Question 1

Why does riguarda look so much like guarda (to look)?

Accepted Answer

They share the same root! While guardare means "to look", adding the prefix ri- gives us riguardare. While it can occasionally mean "to look again", it is mostly used to mean "to concern", "to regard", or "to be about". You will use this verb a lot when talking about what rules, laws, or topics cover.

Question 2

In English we just say "all users". Why does the Italian add gli to make it tutti gli utenti?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, whenever you use a form of tutto (all) to describe a noun, you cannot just put it right next to the noun like in English. You must always include the definite article. You are literally saying "all the users" (tutti gli utenti).

Question 3

Just as a quick refresher, why do we use the article gli instead of i for utenti?

Accepted Answer

Utenti is a masculine plural noun that begins with a vowel. In Italian, masculine plural nouns starting with a vowel (as well as those starting with z, gn, ps, or s + consonant) always take the definite article gli instead of i.

Question 4

Since this lesson is about proprio, how would I change this sentence to say "This rule concerns its own users"?

Accepted Answer

You would say: Questa regola riguarda i propri utenti. Since the subject of the sentence (Questa regola) is in the third person, you can use a form of proprio to mean "its own". Notice that it becomes propri to agree with the masculine plural noun utenti, and it replaces tutti while still requiring a definite article (i).

Questa regola riguarda tutti gli utenti.

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