UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun  si The pronoun  si  is used as an impersonal subject, either in sentences without a speci fi ed subject, or in sentences with a passive meaning. In both, it is always put before the verb. 1 Si  is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is not speci fi ed. It corresponds to the English ‘one’ or ‘you’ (as in ‘One never knows/You never know what’s just round the corner’), or ‘they’, meaning a number of unspeci fi ed people (as in ‘They eat kangaroo in Australia’). When  si  is used in this way, the verb is always in the third person singular: Si  in sentences where the subject is not specified Si esce  da questa porta. ‘Sono stato al mare.’ ‘Si vede: sei abbronzato!’ Si paga  alla cassa. C’è stato un incidente e non  si passa. All’ostello della gioventù  si spende meno. Per andare al museo si  passa  da piazza Garibaldi. You go out by this door. ‘I’ve been at the seaside.’ ‘It shows [lit. one sees]: you’ve got a tan!’ You pay/One pays at the till. There’s been an accident and you can’t get through. You spend less in a youth hostel. To get to the museum you go through piazza Garibaldi. As the examples suggest,  si  is often used for rules or general advice. 2 With verbs like  essere ,  diventare ,  sembrare , etc., followed by a noun or an adjective,  si  requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is always singular), and the adjective to be masculine plural: