Breakdown of Firmo quella clausola, purché Lei paghi l'anticipo.
quello
that
Lei
you (formal)
pagare
to pay
firmare
to sign
purché
provided that / as long as
la clausola
clause
l'anticipo
advance payment
Questions & Answers about Firmo quella clausola, purché Lei paghi l'anticipo.
Why is paghi used here instead of the regular present tense paga?
The word purché means "provided that" or "as long as". It introduces a condition that must be met for the first action to happen. In Italian, conjunctions of condition like purché always require the verb that follows them to be in the subjunctive mood, which is why we use paghi instead of the indicative paga.
Could I use a patto che instead of purché here?
Yes! a patto che also means "provided that" or "on the condition that". If you swap it in, the sentence means exactly the same thing and still requires the subjunctive: Firmo quella clausola, a patto che Lei paghi l'anticipo.
Why does the verb paghi have an "h" added to it?
The infinitive is pagare. When forming the present subjunctive for the io, tu, and lui/lei/Lei forms, the ending is usually -i for -are verbs. To keep the hard "g" sound of pagare before an i, Italian spelling rules require adding an "h". Without it, pagi would be pronounced with a soft "j" sound.
Why is Lei capitalized in the middle of the sentence?
Capitalizing Lei is the standard way to show you are using the formal "you" rather than the literal meaning "she". This shows the speaker is talking in a formal setting, such as a business deal, which makes sense since they are discussing signing a clause and paying an advance.
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