Learn Italian: Lavora male perché ha sonno. - He works badly because he is sleepy.

Lavora male perché ha sonno.

He works badly because he is sleepy.

Breakdown of Lavora male perché ha sonno.

Questions & Answers about Lavora male perché ha sonno.

Does perché mean 'because' or 'why'?

It means both! In Italian, you use perché to ask 'Why?' and also to answer with 'Because...'. In this sentence, it connects the two ideas to mean 'because'.

Why does the sentence say ha sonno instead of using the verb for 'is'?

In English, we say someone 'is sleepy', but Italians literally say they 'have sleep'. It uses ha (he/she has) and the noun sonno (sleep). Italian uses the verb avere (to have) for many physical states, like being hungry (avere fame) or thirsty (avere sete).

There is no word for 'he' in this sentence. How do we know who is working?

Italian usually drops subject pronouns like lui (he) or lei (she). You can tell it is 'he' or 'she' because of the verb forms lavora and ha. Without extra context, this exact sentence could also mean 'She works badly because she is sleepy'.

Can I use cattivo instead of male to say he works badly?

No, because cattivo is an adjective meaning 'bad' and is used to describe nouns (like a bad dog or a bad situation). Male is an adverb meaning 'badly' or 'poorly', which is used to describe an action, like how someone works (lavora).