Il ruolo cambia durante il gioco.

The role changes during the game.

Breakdown of Il ruolo cambia durante il gioco.

• durante: during
• cambiare: to change
• il gioco: the game
• il ruolo: the role

Questions & Answers about Il ruolo cambia durante il gioco.

What does il mean here, and why is it used?

Il is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• il ruolo = the role
• il gioco = the game

Italian uses articles more often than English does, so even where English might sometimes say role changes during play, Italian normally says il ruolo cambia durante il gioco.

Why is it cambia and not cambiare?

Cambia is the conjugated verb form, while cambiare is the infinitive.

Here, the subject is il ruolo (the role), which is third person singular, so the verb must match it:

• cambiare = to change
• il ruolo cambia = the role changes

A quick comparison:

• Io cambio = I change
• Tu cambi = you change
• Lui/lei cambia = he/she/it changes

Is cambia transitive or intransitive here?

Here it is being used intransitively, meaning it changes.

So:

• Il ruolo cambia = The role changes

If used transitively, it would mean changes something:

• Lui cambia il ruolo = He changes the role

In your sentence, no object follows cambia, so the meaning is simply that the role itself changes.