Breakdown of Metto i documenti importanti nella cassaforte ogni sera.
io
I
mettere
to put
ogni
every
nella
in
la sera
the evening
importante
important
il documento
the document
la cassaforte
the safe
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Italian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Metto i documenti importanti nella cassaforte ogni sera.
Why is metto in the present tense even though the action happens every evening?
In Italian you use the present tense to describe habitual or repeated actions, just like English “I put… every evening.” If you wanted to refer to a single past event, you’d use the passato prossimo: Ho messo i documenti nella cassaforte ieri sera.
Why do we say nella cassaforte instead of in la cassaforte?
Italian prepositions contract with definite articles. Here in + la becomes nella. Other examples: di + i = dei, a + il = al, su + la = sulla, etc.
What does cassaforte mean, and what gender is it?
cassaforte means “safe” or “strongbox.” It is feminine: la cassaforte (singular), le casseforti (plural).
Why is there a definite article i before documenti importanti? Could we use something else?
i is the definite article for masculine plural nouns (“the important documents”). If you want to say “some important documents,” you’d use the partitive article dei: Metto dei documenti importanti nella cassaforte. Dropping the article altogether (Metto documenti importanti…) sounds less natural and more like a headline.
Why does the adjective importanti follow the noun documenti? Can it come before?
Most descriptive adjectives come after the noun in Italian: i documenti importanti. Placing the adjective before is possible for emphasis or a stylistic effect: gli importanti documenti, but it sounds more formal or poetic.
What’s the difference between ogni sera and tutte le sere?
They both mean “every evening.” Grammar‐wise, ogni takes a singular noun (ogni sera), while tutti/tutte takes a plural (tutte le sere). They are interchangeable in meaning.
Can we replace nella cassaforte with a pronoun to avoid repetition?
Yes. Italian uses the locative pronoun ci to mean “in it/there.” You could say: Ci metto i documenti importanti ogni sera, once the safe has already been introduced in context.