Breakdown of La tua risposta ci sorprende.
Questions & Answers about La tua risposta ci sorprende.
Why is ci placed before sorprende instead of after?
In Italian, direct object pronouns like ci (us) are placed immediately before the conjugated verb. So while English says surprises us, Italian structures it as us surprises (ci sorprende). Why do we need the word La in front of tua? Doesn't tua already mean your?
In Italian, you usually must use a definite article (like il or la) right before a possessive word. Because risposta is a feminine singular noun, you need both the feminine singular article la and the feminine singular possessive tua. Literally, it is like saying the your answer. Is the verb sorprende matching with ci (us)?
No, verbs always match the subject doing the action, not the object receiving it. The subject here is La tua risposta (Your answer), which counts as a third-person it. Because sorprendere (to surprise) is a regular -ere verb, it takes the third-person ending -e, becoming sorprende. I remember seeing ci meaning there in words like c'è. Does it mean us here?
Yes, ci has a few different jobs in Italian! While it does mean there in phrases like c'è (there is) and ci sono (there are), it is also the direct object pronoun for us. The context of the sentence will always tell you which one it is. Learn La tua risposta ci sorprende and more in Italian
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