Breakdown of Nessuno pensava che io facessi debiti per investire.
io
I
per
for / in order to / because of
fare
to do / to make
pensare
to think
nessuno
nobody
investire
to invest
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
il debito
debt
Questions & Answers about Nessuno pensava che io facessi debiti per investire.
Why is the imperfect subjunctive of fare formed as facessi instead of just adding endings to its stem?
Fare is one of a few irregular verbs whose imperfect subjunctive is built on its old Latin infinitive rather than its modern one. It comes from the Latin facere, so we use the stem fac- and add the regular imperfect subjunctive endings to get facessi. You will see this same "hidden Latin stem" pattern with dire (from dicere → dicessi) and bere (from bevere → bevessi).
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive (facessi) here instead of the present subjunctive (faccia)?
The tense of the subjunctive depends on the tense of the main clause. Because the main verb pensava is in a past tense (the imperfect), the dependent verb also needs to be in the past to show that the actions were happening at the same time. "Nobody thought [back then] that I was making debts [back then]."
Since Italian usually drops subject pronouns, why is io included in che io facessi?
In the imperfect subjunctive, the io and tu forms are completely identical (both are facessi in this case). Including io makes it instantly clear who is being talked about. Without it, che facessi debiti could mean either "that I made debts" or "that you made debts."
Why is the preposition per used before the verb investire?
When per is followed directly by an infinitive verb like investire, it translates to "in order to." So, per investire simply means "in order to invest."
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