Breakdown of La paura le fa mancare il respiro.
la paura
the fear
fare
to do / to make
le
to her
mancare
to be missing / to lack
il respiro
the breath (act of breathing)
Questions & Answers about La paura le fa mancare il respiro.
Why is the indirect pronoun le used here instead of the direct pronoun la?
This sentence uses the causative construction, where fare is combined with an infinitive to mean "making" someone do something. The rule is: if the infinitive verb has its own direct object, the person being "made" to do the action must take an indirect object pronoun. Here, the infinitive mancare has the direct object il respiro (the breath). Therefore, "her" becomes the indirect object le (to her). Literal translation: Fear makes the breath fail to her.
How exactly does mancare mean "lose" in this context?
Why does paura have a definite article (La) when the English translation just says "Fear"?
In Italian, abstract nouns like paura (fear), pazienza (patience), or libertà (freedom) require a definite article when they refer to a general, broad concept. This rule is especially strict when the abstract noun is the subject of the sentence.
Could I translate "makes her lose" using the verb perdere instead of mancare?
You would be understood, but mancare il respiro is the natural Italian idiom for losing your breath due to strong emotion or shock. Note that if you did use perdere, the causative rule would still apply: because il respiro is the direct object, you would still have to use the indirect pronoun and say le fa perdere il respiro.
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