Question 1

Why does this sentence use le mura instead of i muri for "the walls"?

Accepted Answer

Muro is a noun with two plurals (a semantic double plural). I muri (masculine) refers to individual walls or the interior walls of a building. Le mura (feminine) refers collectively to the exterior, defensive walls of a city, castle, or fortress, which is exactly the context we have here.

Question 2

How do adjectives and verbs agree with le mura?

Accepted Answer

Even though mura ends in -a and looks like a feminine singular noun, it is grammatically feminine plural. Verbs take the plural form (like sono here) and adjectives must agree in the feminine plural. The adjective stabili happens to end in -i for both genders, but if we used "high," it would be le mura sono alte, not alti.

Question 3

What is the grammar behind the phrase ci si accorge?

Accepted Answer

This is the impersonal form ("one notices") of the reflexive verb accorgersi. Normally, the impersonal is formed by simply adding si before the verb. However, placing two si pronouns together (si si accorge) sounds awkward in Italian. To fix this, the first one changes to ci, creating ci si.

Question 4

Why do we need the preposition dei before danni strutturali?

Accepted Answer

The verb accorgersi is always followed by the preposition di to introduce what is being noticed (accorgersi di qualcosa). Because danni is a masculine plural noun, the preposition di combines with the definite article i to form the articulated preposition dei.

Ci si accorge subito dei danni strutturali, se le mura della fortezza non sono stabili.

Breakdown of Ci si accorge subito dei danni strutturali, se le mura della fortezza non sono stabili.

Questions & Answers about Ci si accorge subito dei danni strutturali, se le mura della fortezza non sono stabili.

Learn Ci si accorge subito dei danni strutturali, se le mura della fortezza non sono stabili and more in Italian