Breakdown of Quella tentazione irresistibile la evito, anche chiudendo gli occhi.
anche
also, too
quello
that
chiudere
to close
la
her/it (direct object)
l'occhio
the eye (m)
evitare
to avoid
la tentazione
the temptation
irresistibile
irresistible
Questions & Answers about Quella tentazione irresistibile la evito, anche chiudendo gli occhi.
Why do we use the gerund chiudendo here instead of a normal conjugated verb like anche se chiudo?
Anche chiudendo is an implicit concessive clause. You can use anche plus a gerund to mean "even if" or "even by" doing something, provided the subject of both verbs is the same. Here, the person avoiding the temptation (io evito) is the same person closing their eyes. It is a more elegant, concise alternative to anche se chiudo.
Why is the pronoun la placed before evito when we already established that the object is Quella tentazione irresistibile?
This is a common sentence structure called "left dislocation," where the object is moved to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis. In Italian, when a direct object is fronted like this, you must "echo" it with a direct object pronoun before the verb. So, Quella tentazione... la evito emphasizes the temptation, functioning structurally like "That temptation, I avoid it."
Why does the sentence use gli occhi instead of i miei occhi if the speaker is closing their own eyes?
In Italian, you generally use definite articles (like gli) instead of possessive adjectives (like i miei) for body parts and personal items when the owner is obvious. Since the subject of the main verb is "I" (evito), it is completely understood that the speaker is closing their own eyes.
Could anche in this sentence just mean "also"? How do we know it means "even"?
When anche is followed immediately by a present gerund (like chiudendo), it creates a specific grammatical structure that almost always means "even if" or "even by" (a concession). If you wanted to state two separate actions like "I avoid it, and I also close my eyes," you would typically conjugate the second verb, such as e chiudo anche gli occhi.
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