Nel labirinto per poco non ho perso il gettone.

Nel is the contraction of in + il, so it means in the.

Italian regularly combines many prepositions with definite articles:

• in + il = nel
• in + la = nella
• in + i = nei
• in + gli = negli
• in + le = nelle

So nel labirinto simply means in the maze.

In this sentence, it means in the maze or inside the maze, because it gives the setting where the near-accident happened.

A native English speaker may wonder about in versus into. Italian does not always separate those as strictly as English does, but here the idea is location, not movement. The speaker is already in the maze.

Italian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

Here, ho clearly means I have, so io is unnecessary:

• ho perso = I lost / I have lost

You could say io non ho perso or io per poco non ho perso for emphasis, but the neutral version usually omits io.

Per poco is an idiomatic expression meaning almost, nearly, or by a small margin.

Literally, it is something like by little, but in real usage it often introduces something that nearly happened:

• Per poco cadevo = I almost fell
• Per poco arrivavo tardi = I almost arrived late

So in your sentence, per poco signals that the loss very nearly happened.

This is one of the trickiest parts of the sentence for English speakers.

Per poco non + verb is a fixed Italian pattern that means almost did something. So:

• Per poco non ho perso il gettone = I almost lost the token

The non is part of the idiomatic structure. If you translate it word for word, it can feel backwards, but as a whole expression it is perfectly normal Italian.

A good way to learn it is as a chunk:

• per poco non + past verb = almost + past verb

You may also hear:

• Per poco ho perso il gettone
• Ho quasi perso il gettone

These can also mean I almost lost the token, and many learners find quasi easier to process.

Ho perso is the passato prossimo of perdere, formed with:

• ho = first-person singular of avere
• perso = past participle of perdere

So:

• perdere = to lose
• ho perso = I lost / I have lost

Italian uses passato prossimo very often for a single completed event in the past, especially in spoken language. Even though the loss did not actually happen, the speaker is still talking about a specific moment in the past when it nearly happened.

Perso is the past participle of perdere.

This is an irregular form, so it has to be learned:

• perdere = to lose
• perso = lost

In this sentence, it does not change form because it is used with avere:

• ho perso il gettone

So perso here is not an adjective; it is part of the verb phrase ho perso.

Gettone usually means a token, coin-like token, or sometimes a chip depending on context.

Here il gettone uses the definite article because the speaker is referring to a specific token, probably one already understood from the situation. In English, we might sometimes say the token or even my token, depending on context. Italian often just uses the definite article when the object is identifiable.

Compare:

• ho perso un gettone = I lost a token
• ho perso il gettone = I lost the token

The word order is not completely fixed. Italian is more flexible than English.

The original sentence starts with Nel labirinto to set the scene first:

• Nel labirinto per poco non ho perso il gettone.

You could also say:

• Per poco non ho perso il gettone nel labirinto.

Both are possible, but the focus changes slightly:

• starting with Nel labirinto highlights the place
• starting with Per poco non ho perso highlights the near-accident first

So the original order is natural, but not the only possible one.