Question 1

What is the si doing in si copia?

Accepted Answer

This is the impersonal si (often called the passive si). It is used when you are not talking about a specific person doing the action. It is exactly like saying 'How does one copy...' or 'How do you copy...' in general English.

Question 2

Is si copia a reflexive verb here, like saying the link copies itself?

Accepted Answer

No, even though it uses the pronoun si, it is not reflexive in this sentence. The impersonal si just happens to share the same pronoun as the third-person reflexive. Context tells us that a web link cannot copy itself!

Question 3

How do we know to use the masculine questo with the English word link?

Accepted Answer

Foreign loanwords in Italian, such as link, computer, or bar, are almost always treated as masculine by default. Because of this, the word takes the masculine singular word for 'this', which is questo.

Question 4

If I wanted to ask about copying multiple links, how would the sentence change?

Accepted Answer

The verb would change to the plural! You would say, Come si copiano questi link? When using the impersonal si with a direct object like 'links', the verb must agree with the object being acted upon. Also notice that the English loanword link does not get an 's' added to it in the plural.

Come si copia questo link?

Breakdown of Come si copia questo link?

Questions & Answers about Come si copia questo link?

Learn Come si copia questo link and more in Italian