Breakdown of Il veterinario vuole che lui nutra il gattino.
lui
he
volere
to want
il gattino
the kitten
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
il veterinario
the veterinarian
nutrire
to feed
Questions & Answers about Il veterinario vuole che lui nutra il gattino.
Why is nutra in the subjunctive mood here?
The English says 'wants him to feed'. Why doesn't Italian use the infinitive nutrire here?
English uses an infinitive structure for this ('wants someone to do something'). Italian never does this when the subjects are different. You must use volere che followed by a conjugated verb in the subjunctive, which literally translates to 'wants that he feeds'.
Why did they include the pronoun lui instead of dropping it like usual?
In the present subjunctive, the verb forms for I, you, and he/she are often exactly the same. For the verb nutrire, they are all nutra. Including lui clarifies that the vet wants him to feed the kitten, preventing confusion with I or you.
Nutrire is an '-ire' verb. Why does nutra end in an '-a'?
In the present subjunctive, regular -ere and -ire verbs take an -a ending for the singular subjects (io, tu, lui/lei). This can be tricky because it feels like the opposite of the normal indicative mood. (Note: nutrire can also be conjugated with the '-isc-' pattern, so nutrisca would also be perfectly correct here).
How does gattino mean 'kitten' instead of just 'cat'?
It uses the diminutive suffix -ino, added to the root of gatto (cat). This suffix is commonly added to nouns in Italian to indicate that something is small or endearing.
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