Breakdown of La scarpiera di cui ti parlavo ha tre ripiani regolabili.
avere
to have
di
of
parlare
to talk
il ripiano
the shelf
te
you
tre
three
la scarpiera
the shoe rack
cui
which
regolabile
adjustable
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Questions & Answers about La scarpiera di cui ti parlavo ha tre ripiani regolabili.
What does scarpiera mean?
Scarpiera is a piece of furniture for storing shoes, equivalent to “shoe rack” or “shoe cabinet” in English.
Why do we say di cui ti parlavo instead of just che ti parlavo?
The verb parlare when talking about a topic requires the preposition di. The relative pronoun cui takes the place of di cui (about which). You cannot use che without adding a preposition.
Can you break down the structure di cui ti parlavo?
di cui is the prepositional relative pronoun meaning “about which,” ti is the indirect object pronoun “to you,” and parlavo is the imperfect tense of parlare (“I was talking”). Together they mean “that I was talking to you about.”
Why is parlavo in the imperfect tense?
The imperfect tense expresses an ongoing or habitual action in the past. Here it indicates that you had been mentioning the shoe cabinet over a period of time, not just in a single moment.
Why is there no subject pronoun before parlavo?
In Italian, subject pronouns (like io) are often omitted because the verb ending (–avo) already indicates the subject.
Why is ha used here instead of hanno?
Ha is the third-person singular form of avere because the subject la scarpiera is singular. If you were talking about multiple cabinets, you’d say hanno.
What does ripiani regolabili mean?
Ripiani are “shelves” (plural of ripiano) and regolabili means “adjustable.” So ripiani regolabili means “adjustable shelves.”
Why does the adjective regolabili come after ripiani?
In Italian, descriptive adjectives normally follow the noun. Placing the adjective after the noun is the standard word order; you could use a relative clause (ripiani che sono regolabili) but it’s less concise.
Why is the adjective regolabili plural?
Because adjectives in Italian must agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. Ripiani is masculine plural, so the adjective takes the masculine plural ending –i.
Can I omit ti in di cui ti parlavo?
Yes. You can say di cui parlavo if context makes it clear who you were talking to. Ti simply specifies “to you”; without it, the meaning becomes more general (“that I was talking about”).
Is di cui considered formal, or can I use it in everyday conversation?
Di cui is perfectly common in both spoken and written Italian. It’s a standard way to introduce a relative clause when the verb requires di.