Breakdown of Nonostante abbia torto, non se ne rende conto.
non
not
avere
to have
nonostante
despite / although (in spite of)
il torto
the wrong (avere torto = to be wrong)
se ne
of it / about it (with reflexive or impersonal)
rendersi conto
to realize
avere torto
to be wrong
Questions & Answers about Nonostante abbia torto, non se ne rende conto.
Where does the se ne cluster come from in this sentence?
Why is avere in the subjunctive mood (abbia) here?
The conjunction nonostante (although or even though) is a strong subjunctive trigger. It introduces a concessive clause, and Italian grammatically requires the subjunctive after it, which is why we use abbia instead of the indicative ha.
The English translation says 'he is wrong', but the Italian uses a form of avere. Why?
Since abbia can mean I, you, or he/she in the present subjunctive, how do we know the subject is 'he'?
You have to look at the verb in the main clause. Rende is the third-person singular (he/she) form. Unless a different subject pronoun is explicitly added before abbia, we assume the subject remains the same across both halves of the sentence.
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