16.2.3 consequence in comparison |
He said, that he could do it.
Ha detto che poteva farlo.
The conjunction perciò is normally traduced with the conjunction therefore.
He didn' t say anything to anybody therefore nobody knew what he was doing.
Non ha detto niente a nessuno, perciò nessuno sapeva ciò che sta facendo.
It is pretty clear therefore that che / that and perciò / therefore are completely different things. If an action / event is the consequence of an another action we use perciò. Nevertheless in one special case even in that case che / that is used. If the consequence is formulated as a comparison we use che / that.
only consequence without comparison therefore / perciò | |
He was drunken, therefore he didn' t know any more what he was doing. | |
Era ubriaco, perciò non sapeva più cosa faceva. | |
a consequence and a comparison that / che | |
He was so drunken that he didn' t know any more what to do. | |
Era così ubriaco che non sapeva più cosa faceva. |
In the sentence He was so drunken that he didn' t know any more what he was doing the conjunction so...that describes without any doubt a consequence. He had been drinking so much that at the end he didn' t know any more what he was doing. But only in comparison the conjunction that / che has this semantical value. We are going to see a similar problem in chapter 16.2 intention.
But it is evident that in both cases the consequence has a cause because both sentences can be transformed.
Because he was drunken he didn' t know what he was doing. | |
Poichè era ubriaco, non sapeva più cosa faceva. | |
Because he was so drunken he didn' t know what he was doing. | |
Poichè era così ubriaco non sapeva più cosa faceva. |
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