Breakdown of Il nascondersi nel bosco è l'istinto dell'animale selvatico.
essere
to be
l'animale
the animal (m)
nel
in the (in + il) / while / upon (doing something)
del
of the; than the (di + il)
Questions & Answers about Il nascondersi nel bosco è l'istinto dell'animale selvatico.
How do we form a substantivized infinitive with a reflexive verb like nascondersi?
To turn an infinitive into a noun (substantivize it), you place the masculine singular article il in front of it. When the verb is reflexive, you drop the final -e of the infinitive and attach the reflexive pronoun directly to the end. Here, nascondere (to hide) + si (oneself) becomes il nascondersi (the act of hiding oneself).
Why do we need the pronoun si here instead of just saying Il nascondere?
Nascondere is a transitive verb meaning "to hide [something else]". Because the animal is hiding itself, we need the reflexive form nascondersi. The third-person pronoun si is used here because it acts generally as "oneself" and connects to the third-person noun of the sentence, l'animale (the animal).
Could I just say Nascondersi without the article Il at the beginning?
Why does the Italian sentence use the singular nel bosco when the English translation says "in the woods"?