Pulisci quel mestolo, che mi serve per la minestra.
Clean that ladle, because I need it for the soup.
Breakdown of Pulisci quel mestolo, che mi serve per la minestra.
quello
that
pulire
to clean
per
for / in order to / because of
mi
to me
Questions & Answers about Pulisci quel mestolo, che mi serve per la minestra.
Why does the sentence use che to mean 'because' instead of perché?
How exactly does mi serve translate to 'I need it'?
The verb servire works similarly to piacere. It literally means 'to be useful to someone' or 'to be needed by someone'. In mi serve, the implied subject is 'it' (the ladle), and mi is the indirect object ('to me'). While you could also say that you have bisogno di the ladle, mi serve is an extremely natural way to talk about needing everyday objects.
Why is the demonstrative adjective quel and not quello?
The adjective quello changes its ending depending on the word that follows it, following the exact same rules as definite articles. Because the masculine noun mestolo takes the article il (il mestolo), the demonstrative form becomes quel. If it were a word taking lo (like specchio), it would be quello specchio.
Is pulisci just the normal present tense form?