Breakdown of Il ginocchio fa male finché continua a gonfiarsi.
continuare
to continue
il ginocchio
knee
a
(linking a verb to a following infinitive)
finché
as long as (time)
gonfiarsi
to swell
fare male
to hurt, to be bad for you
Questions & Answers about Il ginocchio fa male finché continua a gonfiarsi.
Why do we use finché here instead of finché non?
Finché means "as long as" or "while". It is used because two continuous actions are happening at the same time: the knee hurts as long as the swelling continues. If we used finché non, it would change the meaning to "until" (e.g., the knee hurts until it swells), which doesn't make sense in this context!
Why is there an a before gonfiarsi?
The verb continuare requires the preposition a whenever it is followed by another verb in its infinitive (dictionary) form. In Italian, you don't just "continue doing" something, you continuare a do it.
Why is si attached to the end of gonfiarsi?
Gonfiarsi (to swell) is a reflexive verb here. Because it follows continua a, it stays in the infinitive form. When you attach a reflexive pronoun like si to an infinitive, you must drop the final -e of the verb: gonfiare + si = gonfiarsi.
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