Breakdown of Il pomodoro che il contadino raccoglie tocca la terra.
il pomodoro
the tomato
toccare
to touch
che
who, that (relative pronoun)
il contadino
the farmer
raccogliere
to harvest / to collect / pick up
la terra
the earth
Questions & Answers about Il pomodoro che il contadino raccoglie tocca la terra.
Is che the subject or the direct object in this sentence?
Here, che is the direct object of the relative clause. It stands in for the tomato (il pomodoro), which is the thing being gathered. The subject actually doing the gathering is the farmer (il contadino).
In English, I could just say 'The tomato the farmer gathers...' Can I drop che in Italian?
No, you can never drop the relative pronoun che in Italian. While English lets you skip the word 'that', Italian grammar strictly requires it to connect the two parts of the sentence.
Why is the main verb tocca so far away from its subject, il pomodoro?
What is the infinitive of the verb raccoglie?
The infinitive is raccogliere, which means 'to gather', 'to pick', or 'to collect'. It follows the regular -ere verb pattern in the present tense, making the 'he/she/it' form raccoglie.
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