Breakdown of Uso questa precauzione per evitare che il parassita non ostacoli la crescita.
questo
this (masculine)
non
not
per
for / in order to / because of
usare
to use
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
la crescita
the growth
evitare
to avoid
il parassita
the pest
la precauzione
the precaution
ostacolare
to hinder
Questions & Answers about Uso questa precauzione per evitare che il parassita non ostacoli la crescita.
Why is there a non before ostacoli if the English translation doesn't say 'from not hindering'?
This is called a pleonastic (or 'extra') non. In Italian, verbs of preventing, hindering, or fearing (like evitare che) often take a non in the following clause. This non doesn't actually negate the verb; it just reinforces the idea of preventing something from happening. You can technically leave it out, but it is very common in formal or polished Italian.
Why is ostacoli used instead of the indicative ostacola?
The verb evitare (to avoid or prevent) expresses an intention to stop an event from happening. This subjectivity requires the subjunctive mood in the dependent clause. Here, ostacoli is the present subjunctive of ostacolare.
Could I say per evitare di ostacolare instead?
Not with this meaning. You use di plus the infinitive when the subject of both verbs is the same (for example, if YOU wanted to avoid hindering the growth yourself). Because the main subject is 'I' but the subject doing the hindering is il parassita, you must use che followed by a conjugated verb in the subjunctive.
Why does parassita take the masculine article il when it ends in -a?
Parassita is one of those tricky masculine nouns ending in -a. Many of these words come from ancient Greek roots (similar to il problema or il sistema). Even though it ends in -a in the singular, it is grammatically masculine, and its plural form is i parassiti.
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