Breakdown of Il sovrano ha chiesto che nessun suddito gli disobbedisse.
avere
to have
chiedere
to ask
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
nessuno
no / not any (+ noun)
il sovrano
the sovereign
il suddito
the subject (of a monarch or state)
disobbedire
to disobey
Questions & Answers about Il sovrano ha chiesto che nessun suddito gli disobbedisse.
Why do we use the imperfect subjunctive (disobbedisse) here instead of the present subjunctive?
Even though the English translation says "disobey", the Italian main verb (ha chiesto) is in the passato prossimo, which anchors the sentence in the past. When reporting a command or request that happened in the past, the sequence of tenses dictates that you must use the imperfect subjunctive in the che clause.
Since this is a reported command, could we use "di" + infinitive instead of "che" + subjunctive?
Not with this exact wording, because the subjects of the two clauses are different (the sovereign asks, the subjects disobey). You can usually only use di + infinitive if the person receiving the command is explicitly the indirect object of the main verb. To use the infinitive here, you would have to completely rephrase the sentence, for example: Il sovrano ha chiesto ai sudditi di non disobbedirgli.
Why is the pronoun "gli" used here rather than "lo"?
In Italian, the verb disobbedire (to disobey) requires an indirect object. You literally "disobey to someone" (disobbedire a qualcuno). Because of this, you must use the indirect object pronoun gli (to him) instead of the direct object pronoun lo.
Why is it written as "nessun suddito" rather than "nessuno suddito"?
When used as an adjective before a masculine singular noun, nessuno follows the exact same spelling rules as the indefinite article uno (a/an). Because suddito starts with a single consonant (an 's' followed by a vowel, not another consonant), it takes the shortened form nessun, just like you would say un suddito.
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