Learn Hardcore Italian: Se non annaffi il basilico, le foglie diventano secche. - If you don’t water the basil, the leaves become dry.

Annaffi is the second-person singular present indicative of innaffiare (“to water”). In Italian, when you state a real or general condition (the “zero conditional”), you use the present indicative in the “if” clause. For hypothetical or unlikely situations, you’d switch to se + imperfect subjunctive (e.g. Se non annaffiassi il basilico…) and a conditional in the main clause.

Why are both verbs (annaffi and diventano) in the present tense instead of the future?

Italian uses the present indicative in both clauses to express general truths or natural consequences (zero conditional). It corresponds to the English “If you don’t water the basil, the leaves dry out.” If you want to talk about a specific future event, you’d change to the future tense: “Se non innaffierai il basilico, le foglie diventeranno secche.”

Why is there no subject pronoun tu before annaffi?

Italian verb endings already indicate the subject, so personal pronouns like tu are usually dropped unless you need extra emphasis or contrast. Annaffi on its own clearly means “you water.”

Why is there a comma after il basilico?

When a subordinate clause (here, Se non annaffi il basilico) comes before the main clause, standard punctuation calls for a comma. If you invert the order—“Le foglie diventano secche se non annaffi il basilico”—you normally drop the comma.

Why does secche follow le foglie, and why is it spelled with cche?

Most descriptive adjectives in Italian follow the noun they modify, so secche comes after le foglie. The ending must agree in gender and number with le foglie (feminine plural). Orthographically, a hard “k” sound before e or i is written with ch, so combining the base secco (with cc) and the feminine plural -e yields secche.

Could you replace diventano secche with si seccano or another verb?

Yes. For example:

Se non innaffi il basilico, le foglie si seccano. (using the reflexive seccarsi)
Se non innaffi il basilico, le foglie appassiscono. (using appassire, “to wilt”)
Diventare secco (“become dry”) highlights the resulting state, while seccarsi/appassire focuses more on the process. All forms are correct; it’s a matter of nuance.

Can you omit the definite article le before foglie or il before basilico?

In most cases no. Italian generally requires definite articles with countable nouns in specific or general statements. Here il basilico refers to that particular plant, and le foglie to its leaves. Dropping them (“Se non annaffi basilico, foglie diventano secche”) sounds ungrammatical.

Can you use quando (“when”) instead of se (“if”)?

No—quando expresses a temporal “when,” implying the action will certainly occur. Se introduces a condition (“if”) and expresses uncertainty or dependency. To convey cause and effect, you must use se.

Why is il basilico singular but le foglie plural?

Here il basilico means “the basil plant” (one plant). That single plant naturally has multiple le foglie (“the leaves”), so the subject in the main clause is plural and the verb is diventano (“they become”).

Why is the negative particle non placed before annaffi?

In Italian, standard negation is formed with non immediately before the conjugated verb (non + verb). Placing non after the verb (annaffi non) would be ungrammatical, except in special emphatic or poetic contexts.