Learn Italian: Chi ama molto soffre molto. - Those who love a lot suffer a lot.

Chi ama molto soffre molto.

Those who love a lot suffer a lot.

Breakdown of Chi ama molto soffre molto.

whoever / the people who (the one who, those who)

soffrire

to suffer

Questions & Answers about Chi ama molto soffre molto.

The translation says 'Those who...', but the verbs ama and soffre are singular. Why is that?

The pronoun chi translates to 'whoever' or 'the people who'. Even when it refers to a plural group of people in English, chi is grammatically singular in Italian. It always takes a third-person singular verb.

Could I say quelli che instead of chi in this sentence?

Yes, you could rephrase it as quelli che amano molto soffrono molto. However, using chi is a much more concise and elegant way to express 'the people who' or 'he who', which makes it a favorite for proverbs and general statements like this one.

Why isn't there a subject word right before soffre?

The pronoun chi sets up the subject for both halves of the sentence. The entire first phrase chi ama molto (whoever loves a lot) essentially functions as the subject that performs the second action, soffre molto (suffers a lot).

Why doesn't the word molto change its ending here?

In this sentence, molto is an adverb describing how much someone loves or suffers. When modifying a verb to mean 'a lot', it never changes its ending. It would only change to molti or molta if it were an adjective describing a noun, like 'many friends' (molti amici).