Appendo il quadro sopra il divano.

I hang the painting above the sofa.

Breakdown of Appendo il quadro sopra il divano.

• io: I
• il divano: the sofa
• appendere: to hang
• il quadro: the painting
• sopra: above

Questions & Answers about Appendo il quadro sopra il divano.

Why is appendo used here and what is its infinitive form?

Appendo is the first person singular (io) present indicative of the verb appendere, which means “to hang.”
Infinitive: appendere
Conjugation in the present tense:

• io appendo
• tu appendi
• lui/lei appende
  …
  Knowing this lets you say “I hang,” “you hang,” etc., in Italian.

Why do we say il quadro and il divano instead of omitting the articles?

In Italian, singular countable nouns typically require an article—definite (il, la) or indefinite (un, una).

• il quadro = “the painting”
• il divano = “the couch/sofa”
  You can’t drop the article the way you sometimes do in English (“I hang painting above couch” is ungrammatical in Italian).

What does the preposition sopra mean here, and how is it different from su?

Both sopra and su can mean “on” or “above,” but they carry a slight nuance:

• su is more general (“on,” “onto,” “upon”).
• sopra often emphasizes “directly above” or “over” something, not necessarily touching it.
  In our sentence, sopra il divano implies the painting hangs on the wall just above the couch, not resting on it.

Could we contract su + il to sul and say sul divano instead of sopra il divano? What’s the difference?

Yes, su + il contracts to sul, so sul divano means “on the couch” (touching it).

• Lo metto sul divano = “I put it on the couch.”
  But for a painting you don’t hang it on the couch itself—you hang it above on the wall—so you use sopra il divano.

Why is the phrase sopra il divano placed after il quadro, rather than before?

Italian word order for a neutral statement is Subject–Verb–Object–Adverbial/Prepositional Phrase.

• Subject (implied io)
• Verb appendo
• Object il quadro
• Locative phrase sopra il divano
  You can front a prepositional phrase for emphasis (“Sopra il divano appendo il quadro”), but it sounds marked or poetic rather than everyday speech.

How would you use an object pronoun instead of il quadro, and where would it go?

The masculine singular direct object pronoun is lo. With a finite verb, it precedes the verb:

• Lo appendo sopra il divano. (“I hang it above the couch.”)
  In a compound tense you’d say:
• L’ho appeso sopra il divano.
  Here l’ is the apocoped form of lo before ho.