Riciclo le scatole di cartone dopo aver spostato i libri in una nuova libreria.

I recycle the cardboard boxes after moving the books into a new bookcase.

Breakdown of Riciclo le scatole di cartone dopo aver spostato i libri in una nuova libreria.

• io: I
• il libro: the book
• di: of
• in: in
• dopo: after
• nuovo: new
• la scatola: the box
• spostare: to move
• riciclare: to recycle
• il cartone: the cardboard
• la libreria: the bookcase

Questions & Answers about Riciclo le scatole di cartone dopo aver spostato i libri in una nuova libreria.

Why do we say dopo aver spostato i libri instead of dopo che ho spostato i libri?

Italian often prefers the perfect infinitive construction after dopo to mean “after doing something.” The pattern is:

• dopo
  • (avere/​essere) in the infinitive + past participle
    So dopo aver spostato i libri = “after having moved the books.”
    You can use dopo che ho spostato i libri with a full clause (“after I moved the books”), but the perfect infinitive is more concise and common in written Italian.

Why is avere used instead of essere in dopo aver spostato?

Whether you use avere or essere to form compound tenses in Italian depends on the verb:

• Spostare is a transitive verb (it takes a direct object: i libri), so it uses avere.
• Only certain intransitive verbs (mostly movement or state verbs) and all reflexive verbs use essere.
  Therefore, dopo aver spostato is the correct choice.

What does scatole di cartone literally mean, and why do we use di cartone instead of dei cartoni?

• Scatole di cartone literally means “boxes of cardboard,” i.e. cardboard boxes.
• The structure di + material indicates what something is made of.
• If you said dei cartoni, you’d be talking about “some cartons” (plural of carton) rather than specifying the material. Here we want to emphasize that the boxes are made of cardboard.

Could we say su una nuova libreria or contract in una to n'una?

• su means “on,” so su una libreria would imply placing books on top of the bookshelf rather than inside it.
• To convey “into a new bookshelf,” you use in.
• Prepositions only contract with definite articles (in + la = nella). They do not contract with indefinite articles, so in una stays separate; you cannot use n'una.

Why is the article le needed before scatole? In English we often say “I recycle cardboard boxes” without “the.”

In Italian, when you speak about something in general, you usually include the definite article. So:

• riciclo le scatole = “I recycle the boxes” (in a general sense).
  Omitting the article (riciclo scatole) sounds incomplete. To emphasize “some boxes,” you’d say riciclo alcune scatole.

What’s the difference between libreria, biblioteca, and scaffale?

• libreria – a bookshelf or bookstore (here it means “bookshelf”).
• biblioteca – a library (a public or private institution).
• scaffale – a shelf (any shelf, not specifically for books).
  So in una nuova libreria here means “into a new bookshelf.”

Why is riciclo in the present indicative? Could it be another tense?

• riciclo (I recycle) in the present tense expresses a habitual or ongoing action: “I (regularly) recycle the boxes after moving the books.”
• If you want to describe a completed action in the past, you could say:
  • Ho riciclato le scatole di cartone dopo aver spostato i libri…
  • Or use the imperfect (riciclavo) for repeated past habits.

Is it possible to change the word order, for example: Dopo aver spostato i libri, riciclo le scatole di cartone?

Yes. Italian allows flexibility in placing adverbial phrases:

• Dopo aver spostato i libri, riciclo le scatole di cartone.
  Fronting the time clause puts emphasis on the sequence of events but doesn’t change the meaning.