Meaning of "mentire sapendo di mentire"

Question

I have read the following sentence in an Italian language learning tool:

Menti sapendo di mentire.

I think that means "You lie knowingly"? Could that construction be used with other verbs as a synonym of "intenzionalmente" (e.g., "Ferisce i suoi sentimenti sapendo de ferire")?

Answer 1

Your translation is perfectly correct. The sentence means exactly "You lie and you know that".

Of course you can use the same construct with other verbs, albeit it is less common (myself, I've never heard "Ferisce sapendo di ferire" but it is totally valid).

The sentence is equivalent of

Menti e lo fai di proposito

or

Menti e lo fai apposta

But the original sentence uses the repetition of the verb Mentire at the beginning and the end of the phrase for rethorical purposes to emphasize the concept; if I am not wrong this figure of speech is an Epanalepsis.