Learn Italian: Ho urtato il vaso ed era talmente fragile che si è frantumato irrimediabilmente. - I bumped into the vase and it was so fragile that it shattered irreparably.

Word

Ho urtato il vaso ed era talmente fragile che si è frantumato irrimediabilmente.

Meaning

I bumped into the vase and it was so fragile that it shattered irreparably.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Italian

Lesson

Extreme results (così... che, talmente... che)

Breakdown of Ho urtato il vaso ed era talmente fragile che si è frantumato irrimediabilmente.

Questions & Answers about Ho urtato il vaso ed era talmente fragile che si è frantumato irrimediabilmente.

Could I use così instead of talmente here to mean 'so fragile that'?

Yes, you can say così fragile che. Both talmente ... che and così ... che are consecutive clauses that express a result, and they are completely interchangeable. The word talmente can sometimes feel a tiny bit stronger, but they work exactly the same way in this sentence.

Why doesn't urtato have a preposition after it, like 'into' in English?

In Italian, urtare (to bump) is often used as a transitive verb, meaning it connects directly to its object without a preposition. While in English you bump 'into' the vase, in Italian you simply bump the vase (urtare il vaso).

Why is it ed era instead of e era?

The letter 'd' is added to the conjunction e (and) to make pronunciation smoother when the next word starts with a vowel, especially the same vowel. This is called a euphonic 'd', and you will also commonly see it when a (to/at) becomes ad before a vowel.

Why does the vase shattering use the reflexive si è frantumato instead of just ha frantumato?