Breakdown of Metto il righello nel mio astuccio prima di studiare.
io
I
mettere
to put
di
of
mio
my
nel
in
studiare
to study
prima
before
il righello
the ruler
l'astuccio
the pencil case
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Questions & Answers about Metto il righello nel mio astuccio prima di studiare.
What does metto mean in this sentence?
Metto is the first person singular present of mettere, so it means I put or I place.
Why does the sentence use il before righello and not un?
Using il (the definite article) indicates a specific ruler. If you said un righello, it would mean a ruler, not the ruler that you and your listener know about.
Do I always need an article before righello here? Could I say “metto righello”?
No. In Italian, you normally need an article or another determiner before a singular count noun. So you’d say il righello (the ruler) or un righello (a ruler), but not righello on its own.
Why is there nel mio astuccio, and how is that formed?
Possessives like mio generally require an article, so il mio astuccio means my pencil case. The preposition in + il mio contracts to nel mio, giving nel mio astuccio.
Why is there no apostrophe before mio in nel mio astuccio?
The contraction nel comes from in + il. You don’t elide before mio because mio is a separate word. Elision only happens with l' as in nell'astuccio when there is no intervening article.
Why is there no article before studiare in prima di studiare?
After prima di, you follow directly with the infinitive, without any article. So prima di studiare means before studying.
Could I use prima che io studi instead of prima di studiare?
Yes, but prima che requires the subjunctive (here studi) and is used when there’s a change of subject. When the subject stays the same (“I”), it’s simpler to use prima di + infinitive.
How can I tell the gender of astuccio and why is it il mio?
Astuccio ends in -o, so it’s masculine. Its definite article is il, and the masculine singular possessive is mio, hence il mio astuccio.