Question 1

Why is serve used here to mean "is needed", and what is the subject of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, servire is commonly used to mean "to be needed" or "to be necessary." It works structurally just like the verb piacere. The thing that is needed—in this case, l'autorizzazione—is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence, which is why the verb is in the third-person singular (serve).

Question 2

Why is the subject (l'autorizzazione) placed after the verb (serve)?

Accepted Answer

While you could grammatically say L'autorizzazione serve..., putting the subject after the verb is the most natural word order here. Italian frequently inverts the subject and verb with verbs of necessity, existence, or lacking (like servire, mancare, or bastare) to put the emphasis on the fact that something is required.

Question 3

How would I change this sentence to say that I specifically need the authorization?

Accepted Answer

You would add the indirect object pronoun mi before the verb: Mi serve l'autorizzazione prima di inaugurare la piazza. Because servire literally translates to "to be necessary," you are effectively saying "The authorization is necessary to me."

Question 4

Why do we use prima di with the infinitive inaugurare instead of using prima che?

Accepted Answer

You use prima di followed by an infinitive when a statement is general and impersonal, or when the subject doing the first action is the same as the one doing the second action. You would only use prima che (followed by a conjugated subjunctive verb) if there were a change in subject, such as saying "Authorization is needed before the mayor inaugurates the square."

Serve l'autorizzazione prima di inaugurare la piazza.

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