Il passeggero che ho incontrato ieri mi ha consigliato un ristorante in campagna.

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Breakdown of Il passeggero che ho incontrato ieri mi ha consigliato un ristorante in campagna.

• in: in
• incontrare: to meet
• il ristorante: the restaurant
• che: that
• il passeggero: the passenger
• ieri: yesterday
• mi: to me
• consigliare: to recommend
• la campagna: the countryside

Questions & Answers about Il passeggero che ho incontrato ieri mi ha consigliato un ristorante in campagna.

Why is che used here instead of something like chi?

In Italian, che is the most common relative pronoun used for both "that" and "who/whom." You wouldn't say chi in this case because chi can be used in indirect questions ("Chi ha parlato?") or to mean "whoever," but it isn't typically used as a relative pronoun. So che is correct for "The passenger that I met yesterday...".

Why do we say ho incontrato instead of something like incontrai?

The phrase ho incontrato is in the present perfect (passato prossimo), which is used in Italian to talk about a completed action that is often tied to a specific moment in time, in this case yesterday. Incontrai is the simple past (passato remoto), and it's usually reserved for historical or literary contexts, or when referencing events in the distant past.

What does mi ha consigliato literally mean, and why do we use mi there?

Literally, mi ha consigliato means "(he/she) advised me." The word mi is the direct object pronoun meaning "me," and it indicates who is receiving the advice. In English, we say "he recommended a restaurant to me," but in Italian, the construction is "he advised me (of) a restaurant."

Why is it un ristorante rather than uno ristorante?

In Italian, uno is used before masculine nouns that start with z, s+consonant, pn, ps, gn, or x (e.g., uno zio, uno studente). Since ristorante starts with r, a normal consonant, we use un instead of uno.

How is in campagna different from saying alla campagna or nella campagna?

Saying in campagna follows a common Italian pattern for places: in + location indicates "in the countryside" in a general sense. Alla campagna isn't idiomatic in Italian, and nella campagna is more literal, meaning "inside the countryside," which might sound a bit off in everyday speech. In campagna is simply the standard way to express going to or being in the countryside.