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Mia sorella si prende cura dei nostri genitori.

Mia sorella si prende cura dei nostri genitori.
My sister takes care of our parents.
From Lesson 185:Subjunctive with desires (voglio che…)·Italian

Breakdown of Mia sorella si prende cura dei nostri genitori.

la sorella
the sister
il genitore
the parent
prendersi cura
to take care of

Questions & Answers about Mia sorella si prende cura dei nostri genitori.

Why is it si prende cura instead of just prende cura?
The Italian expression for "to take care of" is prendersi cura di. It functions as a reflexive-style verb, meaning you need to include the pronoun that matches the subject. Since the subject is mia sorella (she), we use the pronoun si.
Why do we use dei before nostri genitori?
The verb phrase prendersi cura must be followed by the preposition di (to take care of). Because "our parents" translates to i nostri genitori, the preposition di combines with the definite article i to form the combined word dei.
Why is there no article before Mia sorella? Shouldn't it be La mia sorella?
In Italian, you generally use definite articles with possessives (like il mio cane). However, the rule changes for family members: you drop the article when talking about a singular, unmodified family member. Therefore, it is just mia sorella.
If we drop the article for family members, why does nostri genitori have one hidden in dei?
The rule that drops the article only applies to singular family members. When talking about plural family members, like parents (genitori), you must keep the article. That is why it is i nostri genitori, which turns into dei when attached to the preposition di.

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