Breakdown of Voglio che i delfini seguano la corrente.
seguire
to follow
volere
to want
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
la corrente
the current
il delfino
the dolphin
Questions & Answers about Voglio che i delfini seguano la corrente.
Why does the Italian sentence say Voglio che i delfini seguano instead of using an infinitive like voglio i delfini seguire?
In English, we say 'I want someone to do something'. In Italian, you cannot use the infinitive this way. When the subject changes from the person wanting to the person doing the action, you must split the sentence with che (that) and use the subjunctive mood. You are literally saying: I want that the dolphins follow.
Why is seguano used here instead of the normal present tense seguono?
The verb volere (to want) expresses a desire. In Italian, expressing a desire, hope, or wish about someone else's actions is a classic trigger for the subjunctive mood. That is why the regular present tense seguono changes to the subjunctive seguano.
How is the subjunctive form seguano built from seguire?
Seguire (to follow) is a regular -ire verb. To form the present subjunctive for loro (they), you drop the infinitive ending and add -ano. Remember that in the present subjunctive, regular -ere and -ire verbs take endings starting with an a, which feels like the opposite of the regular present tense.
Since seguire is an -ire verb, why doesn't it use the -isc- infix like capire (which becomes capiscano)?
While many -ire verbs insert the -isc- infix into their stem before the ending, seguire is one of the verbs that does not. It attaches the subjunctive ending directly to the base stem (segu-). Because there is no simple rule for this, you just have to memorize which -ire verbs take -isc- and which do not.
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