farsene una ragione

 

If you’ve been following the blog since the beginning, you’ve seen this phrase before. But how many of you remember it?

 

Ha! You’re not doing your homework!

 

Well, you get a second chance. Last week we discussed the verb farsene as it appeared in Il Commissario Manara on Yabla. Farsene or farsene di means to make use of. But how does that relate to the phrase farsene una ragione??

 

Well, not so much. Can we make it fit? Maybe, but I can’t vouch for the translation. Farsene una ragione means:

 

farsene una ragione
to come to terms with (or to get over it)

 

You could say:

 

farsene una ragione
to make use of a reason

 

That would be the literal translation and if I think about long enough I can see how this usage may have developed. But really all you need are lots of examples. Here they are:

 

Non riesco a farmene una ragione.
I can’t get over it.

 

E io ho dovuto farmene una ragione.
And I’ve had to live with it.

 

Perché non te ne fai una ragione?
Why don’t you come to terms with it?

 

Te ne fai una ragione e vai avanti.
You deal with it and you move on.

 

O te ne fai una ragione o la smetti di pensarci.
You either get over it or you stop thinking about it.

 

E se mi viene la botta di freddo me ne faccio una ragione e…
And if I get the sniffles, I just deal with it and…

 

Prima te ne fai una ragione, prima potrai scegliere.
The sooner you come to terms with it, the sooner you can make a choice.

 

Devono farsene una ragione o peggio per loro.
They need to get over it or it’s their loss.

 

Me ne sono fatto una ragione.
I made peace with it.

 

Credo che me ne farò una ragione.
I think I can live with that.

 

Me ne devo fare una ragione.
I have to deal with it.

 

Te ne devi fare una ragione.
You’ve got to deal with it.

 

Ma se ne faceva sempre una ragione.
But he always got over it.

 

It’s very nice as an imperative, too!

 

Tesoro, è il 2009, fattene una ragione.
Darling, it’s 2009, deal with it.

 

E allora… fattene una ragione, principessa.
So… get over it, princess.

 

È un cane, fattene una ragione.
He’s a dog, get over it.

 

Fattene una ragione, siamo solo bambini.
Face it, we’re just kids.

 

Get it from the mouth of a real Italian. Fiorella from Sgrammaticando explains the usage of farsene una ragione in this video.

 

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