Learn Italian: Il medico difende il proprio tempo libero, visto che è sacro. - The doctor defends his own free time, seeing that it is sacred.

Il medico difende il proprio tempo libero, visto che è sacro.

The doctor defends his own free time, seeing that it is sacred.

Breakdown of Il medico difende il proprio tempo libero, visto che è sacro.

the time, the weather

Questions & Answers about Il medico difende il proprio tempo libero, visto che è sacro.

Why use il proprio instead of il suo for 'his'?

In the third person ('he', 'she', 'they'), proprio can be used instead of suo or loro when the object possessed belongs to the subject of the sentence. Here, the doctor is defending his own free time, not someone else's. Using proprio emphasizes this ownership and avoids any ambiguity.

Does proprio agree with the doctor or with the free time?

Like all Italian possessives, proprio agrees with the thing being possessed, not the owner. It is masculine singular to match tempo libero (free time). If the doctor were defending his choices (le scelte), it would change to match that noun: le proprie scelte.

How does visto che work in this sentence?

Visto is the past participle of vedere (to see). The phrase visto che literally translates to 'seen that'. It is a very common B1-level phrase used just like 'seeing that', 'since', or 'given that' in English to introduce a reason or cause.

Why is there no word for 'it' before è sacro?