Breakdown of Prima di dormire, la meditazione lo rende meno inquieto e più calmo.
e
and
dormire
to sleep
meno
to / less (time) / less
più
more / anymore (with 'non')
lo
him/it (direct object)
la
her/it (direct object)
calmo
calm
prima di
before (doing something) / before (a noun / point in time)
rendere
to make (someone/something) + adjective, to render
inquieto
restless
la meditazione
the meditation
Questions & Answers about Prima di dormire, la meditazione lo rende meno inquieto e più calmo.
Why do we use rende instead of fa to translate 'makes' here?
In Italian, when you want to express making someone or something into a certain state or feeling (make + adjective), you use the verb rendere. You cannot use fare for this. Fare is used when you make someone do an action (fare + infinitive verb, like lo fa dormire for 'makes him sleep'). Because inquieto and calmo are adjectives, rendere is the correct choice.
What does the pronoun lo do in this sentence, and why is it placed before the verb?
Why do we say la meditazione with the article when English just says 'meditation'?
In Italian, abstract nouns and nouns used in a general, broad sense require the definite article. Since we are talking about meditation as a general concept, we must use la.
Why is the infinitive dormire used after prima di?
The phrase prima di (before) is followed by an infinitive verb when talking about a general action, which translates well to the English gerund 'sleeping'. If you wanted to specify that a specific person was sleeping using a conjugated verb, you would have to use prima che followed by the subjunctive mood.
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