Word
Quando ti avvicini alla stalla, il cavallo ti guarda.
Meaning
When you come close to the stable, the horse looks at you.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Quando ti avvicini alla stalla, il cavallo ti guarda.
tu
you
quando
when
guardare
to look at
ti
you
Questions & Answers about Quando ti avvicini alla stalla, il cavallo ti guarda.
Why is it ti avvicini instead of just avvicini?
Because the verb here is avvicinarsi, which means to approach / to get closer.
It is a pronominal/reflexive-style verb, so it normally includes a reflexive pronoun:
- mi avvicino = I approach / I get closer
- ti avvicini = you approach / you get closer
- si avvicina = he/she approaches
So in this sentence, ti avvicini means you approach or you get closer.
Even though it looks reflexive, it does not literally mean you approach yourself. In Italian, some verbs simply use these pronouns as part of their normal form.
Why is there another ti in il cavallo ti guarda?
The two ti forms do different jobs:
- ti avvicini: here ti is part of the verb avvicinarsi
- ti guarda: here ti means you as the object of guarda
So:
- ti avvicini = you approach
- ti guarda = it looks at you
This is very common in Italian. The same pronoun form can appear twice in a sentence with different grammatical roles.
Why is it alla stalla?