Trovo una cassetta degli attrezzi vecchia in cantina.

I find an old toolbox in the cellar.

Breakdown of Trovo una cassetta degli attrezzi vecchia in cantina.

• io: I
• trovare: to find
• vecchio: old
• in: in
• la cantina: the cellar
• la cassetta degli attrezzi: the toolbox

Questions & Answers about Trovo una cassetta degli attrezzi vecchia in cantina.

What tense and person is the verb trovo, and why is it used instead of trovate, trova, or trovare?

Trovo is the first-person singular present indicative of the verb trovare (“to find”). It means “I find.”

• Trova would be third-person singular (“he/she finds”).
• Trovate is second-person plural (“you all find”).
• Trovare is the infinitive (“to find”) and can’t stand alone as the finite verb here.

Why is the subject pronoun io omitted before trovo?

In Italian the verb ending already tells you who the subject is, so the pronoun io (“I”) is usually dropped unless you want to add emphasis or contrast.

Why does the sentence use una before cassetta rather than la or no article at all?

Una is the indefinite article (“a/an”), indicating you’re finding a toolbox, not a specific one already known to the listener.

• If you said la cassetta, it would be “the toolbox” (a specific one).
• Italian generally requires an article before countable nouns, so you can’t simply say cassetta without one.

Why is it degli attrezzi instead of dei attrezzi or di attrezzi?

Degli is the contraction of di + gli, and you need it because attrezzi (“tools”) is masculine plural starting with a vowel.

• Di
  • i would make dei, but before a vowel (or z/​s+consonant) you use degli.
• This structure shows possession or composition: “a box of tools.”

What’s the difference between saying una cassetta degli attrezzi vecchia and una vecchia cassetta degli attrezzi?

Adjective placement can slightly change the nuance in Italian:

• Post-nominal adjective (cassetta … vecchia) is purely descriptive: “a toolbox that is old.”
• Pre-nominal adjective (una vecchia cassetta) can feel more subjective or idiomatic, sometimes implying “just an old toolbox” or “that old toolbox.”
  In many contexts the meaning overlaps, but pre-nominal adjectives often carry a more emotional or stylistic tone.

Why is there no article after in in in cantina, instead of in una cantina or nella cantina?

When indicating location with certain place nouns, Italian often omits the article after in (like in chiesa, in piazza, in cantina). It gives a general sense of “in a cellar.”

• If you want to specify a particular cellar, you could say nella cantina (“in the cellar”).
• In una cantina would be “in a cellar,” but using una adds emphasis to it being one among many.

How would you replace una cassetta degli attrezzi with a direct-object pronoun?

Since cassetta is feminine singular, you use la. The sentence becomes:
La trovo in cantina.

Can you move the adjective vecchia somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. You could say Trovo una vecchia cassetta degli attrezzi in cantina or Trovo in cantina una vecchia cassetta degli attrezzi without changing the core meaning. Word order in Italian is fairly flexible, though the original order (subject-verb-object-adverb) is most neutral.