Separiamo la batteria esausta.

Separiamo is the 1st person plural form of separare in the present tense. Literally, it can mean we separate.

However, in signs, labels, and public instructions, Italian often uses this form with an encouraging / exhortative meaning, similar to let’s separate or we should separate. So here it sounds like an instruction to the public, not a statement about what we are already doing.

The base form is separare, which means to separate, to sort, or sometimes to set apart.

In recycling or waste-disposal contexts, separare often means to sort properly.

Italian usually uses the definite article more often than English does. So la batteria esausta literally means the exhausted battery, but in context it can refer more generally to used batteries as a category.

This is very common in instructions and signage. Italian often uses article + singular noun to talk about an item in a general way.

Here, batteria means battery in the electrical sense.

Italian batteria can also mean other things in different contexts, such as a drum kit or a set of objects, but in this sentence it clearly means an electrical battery.

Esausta means exhausted, used up, or depleted.

When talking about a battery, it means the battery is dead or run down. So batteria esausta is a used-up / dead battery.

Because batteria is a feminine singular noun, the adjective must agree with it.

So:

• batteria = feminine singular
• esausta = feminine singular form of the adjective

The masculine singular form would be esausto.

In Italian, adjectives often come after the noun, especially when they describe the noun in a straightforward way.

So batteria esausta is the normal order for dead/used-up battery.

Putting the adjective before the noun is sometimes possible in Italian, but it often changes the tone, emphasis, or naturalness. Here, batteria esausta is the standard phrasing.

Very likely, yes. In environmental or waste-sorting contexts, separiamo la batteria esausta means something like let’s separate/sort the used battery so it can be disposed of properly.

It sounds like the kind of sentence you might see on packaging, in disposal instructions, or in a recycling guide.

Because la batteria esausta is the direct object of the verb separiamo.

In other words:

• separiamo = what are we separating?
• la batteria esausta = the thing being separated

So no preposition is needed here.

Yes. If you wanted a more direct command, Italian could use forms like:

• Separate la batteria esausta = Separate the dead battery / Sort the dead battery

But separiamo sounds more inclusive and less abrupt. It is very common in public messaging because it feels cooperative: let’s do this together.

The plural would be:

• Separiamo le batterie esauste.

Here:

• le = feminine plural article
• batterie = plural of batteria
• esauste = feminine plural of esausta

Everything agrees in number and gender.

No. Esausto / esausta can also describe people, resources, supplies, or energy as exhausted or used up.

For example:

• Sono esausto = I’m exhausted (masculine speaker)
• Sono esausta = I’m exhausted (feminine speaker)

So the core idea is completely used up, whether literally or figuratively.

A helpful approximation is:

seh-pah-RYAH-mo lah baht-teh-REE-ah eh-ZOW-stah

A few notes:

• separiamo has stress on -ria-
• batteria has stress on -ri-
• esausta sounds roughly like eh-ZOW-stah
• the double tt in batteria is pronounced more strongly than a single t