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Breakdown of Lo incolleremo su una cartolina che spediremo a nostra nonna dalla stazione.
su
on
da
from
noi
we
che
that
la stazione
the station
a
to
lo
it
la nonna
the grandmother
la cartolina
the postcard
spedire
to send
incollare
to stick
nostra
our
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Questions & Answers about Lo incolleremo su una cartolina che spediremo a nostra nonna dalla stazione.
Why is lo placed before incolleremo instead of after it?
In Italian, object pronouns normally precede conjugated verbs in simple tenses. Since incolleremo is a future‐tense form (a finite verb), the pronoun must come before it:
- Lo incolleremo su una cartolina.
By contrast, with an infinitive you’d attach it: - Dobbiamo incollarlo su una cartolina.
What does lo refer to in this sentence?
Lo is the masculine singular direct‐object pronoun. It replaces some previously mentioned or understood masculine singular noun—e.g. a photo, a cut‐out, a sticker—that you will glue onto the postcard.
Why is su used with incollare? Couldn’t we say incollare a?
Su highlights the surface you’re gluing onto: glue on a postcard. In practice:
- Incollare su un foglio → to stick onto a sheet
While you might hear incollare a, su is more natural when you stress the idea of “on top of” a surface.
What role does the relative pronoun che play here?
Che introduces the subordinate clause that describes the postcard:
- …una cartolina che spediremo a nostra nonna…
Since che acts as the direct object of spediremo, we use che (not cui, which requires a preposition).
Why isn’t there an article before nostra nonna? Wouldn’t you normally say la nostra nonna?
With singular, unmodified family nouns (mother, father, grandmother, etc.), Italian drops the article before the possessive:
- mia madre, tuo fratello, nostra nonna
So a nostra nonna is correct. If you add an adjective (e.g. “la nostra cara nonna”), you’d reintroduce the article.
What tense are incolleremo and spediremo, and how do they translate?
Both are first‐person plural future indicative forms of incollare and spedire:
- incolleremo → we will stick/glue
- spediremo → we will send
What does dalla stazione mean?
Dalla is the contraction of da + la. So dalla stazione means from the station, indicating the place from which you’ll mail the postcard.
Why use una cartolina instead of la cartolina?
You’re referring to any postcard, not a specific one already known to speaker and listener. Hence the indefinite article una.
Could we use mandare instead of spedire here?
Yes. Both mean “to send.”
- spedire is more commonly used for postal items/packages.
- mandare is more general (“send” by any means) and a bit more colloquial. But in this context spedire feels slightly more precise.