Breakdown of Il coltello deve essere maneggiato con attenzione.
con
with
l'attenzione
the attention
dovere
to have to
il coltello
the knife
maneggiare
to handle
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Questions & Answers about Il coltello deve essere maneggiato con attenzione.
What is the grammatical structure of "Il coltello deve essere maneggiato con attenzione"?
The sentence is built in the passive voice using a modal construction. It starts with the subject il coltello, followed by the modal verb deve (from dovere) that expresses obligation, then the auxiliary essere, and the past participle maneggiato. Finally, the phrase con attenzione functions as an adverbial phrase describing how the knife should be handled.
Why is the past participle maneggiato used instead of the infinitive form maneggiare?
In Italian, the passive voice is formed using the auxiliary essere plus the past participle, not the infinitive. Maneggiato is the past participle of maneggiare and it must agree in gender and number with the subject il coltello (masculine, singular).
What does con attenzione mean in this context?
Con attenzione literally translates as "with attention," but in context it is best understood as "with care" or "carefully." It specifies the manner in which the knife should be handled.
What role does the modal verb deve play in the sentence?
Deve is the third person singular form of dovere and indicates necessity or obligation. In this sentence, it translates to "must," implying that handling the knife in a careful manner is required.
Why is the definite article il used with coltello?
Coltello is a masculine singular noun, and the standard definite article for most masculine singular nouns in Italian is il. This is why il coltello is used instead of forms like lo coltello or la coltello.