Word
Il medico dice al paziente di prendere la pillola regolarmente.
Meaning
The doctor tells the patient to take the pill regularly.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Il medico dice al paziente di prendere la pillola regolarmente.
il medico
the doctor
prendere
to take
a
to / at
dire
to say, to tell
Questions & Answers about Il medico dice al paziente di prendere la pillola regolarmente.
Why do we use di prendere here instead of just the infinitive prendere?
This is the rule for reporting commands (indirect speech). If the doctor were speaking directly to the patient, they would use the imperative form to give a command, such as Prenda la pillola! (Take the pill!). When we report that command indirectly using verbs like dire (to tell) or chiedere (to ask), Italian links the action with the preposition di followed by the infinitive verb.
Why is it dice al paziente rather than dice il paziente?
In Italian, you say something to someone. The verb dire requires the preposition a (to) before the person receiving the message. Here, a combines with the definite article il to form the articulated preposition al. If you left out the preposition and just said dice il paziente, it would mean "the patient says" rather than "tells the patient."
Does Italian use prendere for taking medicine just like in English?
How does the adjective regolare become the adverb regolarmente?