Mia madre sbuccia le pere e le serve con la ricotta per il dessert.

With singular family members in Italian, the possessive usually appears without the definite article:

• mia madre = my mother
• tuo fratello = your brother
• nostra nonna = our grandmother

So mia madre is the normal form here.

A common exception is when the family term is modified or made more specific, or in some regional/register variations. For example:

• la mia mamma adottiva
• il mio caro fratello

But in a basic sentence like this, mia madre is exactly what you expect.

Sbuccia comes from the verb sbucciare, which means to peel or to remove the skin from fruit or vegetables.

Here it is:

• sbuccia = she peels

So:

• Mia madre sbuccia le pere = My mother peels the pears

The two le forms do two different jobs.

1. le pere
   Here le is the plural feminine definite article, meaning the:

   • la pera = the pear
   • le pere = the pears

2. e le serve
   Here le is a direct object pronoun, meaning them:

   • serve le pere = serves the pears
   • le serve = serves them

So the sentence literally works like this:

• Mia madre sbuccia le pere e le serve...
• My mother peels the pears and serves them...

In Italian, object pronouns like lo, la, li, le normally go before a conjugated verb.

So Italian says:

• le serve = serves them

not:

• serve le ✘

This is one of the most important word-order differences from English.

Compare:

• Vedo Maria = I see Maria

• La vedo = I see her

• Mangia le pere = He/She eats the pears
• Le mangia = He/She eats them

Because it refers back to le pere, which is a plural feminine noun.

Italian direct object pronouns agree in number and gender with what they replace:

• lo = him / it masculine singular
• la = her / it feminine singular
• li = them masculine plural
• le = them feminine plural

Since pere is feminine plural, the matching pronoun is le.

Serve is the third-person singular present indicative of servire.

So:

• io servo = I serve
• tu servi = you serve
• lui/lei serve = he/she serves

Here the subject is mia madre, so serve means she serves.

Be careful: servire can also mean to be useful or to be needed in other contexts, but here it clearly means to serve food.

Italian uses the same verb, servire, for a few related meanings.

In food contexts:

• serve il dessert = she serves the dessert
• serve le pere con la ricotta = she serves the pears with ricotta

In usefulness/necessity contexts:

• Questo coltello serve per tagliare il pane = This knife is used for cutting bread
• Mi serve un cucchiaio = I need a spoon

So the exact meaning depends on context. In your sentence, because the object is food, serve means serves.

Italian often uses the definite article with food nouns where English may or may not use one.

So:

• con la ricotta = with ricotta

This sounds natural in Italian. The article does not necessarily mean a specific, already-mentioned ricotta in the way English the often does. Italian simply uses articles more broadly with nouns.

Per il dessert means for dessert.

It tells you the role of the dish in the meal:

• per il dessert = as dessert / for dessert

So the sentence suggests that the pears with ricotta are being served as the dessert course.

You could also hear similar expressions like:

• a dessert is not idiomatic here
• come dessert = as dessert, also possible in many contexts

But per il dessert is perfectly natural.

Yes, Italian often leaves out subject pronouns like io, tu, lui, lei because the verb ending usually shows who is doing the action.

But when the subject is a full noun, like mia madre, you include it if you want to say who the person is.

So:

• Mia madre sbuccia le pere... = My mother peels the pears...

If the subject were already clear from context, Italian could later omit it:

• Mia madre sbuccia le pere e le serve con la ricotta. Poi prepara il caffè.
• My mother peels the pears and serves them with ricotta. Then she makes coffee.

The second sentence does not need lei.

It can be either, depending on context.

Italian present tense often covers both:

1. an action happening now

   • Right now my mother is peeling the pears and serving them...

2. a habitual or typical action

   • My mother peels pears and serves them with ricotta for dessert

Without more context, both readings are possible. English often uses is peeling / is serving for the immediate present, while Italian commonly just uses the simple present.

The singular is:

• la pera = the pear

The plural is:

• le pere = the pears

This is a regular feminine noun pattern in Italian:

• singular -a
• plural -e

Examples:

• la banana / le banane
• la mela / le mele
• la pera / le pere

Yes, that would be grammatically correct, but it sounds less natural because it repeats le pere unnecessarily.

Italian, like English, usually prefers a pronoun after the noun has already been mentioned:

• Mia madre sbuccia le pere e le serve con la ricotta = natural
• Mia madre sbuccia le pere e serve le pere con la ricotta = correct but repetitive

Using le makes the sentence smoother.

The structure is:

• Mia madre = subject
• sbuccia = verb
• le pere = direct object
• e = and
• le = direct object pronoun (them)
• serve = verb
• con la ricotta = prepositional phrase
• per il dessert = prepositional phrase

So a rough literal breakdown is:

• My mother peels the pears and them serves with the ricotta for the dessert

That sounds awkward in English, but it helps show the Italian grammar, especially the pronoun placement.