essere lì lì per + infinitive
Ciao a tutti! I want to apologize for posting this item too soon! I’m still getting the hang of publishing with WordPress, so please bear with me. I also made an error in yesterday’s translation. Please visit it again to see the correction!
For the next five days, we are going to study five phraseological verbs (verbi fraseologici) — these are a special “family” of verbs that are used to indicate a particular meaning of an action when coupled with an infinitive or gerund — read more about phraseological verbs on ILGUR.com.
Today’s Parola del Giorno is the phrasal verb, essere lì lì per + infinitive, which means to be about to or to be on the verge of doing something and describes an action that is imminent or about to take place.
See the verb expression used below in its context:
Ero lì lì per chiamare Maria quando ha squillato il mio telefonino! Che sorpesa! Era proprio Maria!
I was on the verge of calling Maria when my mobile rang! What a surprise! It was Maria calling!
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[...] essere lì lì per + infinito | to be on the verge of doing something Ero lì lì per chiamare Maria quando ha squillato il mio telefonino! Che sorpesa! Era proprio Maria! [...]
Mio compagno mi ha detto che ‘essere lì lì per’ è gergo. Lui mi ha proposto una altra frase, ‘essere in procinto di’ – qual’è la differenza?
Grazie!
Ciao! It is more often used in spoken Italian than written, but it is not slang.
‘Essere procinto di’ is also “un verbo fraseologico” and has the same meaning as ‘essere procinto di’
Thanks for the comment!