Breakdown of Speriamo che lavorino nell'orto.
lavorare
to work
nel
in the (in + il) / while / upon (doing something)
sperare
to hope
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
l'orto
the vegetable garden (m)
Questions & Answers about Speriamo che lavorino nell'orto.
Why do we use the subjunctive lavorino here instead of the normal present tense lavorano?
The verb speriamo (we hope) expresses a wish, hope, or expectation. In Italian, verbs that show emotion, doubt, or hopes in the main sentence almost always trigger the subjunctive mood in the following che clause.
How is the present subjunctive lavorino formed from lavorare?
For regular -are verbs like lavorare, you drop the -are ending and add the subjunctive endings. For the "they" (loro) form, the present subjunctive ending is -ino. This makes lavorino, which looks quite different from the regular present tense lavorano.
We know "they" work, but there is no word for "they" in the sentence. Can I say Speriamo che loro lavorino?
Yes, you can add loro for emphasis, but it is usually left out. The ending of lavorino already tells us the subject is "they". While subject pronouns are often needed with singular subjunctive verbs because the "I", "you", and "he/she/it" forms are all identical, the plural forms are unique, so pronouns are usually dropped.
Why is it nell'orto instead of just in orto?
nell'orto is a combined word (an articulated preposition) made from in plus the definite article l' (the). When talking about being in a specific physical space like a garden, Italian usually requires the definite article. Since orto starts with a vowel, the combination is nell'.
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