Breakdown of Dobbiamo rispettare la volontà che ha espresso il defunto.
avere
to have
dovere
must
rispettare
to respect
che
who, that (relative pronoun)
esprimere
to express
il defunto
the deceased
la volontà
the will / the wish
Questions & Answers about Dobbiamo rispettare la volontà che ha espresso il defunto.
Why is the subject il defunto at the end of the sentence instead of before ha espresso?
This is subject-verb inversion in a relative clause, which is the focus of this lesson. Placing the subject (il defunto) after the verb (ha espresso) puts the natural emphasis on who did the action. While che il defunto ha espresso is grammatically correct, the inverted word order is much more common and sounds more native to Italian ears.
Since la volontà is feminine, why is the past participle masculine (espresso) instead of feminine (espressa)?
In Italian, when the relative pronoun che acts as a direct object, making the past participle agree with the noun it refers to is entirely optional. While you could technically say che ha espressa, it is much more standard in modern Italian to leave it in the default masculine singular (espresso). Mandatory agreement only happens with the direct object pronouns lo, la, li, and le.
Does la volontà mean a legal 'will' here?
Is defunto an adjective or a noun?
Here it is used as a noun meaning 'the deceased person'. However, defunto is also an adjective. Italian very commonly turns adjectives into nouns simply by adding a definite article, similar to how we say 'the deceased' or 'the rich' in English.
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