Appena torno da scuola, mi metto a sfogliare il romanzo che la supplente ci ha consigliato.

Here appena means as soon as.

So:

Appena torno da scuola, mi metto a sfogliare...
= As soon as I get back from school, I start leafing through...

A common beginner confusion is that appena can also mean just / only just, depending on context:

• Sono appena arrivato = I’ve just arrived
• Appena torno da scuola... = As soon as I get back from school...

So the meaning changes according to the structure around it.

Italian often uses the present tense where English would naturally use the present or future, especially in time clauses introduced by words like quando, appena, dopo che, etc.

So:

• Appena torno da scuola... literally looks like As soon as I return from school
• but in natural English it often means As soon as I get back from school...

This present tense can describe:

• a habitual action: every time I come back from school
• a near-future action: when I come back today

Italian does this very naturally, so torno is completely normal here.

Because tornare da scuola means to come back from school.

Italian uses different prepositions depending on the idea:

• a scuola = at school / to school
• da scuola = from school

Examples:

• Vado a scuola = I go to school
• Sono a scuola = I am at school
• Torno da scuola = I come back from school

So da marks the point of origin.

Mettersi a + infinitive means to start / begin doing something.

So:

• mi metto a sfogliare = I start leafing through / I get down to leafing through

This is a very common Italian structure.

More examples:

• Mi metto a studiare = I start studying
• Si mette a ridere = He/She starts laughing
• Ci mettiamo a lavorare = We start working

It often suggests the moment someone begins an action.

Because the verb is mettersi, a pronominal/reflexive form.

Literally, mi metto a sfogliare is something like:

• I put myself to leaf through

But you should learn it as the idiomatic expression:

• mettersi a fare qualcosa = to start doing something

The mi agrees with the subject:

• mi metto = I start
• ti metti = you start
• si mette = he/she starts
• ci mettiamo = we start

So even though English does not use a reflexive pronoun here, Italian does.

Leggere means to read.
Sfogliare means to leaf through / flip through / browse through pages.

So sfogliare il romanzo does not necessarily mean sitting down and reading it carefully from start to finish. It can suggest:

• turning the pages
• browsing it
• glancing through it
• starting to look through it

Depending on context, it may imply curiosity or a light first look.

So the sentence gives a slightly different feeling from mi metto a leggere il romanzo, which would more directly mean I start reading the novel.

Because it refers to a specific novel, one already identified by the relative clause:

il romanzo che la supplente ci ha consigliato
= the novel that the substitute teacher recommended to us

Italian uses the definite article because the speaker has a particular novel in mind. It is not just any novel.

This is very similar to English:

• un romanzo = a novel
• il romanzo che... = the novel that...

Here che is a relative pronoun meaning that or which.

It connects il romanzo with the clause that describes it:

• il romanzo = the novel
• che la supplente ci ha consigliato = that the substitute teacher recommended to us

So che introduces extra information about il romanzo.

In this sentence, che is the direct object of ha consigliato:

• The substitute teacher recommended what?
• the novel

That object is represented by che.

La supplente means the substitute teacher or the supply teacher.

It is feminine here because supplente can refer to a male or female teacher depending on the article:

• il supplente = the male substitute teacher
• la supplente = the female substitute teacher

The word itself often stays the same in form; the article tells you the gender.

Ci ha consigliato means recommended to us.

Breakdown:

• ci = to us
• ha consigliato = recommended

So:

il romanzo che la supplente ci ha consigliato
= the novel that the substitute teacher recommended to us

A key point: consigliare can take an indirect object for the person receiving the recommendation.

Examples:

• Mi ha consigliato un film = He/She recommended a film to me
• Ci ha consigliato questo romanzo = He/She recommended this novel to us

Because object pronouns like mi, ti, ci, vi, gli, le normally come before the conjugated verb in Italian.

So:

• ci ha consigliato = recommended to us
• not ha consigliato ci

This is the normal position for unstressed pronouns.

Compare:

• Mi piace = I like it / It pleases me
• Ti telefono = I’ll call you
• Ci parla spesso = He/She speaks to us often

Because the verb consigliare takes avere in the passato prossimo.

So:

• ha consigliato = recommended

Italian past tenses with compound forms use either avere or essere, depending on the verb.
Consigliare is a transitive verb, and transitive verbs usually take avere.

Example:

• La supplente ci ha consigliato un romanzo
• not La supplente ci è consigliato un romanzo

It can describe either, depending on context.

1. Habitual meaning
   Whenever I get back from school, I start leafing through the novel...

2. Single future event
   As soon as I get back from school, I’ll start leafing through the novel...

Italian often leaves that distinction to context. The present tense allows both readings.

It is very natural and usually a good idea, because Appena torno da scuola is an introductory subordinate clause.

So this punctuation is standard:

Appena torno da scuola, mi metto a sfogliare il romanzo...

You may sometimes see less punctuation in informal writing, but with a sentence like this, the comma helps readability and matches the pause a speaker would often make.

Yes:

• Appena = as soon as
• torno = I return / I get back
• da scuola = from school
• mi metto a = I start / I begin to
• sfogliare = leaf through / flip through
• il romanzo = the novel
• che = that
• la supplente = the substitute teacher
• ci = to us
• ha consigliato = recommended

So the structure is:

As soon as I get back from school, I start leafing through the novel that the substitute teacher recommended to us.