Breakdown of Il cassetto si blocca se c’è troppa polvere.
essere
to be
se
if
ci
there
troppo
too much
il cassetto
the drawer
la polvere
the dust
bloccarsi
to get stuck
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Questions & Answers about Il cassetto si blocca se c’è troppa polvere.
Why is bloccarsi used instead of bloccare?
bloccarsi is the reflexive (pronominal) form of bloccare. While bloccare means “to block” something else, bloccarsi means “to get stuck” or “to jam.” Since the drawer is the thing that becomes stuck, Italian uses si blocca (“it jams”) rather than blocca.
What role does si play in si blocca?
The si is a reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject, il cassetto. It shows that the action is performed on the drawer itself—it “blocks itself,” i.e. it gets stuck.
What does se c’è mean exactly?
se means “if,” introducing a condition. c’è is a contraction of ci + è, where ci is an impersonal pronoun used with essere to express existence. So se c’è literally means “if there is.”
Why is there an apostrophe in c’è?
Italian drops one vowel when two vowels meet: ci è becomes c’è. The apostrophe shows the elision of the i in ci before è.
Why is it troppa polvere instead of troppe polveri?
polvere (dust) is a feminine singular, uncountable noun. The adjective troppo must agree in gender and number, so it becomes troppa for feminine singular. You don’t pluralize polvere because it’s uncountable—hence, “too much dust,” not “too many dusts.”
Why does troppa come before the noun, while many Italian adjectives follow the noun?
Quantifiers and degree words like troppo, molto, poco, abbastanza normally precede the noun in Italian: troppa polvere, molto lavoro, poco tempo.
Why is the present tense si blocca used here rather than past or future?
The present indicative in Italian often expresses general truths or habitual facts. This sentence states what normally happens: the drawer gets stuck when there’s too much dust.
Could I use quando instead of se in this sentence?
quando means “when” and implies that the event definitely occurs. se means “if,” indicating a possible condition. Saying quando c’è troppa polvere would suggest the drawer will for sure jam whenever there’s dust, which shifts the nuance from conditional to inevitable.