are all looking for something — a person we’d like to meet, a place we’d like to visit, or something we need.  In all these situations, we can use the verb cercare, which means “to look for.”  But it is possible to extract many other shades of meaning from this simple verb.

Cercare can also mean “to ask for” or “to ask about” someone.

We can add the phrase “di fare” to cercare when “trying to do” something.  The connection between the verb cercare and the idea of “trying” is probably derived from the overlap in the meanings of  the verb “to look for” with the more emphatic verb “to seek.” The verb “to seek” emphasizes the attempt made and the effort of the search, or, in more modern terms, the way one is “trying to do” something.  Add another verb after “cercare di” to describe what you are trying to do.

There is a also pronominal form of cercare, which is cercarsela.  Cercarsela translates into the negative expression “to ask for it.”  This phrase is often used to describe someone who is skirting the rules of law, often in a disrespectful manner, with actions that everyone but the authorities seem to know about.  Notice how the pronominal form of cercare takes the general meaning of “to ask for” and personalizes it.  “Andarsela a cercare” is another way to say “to ask for it” in Italian, this time using the pronominal form of the verb andare.

And, by the way…

Keep in mind that the verb cercare includes a preposition!

The verb cercare includes “for” in its definition, which, as noted in above, is “to look for.”  Except when referring to a specific period of time, there is no need to add the Italian preposition per (for) after this verb.  In the same way, when Italians are “looking at” something, they simply use the verb guardare.  Again, the preposition “at” is included in the definition of guardare.  In English, of course, a preposition is added after the verb “to look” to describe “looking for” or “looking at” something in particular.

Finally, there are many common Italian expressions that use cercare, which are listed at the end of this blog.

How to Conjugate Cercare

Cercare is an irregular -are verb in the present tense in the tu and noi forms due to its -care ending. As with other -are verbs with this ending, a silent “h” must be added to the stem “cerc” before the endings that begin with -i.  This is to create a “chi” sound, like the English “key,” which preserves the hard sound “c” sound of the original verb. Otherwise, without the additional “h,” the Italian “ci” ending would be pronounced like the English “ch” sound in “cheese.”

The full conjugation of cercare is given in the table below.  Say each conjugated verb out loud and listen to how the additional “h” in the stem in the tu and noi forms keeps the pronunciation similar to the other forms of the verb.

Present Tense Cercare — To Look For

Past Tense Cercare:

Passato Prossimo: Cercato is the regular past participle of cercare. Avere is the helping verb for the passato prossimo.

The full conjugation is:
ho cercato, hai cercato, ha cercato,
abbiamo cercato, avete cercato, hanno cercato

Imperfetto: Cercare has a regular conjugation in the imperfetto past tense: cercavo, cercavi, cercava, cercavamo, cercavate, cercavano

Future tense Cercare: Cercare is an irregular verb in the future tense. For all conjugations, a silent “h” is added to the stem before the future endings, which all begin with an -e .  As with the present tense, the “h” serves to preserve the original hard “c” sound of the infinitive verb, as follows: cercherò, cercherai, cercherà, cercheremo, cercherete, cercheranno.

How to Conjugate Cercarsela

Cercarsela is a pronominal verb, or a verb used to create a “verbal expression” that functions as a verb. Pronominal verbs are recognized by the pronouns attached to the ending of the infinitive form of a verb in the -are, -ere, or -ire groups.  In this case,  the pronouns se and la are attached to the infinitive verb cercare.  These pronouns are included in the conjugation of cercarsela.

At first, it may seem complicated to conjugate this type of pronominal verb, since both se and cercare must be modified.  But, if you already know how to conjugate cercare, it is simply a matter of placing the correctly modified reflexive pronoun and la — in that order — before the conjugation of cercare.

Pronominal verbs are very common in conversational Italian.  Watch Italian movies or Italian TV and you will hear them often.  They are really worth mastering if you want to speak Italian like a native!

Use the following the method below, you will be conjugating this type of verb easily in no time!

