ABSTRACT
SUBJECT AND OBJECT 161 kind of pronoun for the "generic person" (see on this term thfl chapter on Person). Si dice cos. means literally' (it) says itself thus,' G. 'es sagt sich so,' but that is equivalent to G. 'man sagt so,' and what was at first the object came to be regarded as the subject, and vice versa, as in 8i put} vederlo 'you can see him' ; this is shown in the change of number from si vendono biglietti, whcre biglietti is subject, into 8; t'ende biglietti, where it is object. Both constructions are now found side by side, thus in Fogazzaro, Santo, p. 291, Prego che si togliessero Ie candele, but p. 290 <iisse che si aspettava solamente loro.l
The logical kinship between subject and object also accounts (or the fact that there are here and there sentences without a. formal subject but with an object, as G. mich /riert, mich hungert. In the vast majority of cases, however, where a verb has only one primary, this will be felt as the subject and accordingly is, or in course of time comes to be, put in the nominative as the proper subject-case.
