Word
L'impiegato li verifica prima che il permesso scada.
Meaning
The clerk verifies them before the permit expires.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of L'impiegato li verifica prima che il permesso scada.
li
them (masculine direct object)
il permesso
the permit
l'impiegato
the employee (m)
prima che
before
Questions & Answers about L'impiegato li verifica prima che il permesso scada.
Why is scada used here instead of scade?
The phrase prima che (before) is a temporal conjunction that always requires the subjunctive mood. Since the main verb verifica is in the present tense, we use the present subjunctive scada for the second action.
Scada ends in an -a. Does it come from an -are verb?
No, it comes from the -ere verb scadere (to expire). In the present subjunctive, regular -ere and -ire verbs actually take an -a ending for the singular forms.
Could we use prima di instead of prima che in this sentence?
No, because there are two different subjects. The clerk (l'impiegato) is doing the verifying, and the permit (il permesso) is doing the expiring. You only use prima di + infinitive when the subject is the exact same for both actions.