Breakdown of C'è molto da imparare per cavarsela bene all'estero.
molto
a lot of / much
c'è
there is / there are
bene
well
per
for / in order to / because of
Questions & Answers about C'è molto da imparare per cavarsela bene all'estero.
Why does cavarsela have se and la attached to the end of it here?
Cavarsela (to get by / to manage) is a pronominal verb, meaning it has pronouns built into its base form. It combines the verb cavare (to extract) with the reflexive pronoun si (which changes to se here) and the pronoun la. Because it follows the preposition per (in order to), the verb stays in its infinitive form, and we attach the pronouns to the end, dropping the final e of cavare.
Since cavarsela is in the infinitive here, do those attached pronouns ever change?
Yes! Even when the verb is in the infinitive, the reflexive pronoun must match the person doing the action. This sentence is a general statement, so it uses the third-person se. If you wanted to say "in order for me to manage," you would change the pronoun to match yourself: per cavarmela. For "you", it would be per cavartela. The la part never changes.
Why do we use da in molto da imparare instead of a or per?
When you want to express that something is available or needs "to be done" (like a lot to learn, or something to eat), Italian uses the preposition da right before the infinitive verb. This is a fixed structure you will see often in phrases like qualcosa da bere (something to drink) or tanto da fare (so much to do).