Breakdown of Il gatto selvatico è tornato nella tana.
essere
to be
il gatto
the cat
tornare
to return
nella
in the (in + la)
selvatico
wild (plants, animals)
la tana
the den
Questions & Answers about Il gatto selvatico è tornato nella tana.
Why do we use tornare here instead of restituire for to return?
Why is the auxiliary verb essere (è) used here instead of avere (ha)?
Tornare is an intransitive verb of motion, meaning it describes a change of location and cannot take a direct object. In compound tenses like the passato prossimo, these verbs require the auxiliary essere. Whenever you use essere, remember that the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number, which is why we use the masculine singular tornato for il gatto.
We often say tornare a (like tornare a casa). Why does this sentence use nella instead of alla tana?
While the preposition a is used for cities and specific fixed locations like casa, scuola, or teatro, the preposition in is used when you are physically entering an enclosed, three-dimensional space. A tana (den or burrow) is an enclosed physical space the cat is going inside of, so we combine in with the definite article la to make nella.
If there were multiple wild cats, how would the spelling of selvatico change?
The phrase would become i gatti selvatici. Adjectives and nouns ending in -co often confuse learners when forming the plural. The general rule is that if the spoken stress falls on the third-to-last syllable (sel-VÀ-ti-co), the masculine plural ends in the soft sound -ci. If the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable (like stanco), you add an 'h' to keep the hard 'c' sound (stanchi).
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