"It is important that she look around."
Translation:È importante che lei si guardi intorno.
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Excellent question. I think the translation is correct due to subjunctive:
It is important that she (would) look around (subjunctive, with hint of uncertainty)
It is important that she looks around (present, with no hint of uncertainty.)
So we dont need to make "guardare" reflexive, like in the translation from Italian to English (same example but including "si guardi", which was confusing, to me, at least).
Being honest, I would rather say "che lei si guardi intorno". You can use both. Please report if one is not accepted. Many verbs can be both reflexive and not. Like "Mangio una mela" and "Mi mangio una mela."
I don't suppose there's a rule for which verbs can also be reflexive? Other than memorizing the ones that can?
No, you can often guess. Many are almost passive actions, when what you're doing concerns yourself, or is for you or about you. I get (myself) up (in the morning), I brush my teeth, I comb my hair; "I remember" is another one. . . . in the Romance languages I've studied, things like this are usually reflexive. There's always odd cases, though, and Italian in particular surprises me sometimes.
Is there any way to tell the ending of a subjunctive verb other than memorization?
In Italian we have three conjugations for verbs. ARE, ERE and IRE. If you study the regular verbs, like Amare, Temere and Servire, you should be done. There are tons of sites where you can find the conjugations of Italian verbs.
Thanks. I don't know why this was giving me trouble. I guess present singular is as simple as ARE > I, ERE > A, IRE > A for regular verbs.
However, Duo does seem to often accept the simple present as correct. Is this sometimes acceptable in Italian or does one always need to use the subjunctive conjugation?
I appreciate any clarification.
Duolingo accepts the simple present as correct because the sentences are shared with the English course for Italians, and also Italians have pretty much confused ideas regarding subjunctive. And in some corner cases... simple present can be accepted, even if it sounds awkward.
In these cases, when the simple present is accepted, but the subjunctive is the most common tense to use, when you will give the reply, the sentence with the subjunctive should appear as "alternative suggested translation".
I hope it helps! :)
2023
it's because che doesn't always trigger subjunctive https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14815023
DL did not include si in marked answer and marked mine, with si, as wrong. HERE they include si.
It is important (che) requires subjunc and Guardare present in subjun is guardi for all sing forms. Here, they specify "lei" for 3rd. Si is reflective for 'look around' 3rd person sing.
- 1816
I ended the verb -i in the last question and I was marked wrong gir using the tu form, when I should have used ended with the -a for lui/lei. This time I ended with -a and I was told it was wrong as it needed to end -i. I have no idea what the answers above are talking about with the various types of verbs (yes, we really should teach English better in the UK but we don't - I'm actually reasonably well educated when it comes to English compared to many of my peers but even then I have no clue!). Is there a way to make this any clearer?
Guardi or si guardi? None of them is accepted and the lection has been blocked!!!
I might have missed the section on this verb form but I don't understand the "i" ending in "guardi". Is "guardi" the imperative form?