Si manda una cartolina quando si visita una città nuova.

the city

Breakdown of Si manda una cartolina quando si visita una città nuova.

• quando: when
• nuovo: new
• visitare: to visit

Questions & Answers about Si manda una cartolina quando si visita una città nuova.

What does the pronoun si mean in si manda?

The si here is the impersonal pronoun. It doesn’t refer to “he,” “she,” or “you” specifically, but to people in general. In English it translates as “one,” “you,” or “people”:
One sends a postcard when one visits a new city.

Why is there another si before visita?

Each verb in an impersonal construction needs its own si. Since you have two actions (manda and visita), you attach si to both to keep them generic/habitual.

Is this construction passive or impersonal?

It’s impersonal si, not the true passive. With impersonal si, the focus is on the action without naming the subject. A passive si would emphasise that something happens to the object (e.g. “Cartoline si mandano…”), but here we’re simply stating a general habit.

Why is the verb conjugated in the third person singular?

Impersonal si always takes 3rd person singular when there’s no explicit subject. That’s why you see manda and visita instead of plural forms.

Why is una cartolina singular? Could we use the plural?