Breakdown of Il bambino vuole ancora giocare con il cane.
il cane
the dog
volere
to want
il bambino
the child
giocare
to play
con
with
ancora
still
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Italian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Il bambino vuole ancora giocare con il cane.
What is the grammatical subject of the sentence?
The grammatical subject is il bambino, meaning the child. This noun performs the action of wanting.
Why is giocare in the infinitive form after vuole?
Because volere is a modal verb and is always followed by an infinitive in Italian. So vuole giocare literally corresponds to he/she wants to play, with vuole conjugated and giocare remaining in its base form.
What does ancora mean here?
Here ancora means still, indicating that the child continues to want to play with the dog.
Can I use di nuovo instead of ancora in this sentence?
Yes, di nuovo means again and would focus on repetition (the child wants to play with the dog again). Ancora emphasizes continuous desire (the child still wants to play with the dog).
Where can ancora be placed within the sentence? Are other positions acceptable?
The most natural spot is between the conjugated verb and the infinitive (vuole ancora giocare). You can also place it after the infinitive (vuole giocare ancora), which slightly shifts emphasis. Placing it at the very beginning (ancora vuole giocare…) is grammatically possible but less common in everyday speech.
Why do we say con il cane? Could we say con cane?
In Italian, countable singular nouns require a definite article. Con il cane means with the dog. Omitting il (con cane) would sound incorrect because you need il to specify that particular dog.
Why does Italian use the definite article il with both bambino and cane, whereas English sometimes omits the?
Italian typically uses definite articles before common nouns more often than English. What English expresses by context sometimes needs il, la, etc. in Italian, so even familiar or generic nouns are usually marked with an article.
Can I replace il cane with a pronoun in this sentence?
Yes. After the preposition con, you’d use lui (for a male dog) or lei (for a female dog):
Il bambino vuole ancora giocare con lui.
Is it correct to say col cane instead of con il cane?
Col is a contraction of con il, so col cane is grammatically correct and means the same. It’s somewhat more colloquial or literary; in modern everyday Italian, you often see con il cane written out.