Maria corre veloce come Luca quando gioca a pallone.

Maria runs as fast as Luca when she plays soccer.

Breakdown of Maria corre veloce come Luca quando gioca a pallone.

• correre: to run
• quando: when
• veloce: fast
• come: as
• Luca: Luca
• Maria: Maria
• giocare a pallone: to play soccer

Questions & Answers about Maria corre veloce come Luca quando gioca a pallone.

Why is veloce used instead of velocemente to mean “fast” or “quickly”?

In Italian, many adjectives can act as adverbs when placed after the verb. Veloce here functions adverbially. The -mente form (velocemente) exists and is more formal, but dropping -mente is very common in spoken and informal Italian, especially with motion verbs like correre.

What is the function of come in the sentence? Is it the same as how in English?

Here, come means as/like and introduces a comparative phrase, not how. So Maria corre veloce come Luca translates to “Maria runs fast like Luca.” Although come can also mean how, context tells you it’s a comparison when paired with an adjective and a noun/proper name.

Why don’t we say così veloce come Luca or use tanto… quanto for the comparison?

Italian offers several comparative patterns: • così… come… (e.g. Maria corre così veloce come Luca)
• tanto… quanto… (e.g. Maria corre tanto veloce quanto Luca)
• simply adjective + come in colloquial speech.
In everyday language Italians often drop così or tanto and say correre veloce come. Using così or tanto… quanto is correct but can sound more formal or emphatic.

Why is the preposition a used in gioca a pallone, and can’t we say giocare il pallone?

In Italian, you giocare a a sport or game: giocare a calcio, giocare a pallone. Saying giocare il pallone is incorrect for “play ball.” If you want to emphasize the object itself, you could say giocare con il pallone (play with the ball), but for the activity or sport, the standard collocation is giocare a.

Why is quando followed by the indicative gioca instead of the subjunctive?

Quando as a temporal conjunction introducing habitual or factual actions always takes the indicative. The subjunctive appears after temporal conjunctions (quando, appena, finché, etc.) only when referring to a yet-to-occur event relative to the main clause.

Can we move the clause quando gioca a pallone to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Italian allows you to front time clauses for emphasis or style: • Quando gioca a pallone, Maria corre veloce come Luca.
You’d usually separate the clauses with a comma.