Learn Italian: Mi manca il fiato perché cammino velocemente. - I am out of breath because I walk fast.

Mi manca il fiato perché cammino velocemente.

I am out of breath because I walk fast.

Breakdown of Mi manca il fiato perché cammino velocemente.

to be missing / to lack

Questions & Answers about Mi manca il fiato perché cammino velocemente.

Why does mi manca il fiato translate to "I am out of breath"?

Literally, it means "the breath is missing to me". The verb mancare works just like piacere. The grammatical subject of the sentence is actually il fiato (the breath), which is why the verb is in the "it" form (manca). The pronoun mi tells us who is missing it.

Why isn't the verb mancare conjugated as manco since the sentence is about "I"?

If you say manco, you are making "I" the subject, which would mean "I am absent" or "I am missing". To express that you lack something in Italian, that thing must be the subject. So, il fiato does the action of lacking, and it happens to you (mi).

How is the word velocemente formed?

It is an adverb meaning "fast" or "quickly". In Italian, adverbs are often made by taking the feminine singular form of an adjective and adding -mente (similar to "-ly" in English). Since veloce (fast) ends in "e", its feminine form is also veloce, so you simply add -mente to get velocemente.

This lesson is about anche se (even though/even if). Could we use it in this sentence instead of perché?