Per poco non ho fatto cadere lo zucchero filato.

This is one of the most confusing parts for English speakers.

In Italian, per poco non + verb means I almost ... / I nearly .... So:

• Per poco non ho fatto cadere lo zucchero filato = I almost dropped the cotton candy

Even though non is there, the overall meaning is not a normal negative like I did not drop it. It is an idiomatic structure.

A very literal way to think of it is something like:

• By a small margin, I didn’t end up dropping it
  but in real usage it simply means
• I almost dropped it

This pattern is common:

• Per poco non cadevo = I almost fell
• Per poco non perdevo il treno = I almost missed the train

So yes, it feels backwards at first, but it is a standard Italian expression.

Ho fatto cadere is a very common Italian way to say I dropped something.

It is built from:

• fare = to make
• cadere = to fall

So literally it means:

• I made the cotton candy fall

But in natural English, that is usually just:

• I dropped the cotton candy

Italian often uses this structure where English prefers a simple verb. So fare cadere qualcosa is a normal way to say to drop something.

Compare:

• Il bicchiere è caduto = The glass fell
• Ho fatto cadere il bicchiere = I dropped the glass

The first means it fell. The second means I caused it to fall.

Yes, it is very common and very natural.

If you accidentally let something fall, Italian often uses fare cadere:

• Ho fatto cadere il telefono = I dropped the phone
• Hai fatto cadere le chiavi? = Did you drop the keys?

There are other possible ways to express similar ideas, but fare cadere is one of the most standard and useful ones to learn.

It often suggests that the object fell because of your action, whether accidentally or not.

Italian usually uses articles more often than English.

So where English may say:

• I dropped cotton candy

Italian more naturally says:

• ho fatto cadere lo zucchero filato

The article lo here means the.

Also, lo is used because zucchero begins with z, and masculine singular nouns starting with z usually take lo:

• lo zaino
• lo zucchero
• lo studente

So:

• lo zucchero filato = the cotton candy

Because zucchero starts with z.

For masculine singular nouns, Italian uses:

• il before many consonants: il libro
• lo before z, s + consonant, ps, gn, and a few others: lo zaino, lo studente, lo psicologo

Since zucchero starts with z, the correct form is:

• lo zucchero filato

It is the passato prossimo.

The structure is:

• ho = present tense of avere
• fatto = past participle of fare
• cadere = infinitive

So the main finite verb is ho fatto, which is in the passato prossimo.

This tense is commonly used in spoken Italian to describe a completed past event:

• Ho mangiato
• Ho visto
• Ho fatto cadere

Here it refers to something that almost happened in a specific moment in the past.

Because fare takes avere as its auxiliary in compound tenses.

So:

• ho fatto
• hai fatto
• ha fatto

not

• sono fatto

That is true even though cadere by itself uses essere in the passato prossimo:

• sono caduto/a = I fell

But in this sentence, the main conjugated verb is fare, not cadere. Since fare uses avere, we get:

• ho fatto cadere

Because this is a two-verb structure:

• conjugated fare
  • infinitive cadere

This is very common in Italian:

• faccio vedere = I show / literally I make see
• faccio entrare = I make come in
• ho fatto cadere = I made fall / I dropped

Only the first verb is conjugated. The second stays in the infinitive.

Usually, yes, or at least it often suggests that something fell because of your action.

In many everyday situations, fare cadere is used for accidental dropping:

• Ho fatto cadere il piatto = I dropped the plate

It does not automatically guarantee that it was accidental, but in normal conversation that is often the default interpretation unless context says otherwise.

Yes, often you can.

For example:

• Per poco non ho fatto cadere lo zucchero filato
• Ho quasi fatto cadere lo zucchero filato

Both can mean:

• I almost dropped the cotton candy

However, per poco non is a fixed idiomatic expression and can sound especially vivid or emphatic. Quasi is often simpler for learners to recognize.

So both are useful, but the exact sentence you were given uses the idiomatic pattern per poco non.

The given word order is very natural:

• Per poco non ho fatto cadere lo zucchero filato

Italian word order is somewhat flexible, but this version is the most straightforward.

You might also hear variations for emphasis, such as moving the object earlier in speech, but for a learner, the safest pattern is:

• Per poco non + auxiliary + past participle + infinitive + object

So it is best to learn this sentence as a standard model.

Yes:

• Per poco non = almost
• ho fatto cadere = I dropped / literally I made fall
• lo zucchero filato = the cotton candy

So the whole sentence is:

• Per poco non ho fatto cadere lo zucchero filato
  = I almost dropped the cotton candy

Because the main noun is zucchero, which is masculine.

In noun phrases like this, the gender usually follows the main noun:

• lo zucchero = masculine
• therefore lo zucchero filato is also masculine

Filato here is an adjective meaning something like spun. So the phrase literally means spun sugar.

Yes, but the meaning or nuance may change.

For example:

• Per poco non cadevo = I almost fell
• Per poco non facevo cadere lo zucchero filato = possible, but less standard in many everyday contexts than the passato prossimo version for a specific completed near-event

The original sentence with ho fatto cadere sounds like a specific moment in the past: there was one near-accident, and it is being reported as a completed event.

That is why passato prossimo works very well here.

Yes. The sentence sounds natural.

A native speaker might also choose alternatives such as:

• Ho quasi fatto cadere lo zucchero filato
• Per poco mi cadeva lo zucchero filato

But the original sentence is perfectly normal and idiomatic Italian. It is a good example because it shows two useful patterns at once:

• per poco non = almost
• fare cadere = to drop