Devo consegnare il documento al mio capo in ufficio.

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Breakdown of Devo consegnare il documento al mio capo in ufficio.

• il mio: my
• il capo: the boss
• dovere: to have to

Questions & Answers about Devo consegnare il documento al mio capo in ufficio.

What does devo mean?

Devo is the first-person singular present tense of the verb dovere, used as a modal verb meaning “I have to” or “I must.” It expresses obligation or necessity.

Why is consegnare in the infinitive form?

When you use a modal verb like devo, it must be followed by another verb in the infinitive. Here, consegnare (“to deliver/hand in”) remains unconjugated because the obligation is carried by devo.

Why is there il before documento? Could I say un documento instead?

• Il documento uses the definite article il because you’re referring to a specific document.
• If you meant “a document” in a general or unspecified sense, you would say un documento.

Why do we say al mio capo instead of a mio capo?

In Italian, the preposition a (“to”) must combine with the definite article il (“the”) to become al. So a + il mio capo contracts to al mio capo, meaning “to my boss.”

Why do we include il before ? Are articles always required with possessives?