1. Remove se and la from the ending of cercare.  Conjugate cercare to reflect the speaker.

2. Change the modified reflexive pronoun se to match the conjugated verb. Notice that if you are speaking about someone or a group of people, using the third person, the pronoun does not need to be modified from the infinitive ending, as it is already se!

The modified reflexive pronouns are:

Singular: me (myself),    te (yourself),     se (herself/himself/itself),

Plural:     ce (ourselves), ve (yourselves), se (themselves)

3. Put this verbal phrase together: Start with me, te, se, ce, or ve,  add la, and follow with the conjugated from of cercare.

4.  Of note: if a direct object is specified in the sentence, than la also needs to be changed to lo for a masculine singular object, li for masculine plural, and le for feminine plural. Notice that the translations are not “word for word” in the examples below.  Rather, the meaning is taken from the entire Italian sentence.

An example conjugation of cercarsela, in the second person past tense:
Change se to te, add la, and then add cercare conjugated into the passato prossimo (as in next section).

Present Tense Cercasela — To Ask for It

Past Tense Cercarsela:

Passato Prossimo: Cercata is the past participle for cercaresela. The -a ending of cercata corresponds to the feminine pronoun la that is part of this verb. 

Essere is the helping verb for the passato prossimo, as essere is the helping verb for all pronominal verbs in the passato prossimo.  In the third person singular, the -a ending can be dropped from la before è and replaced with an apostrophe to create l’è.

Place the pronouns in front of the passato prossimo verb and conjugate as usual.

The full conjugation is:
me la sono cercata,     te la sei cercata,      se la/l’ è cercata,
ce la siamo cercata,    ve la siete cercata,   se la sono cercata

Imperfetto: Cercarsela has a regular conjugation in the imperfetto past tense.  Just place the pronouns in front of the imperfetto verb and conjugate as usual.

The full conjugation is:
me la cercavo,      te la cercavi,        se la cercava,
ce la cercavamo,   ve la cercavate,   se la cercavano

By using  pronouns with cercare to create a verbal expression with cercarsela, we have changed the meaning of cercare  from “to look for” into “to ask for it.”

Andarsela is another “sela” pronominal verb and therefore is conjugated in the same way as cercarsela: remove the se and la and place the appropriate pronouns before the conjugated form of andare.  Remember that if a direct object is mentioned in the sentence, la is changed to lo, li, or le.

Create an even longer verbal phrase by adding “a cercare” for “andaresela a cercare,” and you have another way to say “to ask for it.” 

1. Use cercare to describe the physical action of looking for someone, a particular place, or a thing

• As noted in the introduction, cercare describes the physical act of looking for something — a person we’d like to meet, a place we’d like to visit, or something we need.
• There is no emphasis one way or another with this straightforward verb; all we learn is that something is being sought.  We do not know why the search or the amount of energy that is being expended based on this verb.
• And, remember, except when referring to a period of time, there is no need to add the Italian word that means “for” after cercare, as this preposition is included in the meaning of the verb itself.
• Also, many times in English we use the present progressive form of a verb — the “ing form — when the simple present tense will do.  This is especially apparent with the verb cercare, which implies an active search. In English, the phrase “looking for” is very common. But in Italian, the simple present tense “look for” is preferred; the Italian present progressive tense is only used to emphasize that an event is happening at the exact time of a conversation.  This difference also extends to the past progressive tense, “was/were looking for.”
• If looking for a person, cercare can be translated as “to ask for” or “to ask about.”
• Notice from the examples below that “cercare casa” is a special expression that means “to look for accommodation,” such as a house or apartment.  Also, the Italian and English tenses do not correspond directly, due to the different uses of the present and present progressive tenses of these languages.

Una breve storia: La ricerca per un’appartamento
A brief story: The search for an appartment

Rosa cerca casa a Roma.  
Rose is looking for an apartment in Rome.

Questo pomeriggio, sta cercando casa a Trastevere, perché l’affitto è un po’ basso in questa zona di Roma.
This afternoon, she is looking for an apartment in Trastevere, because the rent is a little lower in this Roman neighborhood. (implied: she is looking right now, as we are speaking)

Rosa ha cercato per quattro ore.  Ma non ho avuto nessuna fortuna.   
Rose looked for four hours.  But she didn’t have any luck.

