Log inSign up

L'insegnante gli fa una domanda difficile.

L'insegnante gli fa una domanda difficile.
The teacher asks them a difficult question.
From Lesson 62:Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)·Italian

Questions & Answers about L'insegnante gli fa una domanda difficile.

Why does gli mean "them" here? Doesn't it mean "to him"?
Yes, gli officially means "to him". However, in everyday conversational Italian, people constantly use gli before the verb to mean "to them" as well! The strictly formal word for "to them" is loro, which always goes after the verb (fa loro instead of gli fa).
Why does the sentence use fa (from fare, to make/do) instead of a verb that means "asks"?
In Italian, the standard set phrase for asking a question is fare una domanda (literally "to make a question"). You use a verb like chiedere (to ask) when you are asking for something specific, like a favor or an object, rather than pairing it with the noun "question" itself.
Domanda is feminine, so why doesn't the adjective change to difficila?
Adjectives that end in -e in their singular dictionary form, like difficile or intelligente, do not change for gender. They stay exactly the same whether they describe a masculine or feminine noun. They only change to an -i when they become plural (domande difficili).
How do we know if l'insegnante is a male or female teacher?
In this specific sentence, we don't! The noun insegnante is used for both men and women. Normally you might look at the word for "the" to check the gender (il vs la), but here both shrink to l' because insegnante starts with a vowel. We would need more context to know the teacher's gender.

Learn L'insegnante gli fa una domanda difficile and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Italian →