Word
I cespugli, i cui rami nascondono il tronco, sono verdi.
Meaning
The bushes, whose branches hide the trunk, are green.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of I cespugli, i cui rami nascondono il tronco, sono verdi.
essere
to be
nascondere
to hide
il ramo
the branch
verde
green
Questions & Answers about I cespugli, i cui rami nascondono il tronco, sono verdi.
Why does this sentence use i cui instead of il cui or le cui?
What is the subject of the verb nascondono (hide) in the middle clause?
The subject of nascondono is rami (branches). Even though the branches belong to the bushes (cespugli), it is the branches themselves that are doing the action of hiding the trunk. Since rami is plural, the verb takes the plural form nascondono.
How do we know that sono verdi (are green) refers to the bushes and not the trunk?
We can tell by looking at both the grammar and the sentence structure. Grammatically, sono is plural and verdi is a plural adjective, so they cannot refer to the singular il tronco. Structurally, i cui rami nascondono il tronco is an interrupting clause set off by commas. If you remove it, the main sentence remains clear: I cespugli sono verdi (The bushes are green).
What is the singular form of cespugli?