Forse domani Rosa e il tuo fidanzato, Marco, cercheranno casa insieme.
Maybe tomorrow Rose and her boyfriend Mark will look for an apartment together.

**********

Ho cercato il mio cellulare per un’ora!  Ma non ho potuto trovarlo.
I looked for my cellphone for an hour!  But I couldn’t find it.

Ogni giorno, telefono all’ospitale e cerco mia madre.  
Every day I call the hospital and ask about my mother.  

Maria ha cercato Giovanni quando sono andata Roma, ma lui non c’era a casa.
Maria asked for John when she went to Rome, but he wasn’t at home.

2. Use for “cercare di fare” to say you are “trying to do” something and “cercare di” in general to say “trying to” 

• When we add “di fare” after the verb cercare, the meaning changes, and becomes “trying to do” something.  This phrase can also be translated as “to attempt” or “to seek to do” something.
• When an Italian uses cercare di, the emphasis is on the effort taken to accomplish a task, and the phrase can be followed by any infinitive verb that describes the task at hand.  The preposition di serves to link the conjugated form of cercare with the infinitive verb that describes what is being attempted.  Use of cercare di adds emphasis to the action undertaken. This phrase is often used with the verb trovare, which means “to find.”
• Another common way to say you are trying to do something is with “provare a.”  In this case, the preposition “a” links the conjugated form of provare with an infinitive verb.

Maria sta cercando di fare del suo meglio.  
Mary is trying to do her best.

Sto cercando di fare una torta per la compleanno della mia bambina oggi.
I’m trying to make a birthday cake for my little girl today. (right now)

Questo pomeriggio, Rosa sta cercando di trovare casa a Trastevere, perché l’affitto è un po’ basso in questa zona di Roma.
This afternoon, Rosa is trying to find an apartment in Trastevere, because the rent is a little lower in this neighborhood in Rome. (implied: she is looking right now, as we are speaking)

Sto cercando di trovare le parole giuste per dirti una cosa importante.
I am trying to find the right words to tell you something important. (as we are speaking, right now)

3. Use cercarsela or “andaresela a cercare” to say “to ask for it” with a negative connotation.

• Cercarsela translates into the negative expression “to ask for it.”  As mentioned in the introduction, this phrase is often used to describe someone who is skirting the rules of law, often in a disrespectful manner, with actions that everyone but the authorities seem to know about.  Notice how the pronominal form of cercare takes the general meaning of “to ask for” and personalizes it. 
• However, it should be mentioned that cercarsela can also have the identical definition of “to look for” as the root verb cercare.  If desired, one can choose to use this slightly more complicated way to say “to look for.”
• Once you have learned how to conjugate the “sela” pronominal verbs, try using “andarsela a cercare” for another way to say “to ask for it.” But be careful! In our last example, an object is mentioned so the la in andarsela must be changed to li.  

Marco esce la scuola ogni giorno per mangiare la pizza fuori.
Un giorno, lo scopriranno e se la sarà cerca!
Mark leaves school every day to eat pizza out.
One day, they will discover it and he is going to get it!

Il sindaco ha corrotto la polizia troppe volte per stare zitti.
Così, i problemi seri se li va a cercare!
The mayor has bribed the police too many times to keep quiet.
This way, he is going to get himself into serious trouble (problems)!
(The serious problems are the object mentioned that change la to li.)

4. Expressions that use cercare 

•  Searching for friends, work, or a place to sleep are common human needs that are expressed with the verb cercare in Italian.
• There are also many English sayings that describe searching which have Italian equivalents.  In particular, the desperation we feel and the effort we expend when looking for something that is difficult to find comes up frequently in both languages.

Remember the meanings of
cercare, cercare di and cercarsela
and I guarantee you will try to use
these verbs every day!

For “All the Italian you need to enjoy your trip to Italy,”® click on the links below to purchase my Conversational Italian for Travelers books – and then listen to the audiobook “Just the Important Phrases” on your favorite streaming platform!     —Kathryn Occhipinti

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are available on Amazon.com and www.LearnTravelItalian.com

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