Breakdown of La foca è un mammifero marino che rischia l'estinzione.
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
che
who, that (relative pronoun)
rischiare
to risk
marino
marine
il mammifero
the mammal
la foca
the seal
l'estinzione
the extinction (f)
Questions & Answers about La foca è un mammifero marino che rischia l'estinzione.
Why does rischiare take a direct object here (l'estinzione) without a preposition like di?
When rischiare (to risk) is followed by a noun, it connects directly without a preposition, just like in English. You only need the preposition di if you follow it with a verb in the infinitive. For example, if you wanted to use a verb here instead of a noun, you would say rischia di estinguersi (it risks going extinct).
In English, we often say an animal 'is endangered' or 'is at risk of extinction'. Can I use similar phrases in Italian?
Yes. While this sentence uses the active verb rischiare, it is also extremely common to use the phrase in via di estinzione (literally 'on the way to extinction') to mean 'endangered'. You can also say a rischio di estinzione (at risk of extinction). Both are great vocabulary phrases to know at the B2 level.
Is foca always feminine, even if the seal is biologically male?
Yes, la foca has only one grammatical gender (feminine) regardless of the animal's actual sex. This is common with many animals in Italian, such as la tigre (the tiger) or la pantera (the panther). If you specifically need to point out that a seal is male, you would say la foca maschio.
Could I use il quale instead of che to mean 'that' or 'which' in this sentence?
Grammatically, yes (un mammifero marino il quale rischia...), but it would sound unnecessarily formal. In standard spoken and written Italian, che is the most natural choice for a direct relative clause like this. You generally only need il quale (and its variations) in highly formal writing or when you need to avoid ambiguity about which noun in the sentence you are referring back to.
Learn La foca è un mammifero marino che rischia l'estinzione and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free