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Mi fa pena il ragazzo che piange.

Mi fa pena il ragazzo che piange.
I feel sorry for the boy who is crying.
From Lesson 184:Subjunctive with emotions (sono felice che…)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Mi fa pena il ragazzo che piange.

Since this lesson is about emotions triggering the subjunctive, why is piange in the normal indicative mood?
In this sentence, che is a relative pronoun meaning "who". It is not the conjunction "that" connecting two clauses. Emotion verbs only trigger the subjunctive when followed by the conjunction che (meaning "that"), like in Mi fa pena che lui pianga (It makes me feel bad that he is crying).
Why does the sentence start with mi instead of a word for "I"?
The expression fare pena works like the verb piacere. The person feeling the emotion is the indirect object (mi = to me), and the person causing the emotion is the grammatical subject. Literally, it translates to "The boy who is crying causes pity to me."
Can I change the word order to put "the boy" first?
Yes, you can absolutely say Il ragazzo che piange mi fa pena. In Italian, it is very common to put expressions like fare pena at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize the emotion itself before revealing who is causing it.
What is the difference between using fare pena and dispiacere here?
Mi dispiace is mostly used for regret or apologizing (like "I am sorry I am late"). Fare pena a qualcuno is used specifically to express deep pity, compassion, or heartbreak for someone else's suffering.

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