Log inSign up

Lo psicologo crede di meritare la terapia per ogni emozione negativa.

Lo psicologo crede di meritare la terapia per ogni emozione negativa.
The psychologist believes he deserves therapy for every negative emotion.
From Lesson 187:Avoiding the subjunctive with di (penso di andare)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Lo psicologo crede di meritare la terapia per ogni emozione negativa.

Why does this sentence use di meritare instead of che + subjunctive?
Because the person doing the believing (the psychologist) and the person doing the deserving (also the psychologist) are the same. When the subject of a verb like credere is the same for both actions, Italian uses di + the infinitive (meritare). If he believed that someone else deserved therapy, you would use che followed by the subjunctive.
Why is the article lo used for psicologo instead of il?
For masculine singular nouns, you must use lo instead of il when the word begins with ps-. This same rule applies to words starting with z-, gn-, pn-, or s followed by a consonant.
Why doesn't ogni change its ending to match the feminine noun emozione?
The word ogni (every/each) is invariable, which means its ending never changes. It stays exactly the same whether it is used with a masculine or feminine noun, and it is always followed by a singular noun.
Why does the Italian sentence say la terapia if the English translation is just "therapy"?
In Italian, abstract nouns or nouns referring to a broad, general concept (like "therapy" in this context) usually require the definite article. English often drops the article in these general cases.

Learn Lo psicologo crede di meritare la terapia per ogni emozione negativa and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Italian →