Breakdown of Sara cerca una camicetta leggera per la cena di stasera.
di
of
cercare
to look for
per
for
la cena
the dinner
Questions & Answers about Sara cerca una camicetta leggera per la cena di stasera.
What does cerca mean here? Is it looks for or is looking for?
It can mean both, depending on context.
Sara cerca una camicetta leggera can be understood as:
- Sara looks for a light blouse
- Sara is looking for a light blouse
Italian present tense often covers both the simple present and the present continuous in English. If you really want to stress the ongoing action, Italian can also use stare + gerundio, for example Sara sta cercando..., but cerca is very normal here.
Why is it cerca and not cerchi or cerca with a pronoun?
Cerca is the third person singular form of cercare in the present tense, because the subject is Sara.
Present tense of cercare:
Since Sara = she, the correct form is cerca.
Why is it una camicetta?
Camicetta is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular indefinite article una.
- un = masculine singular
- una = feminine singular
So:
- un libro = a book
- una camicetta = a blouse