Breakdown of Speriamo la notizia rassicuri la popolazione durante le crisi.
sperare
to hope
la notizia
the news
la popolazione
population
la crisi
crisis
durante
during
rassicurare
to reassure (give assurances)
Questions & Answers about Speriamo la notizia rassicuri la popolazione durante le crisi.
Where is the word for "that" (che) in this sentence?
It has been deliberately left out! As you are learning in this lesson, Italian allows you to drop the conjunction che before a subordinate clause if the following verb is in the subjunctive. This is very common in spoken and written Italian after verbs of hoping, believing, and fearing. Speriamo la notizia rassicuri... is perfectly valid and means the exact same thing as Speriamo che la notizia rassicuri....
Why is the verb rassicurare conjugated as rassicuri instead of rassicura?
Because it is in the present subjunctive. The main verb speriamo (we hope) expresses a wish or emotion, which acts as a trigger requiring the subjunctive mood in the clause that follows it. Since the subject of the main clause ("we") is different from the subject of the subordinate clause ("the news"), we must use the subjunctive form rassicuri.
Wait, doesn't an -i ending on a verb usually mean "you" (tu)? How does that work with "the news"?
In the standard present tense (indicative), yes, an -i ending usually points to tu. However, in the present subjunctive, all -are verbs (like rassicurare) take an -i ending for all three singular persons (io, tu, and lui/lei). Here, rassicuri is the 3rd-person singular form matching la notizia.
Why is the plural of "crisis" written as le crisi without changing the noun's ending?
Crisi is an invariable noun. In Italian, feminine nouns that end in -i in the singular (often words of Greek origin, like la crisi, l'analisi, or la tesi) do not change their endings in the plural. You simply change the definite article to show the number: la crisi (the crisis) becomes le crisi (the crises).
Learn Speriamo la notizia rassicuri la popolazione durante le crisi 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