Breakdown of Ho un brutto presentimento sul futuro.
un
a / an (masculine)
avere
to have
sul
on the; about the (su + il)
brutto
ugly / bad (appearance, situation)
il futuro
the future
il presentimento
the premonition / the feeling (foreboding)
Questions & Answers about Ho un brutto presentimento sul futuro.
This lesson is about omitting che before subjunctive clauses. Since "having a bad feeling" implies fearing or believing, why isn't there a che or a subjunctive here?
Because this sentence doesn't actually contain a second verb! It simply ends with a noun phrase (sul futuro). However, if you expanded it into a full subordinate clause—like "I have a bad feeling that the future is dark"—you could apply this lesson's rule. Avere un presentimento acts just like a verb of fearing, so you could say: Ho un brutto presentimento (che) il futuro sia oscuro, optionally dropping the che.
Why do we use sul (su + il) here for "about", rather than del (di + il)?
While di often means "about" when referring to the general topic of a conversation or a story (like parlare di), su is used to point out the specific subject, target, or focus of a thought, study, or feeling. Here, your premonition is focused "on" the future, making sul futuro the most natural choice.
Could I put brutto after the noun, as in un presentimento brutto?
You could, but it sounds much less natural. Common, fundamental adjectives like bello, brutto, buono, and cattivo usually go before the noun, especially when they express a subjective, emotional judgment rather than a literal, physical description. Placing brutto first emphasizes your personal feeling of dread.
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