Sia per / che per

NicholasL23

NicholasL23

Question about a phrase I came across in the pre-lesson dialogues:

“… quando si viaggia sia per piacere che per affari.”

“… when one travels both for pleasure and for business.”

 

I don't remember coming across these combinations in the grammar lessons. I'm used to seeing “sia” as the subjunctive “is” and reading “che” as “that”. Are there other examples of words that change their meanings when combined with “per”, or is that even what's happening here? Any additional guidance?

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

caterina-rocket-italian-tutor

Hi NicholasL23, 

Thanks for your question!

In some contexts, "sia" is not used as the subjunctive (e.g. che tu sia, che io sia, che egli sia etc.) but rather as "both". However, it's merely a coincidence.

Sia (just like , for instance) is commonly used in Italian.

As mentioned earlier, "sia...sia" can be translated as “both... and...”, while "né... né" can be translated as “neither... nor...” , or with “either... or....” . 

In this case, sia acts as a conjunction, linking clauses and sentences.

Make sure to check out Lesson 10.5 where you'll find more key details about conjunctions! :) 

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