Breakdown of Il rappresentante non sembrava abbastanza convincente per vendere l'articolo.
non
not
abbastanza
enough, quite
vendere
to sell
per
for / in order to / because of
l'articolo
the article (m)
sembrare
to seem
convincente
convincing
il rappresentante
the representative
Questions & Answers about Il rappresentante non sembrava abbastanza convincente per vendere l'articolo.
Are rappresentante and convincente both present participles in this sentence?
Yes! This sentence perfectly shows the two main ways we use present participles. Rappresentante (from the verb rappresentare) is used as a noun meaning the representative, or literally, the representing one. Convincente (from the verb convincere) is used as an adjective meaning convincing. Both share the classic present participle -nte ending.
If the representative were a woman, would the words rappresentante and convincente change?
No. Present participles end in -e in the singular, which means they are identical for both masculine and feminine. If you were talking about a female representative, you would just change the article to match her gender: la rappresentante. If there were multiple representatives, the ending for both words would change to -i for both genders (i rappresentanti non sembravano abbastanza convincenti).
Why is per used before vendere instead of a or di?
In Italian, when you want to express in order to do something, you use per followed by an infinitive verb (the base form). Here, per vendere means in order to sell. It links with abbastanza (enough) to express that he wasn't convincing enough to sell the item.
Why is the past tense verb sembrava in the imperfect rather than the passato prossimo?
We use the imperfect tense (sembrava) here because we are describing a state of being or an ongoing impression in the past. It sets the scene. If we used the passato prossimo (è sembrato), it would sound like a sudden, completed event or realization rather than a general description of his ongoing appearance during that time.
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