Breakdown of Il comandante ci chiede di indossare il giubbotto; infatti c'è un'emergenza.
una
a / an (feminine)
c'è
there is / there are
chiedere
to ask
ci
to us
di
to (linking a verb to a following infinitive)
indossare
to put on
l'emergenza
the emergency (f)
il comandante
the captain / the commander (of a ship or aircraft)
infatti
in fact / indeed
il giubbotto
the vest / the jacket (heavy or casual)
Questions & Answers about Il comandante ci chiede di indossare il giubbotto; infatti c'è un'emergenza.
English speakers often use "in fact" to contradict something (e.g., "I thought it was sunny; in fact, it's raining."). Does infatti work the same way here?
No, infatti is a partial "false friend." In Italian, it is almost exclusively used to confirm, justify, or explain what was just said. Here, the emergency confirms exactly why the captain wants the vests on. If you want to contradict something (meaning "actually" or "on the contrary"), you would use a word like invece or in realtà.
Why is there a di between chiede and indossare?
When you use chiedere (to ask) to request that someone do an action, it requires the preposition di followed by the infinitive verb. The grammatical formula to remember is chiedere a qualcuno di fare qualcosa (to ask someone to do something).
In ci chiede, is ci a direct or indirect object pronoun?
It is an indirect object pronoun, meaning "to us." Because the verb is chiedere a qualcuno (to ask to someone), the captain is literally asking to us to put on the vests.
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