Breakdown of È il sommelier che ha consigliato l'abbinamento dei vini.
essere
to be
avere
to have
il vino
the wine
del
of the; than the (di + il)
consigliare
to recommend
che
who, that (relative pronoun)
il sommelier
the sommelier
l'abbinamento
the pairing (m)
Questions & Answers about È il sommelier che ha consigliato l'abbinamento dei vini.
Why use this structure instead of just saying "Il sommelier ha consigliato l'abbinamento dei vini"?
This is a cleft sentence (frase scissa), which is used to put strong emphasis on one specific part of the sentence. By separating the subject with È il sommelier che..., you are emphasizing that it was the sommelier—and not the waiter or the host—who recommended the wine.
Why do we use che to mean "who" here instead of chi?
English distinguishes between "who" for people and "that" for things, but Italian uses che as the standard relative pronoun for both, as long as it is the subject or direct object of the clause. You cannot use chi here because chi means "he who" or "the person who" and stands alone, rather than linking back to a specific noun like il sommelier.
If we were talking about multiple sommeliers, how would the beginning of this sentence change?
What is the root of the word abbinamento?
Abbinamento (pairing or matching) comes from the verb abbinare (to pair). You can spot the root bino (meaning double or two) inside it. In culinary and restaurant contexts, abbinamento dei vini is the standard set phrase for "wine pairing".
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