Originally Posted by ***Stef***

"Ci" usually means "us", so when you say "Ci vediamo settimana prossima" it means something like "We will see (each other) the next week". In this kind of sentences "ci" is needed to underline that the verb is reflexive: the closest english translation would sounds something like "We will see ourselves the next week"; if one would say "(noi) vediamo la settimana prossima" without "ci", "the next week" will become the direct object of the verb, which is meaningless. there are also other meanings of "ci" in Italian, such as in "Il libro non ci sta sullo scaffale", which means "there is no space for the book on the shelf"; in this case it's used to say *where* the book cannot be placed. You could say the same sentence without ci ("Il libro sta sullo scaffale"), but there would be a slight shift of meaning (the book *isn't* on the shelf); besides that, the sentence would be a regionalism, so would be incorrect in terms of standard Italian. I'm afraid words like "ci", which, if i remember well, are called particelle pronominali, aren't always regulated by grammar rules, sometimes what makes their use right or wrong is just the habit developed during the ages.
For what concerns "se" before a verb, it has the same meaning as "if" in english, at least in your example: it's the if-clause of a hypothesis, which should be followed by a main-clause ("Se premo le spine della rosa, mi pungo" - "if i push the rose thorns, i'll prick myself").
I hope this could be helpful to you!

Originally Posted by listenning-center@hotmail

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