is to the advantage of the subject (cf. English ‘I’m making myself a co ff ee’ [i.e. a co ff ee for myself], ‘They’re going to have themselves some fun’ [i.e. some fun for themselves]): 7 Another common use of the Italian re fl exive pronoun occurs in cases like the following, where English would use a possessive adjective (‘my’, ‘your’, etc.) rather than a re fl exive pronoun: 8 When re fl exive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compound tense), the auxiliary is always  essere  (even if the verb itself would form the past tenses with  avere ), and the past participle always agrees with the subject: 9 The re fl exive pronouns, like all unstressed pronouns, can be attached to the in fi nitive of a verb (mainly after  dovere ,  potere ,  volere  or  sapere ). In these sentences, when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other compound tense), the auxiliary is  avere , and the past participle does  not agree: Devo alzarmi presto. Mio fratello non vuole lavarsi. Paolo e Francesca hanno voluto sposarsi. Non abbiamo potuto lavarci. I’ve got to get up early. My brother doesn’t want to wash. Paolo and Francesca wanted to get married. We couldn’t wash. Paolo si  è  svegliat o  tardi. Maria si  è  annoiat a. Vittorio, a che ora  ti  sei alzat o ? Paolo e Francesca si  sono  sposat i. Claudio e Anna si  sono  lavat i  le mani. Sabina si  è  mangiat a  un panino. Si  sono  fatt i  un ca ff è. Paolo woke up late. Maria got bored. Vittorio, what time did you get up? Paolo and Francesca have got married. Claudio and Anna washed their hands. Sabina ate a sandwich. They made (themselves) a co ff ee. Mi mangio un panino. Perché non ci facciamo una partita a carte? Paolo si mangia sempre tutti i biscotti. I’m going to eat a sandwich. Why don’t we have a game of cards? Paolo always eats all the biscuits. Mi lavo le mani. Ti metti il cappotto? Anna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni. I wash my hands. Are you going to put your coat on? Anna washes her hair every day. Unit 20 145