Breakdown of Volevo che il consulente mi dicesse come investire il mio reddito.
mio
my
come
how
volere
to want
mi
to me
dire
to say, to tell
investire
to invest
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
il consulente
consultant/advisor
il reddito
income
Questions & Answers about Volevo che il consulente mi dicesse come investire il mio reddito.
Why is the verb dicesse instead of following the normal rules for -ire verbs?
Dicesse is the imperfect subjunctive of dire. While dire looks like an -ire verb, its stem actually comes from the older Latin verb dicere. That is why its stem in the imperfect subjunctive is dic- rather than just d-. You add the regular -ere subjunctive endings to dic-, giving you dicesse.
Why are we using the imperfect subjunctive (dicesse) here rather than the present subjunctive (dica)?
The main verb Volevo (I wanted) expresses a desire, which requires the subjunctive in the che clause. Because Volevo is in a past tense (the imperfect indicative), the rules of tense sequence dictate that the verb in the dependent clause must also shift to the past. Therefore, we use the imperfect subjunctive dicesse.
Why is investire in the infinitive here?
After question words like come (how), dove (where), or cosa (what), Italian often uses the infinitive directly, just like we do in English with phrases like 'how to invest' or 'where to go'. You do not need an extra preposition here.
Why does the pronoun mi come before dicesse instead of attaching to it?
Mi (to me) is an indirect object pronoun. In most conjugated tenses, including the subjunctive, these pronouns must go immediately before the verb. They only attach to the end of the verb if it is an infinitive, gerund, or imperative command.
Why do we need the article il in il mio reddito? Doesn't mio already mean 'my'?
In Italian, possessive adjectives like mio almost always require the definite article (il, la, i, le) right in front of them. The main exception is when talking about singular family members (like mio padre), but since reddito (income) is a regular noun, you need both il and mio.
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