Breakdown of Nell'ignorare l'estinzione di questa specie, distruggiamo la biodiversità globale.
questo
this (masculine)
di
of, from
nel
in the (in + il) / while / upon (doing something)
globale
global
la specie
the species
ignorare
to ignore
distruggere
to destroy
la biodiversità
the biodiversity
l'estinzione
the extinction (f)
Questions & Answers about Nell'ignorare l'estinzione di questa specie, distruggiamo la biodiversità globale.
Why is nell'ignorare used here to mean "by ignoring"?
In Italian, you can express an action happening at the same time as the main verb by combining the articulated preposition nel with a present infinitive. This structure, nel + infinitive, usually translates to "in doing," "while doing," or "by doing" something. Here, the action of ignoring is the simultaneous cause of the destruction, making "by ignoring" the most natural translation.
Why does the preposition take the form nell' instead of just nel before ignorare?
The word nel is formed by combining the preposition in with the masculine singular definite article il. In this grammatical structure, the infinitive ignorare acts as a masculine noun. Because it starts with a vowel, the article il drops its vowel and becomes l'. Therefore, in + l' combines to form nell'.
How do we know if specie is singular or plural in this sentence?
Is biodiversità a feminine or masculine noun, and how does it form its plural?
Learn Nell'ignorare l'estinzione di questa specie, distruggiamo la biodiversità globale 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