Signora, Le presto la mia prolunga, purché me la riporti domani mattina.

Signora is a form of direct address, like Madam or Ma’am in English. The speaker is addressing a woman politely.

A few useful points:

• Signora by itself can be used to politely address an adult woman.
• There is no article here because it is direct address.
  
  • Signora, ... = Madam, ...
• The comma shows that the speaker is speaking to her directly.

So Signora, Le presto... is something like Madam, I’ll lend you...

Le means to you in the formal sense.

In this sentence:

• Le presto = I lend to you / I’ll lend you

It is an indirect object pronoun. With prestare, the thing being lent is the direct object, and the person receiving it is the indirect object:

• prestare qualcosa a qualcuno = to lend something to someone

So:

• la mia prolunga = the thing being lent
• Le = the person receiving it

The capital L is a traditional way of showing respect in formal address.

In modern Italian, especially in less formal writing, you may also see:

• le presto

But Le is still common in polite or formal contexts, especially when addressing someone as Lei.

So the capital letter does not change the grammar; it just signals politeness more clearly.

Because formal you in Italian is Lei, and it takes third-person singular grammar.

That is one of the most important things to remember about formal Italian:

• Lei = formal you
• but verbs agree as if they were for he/she

So:

• Le presto = I lend to you (formal)
• purché me la riporti = provided that you bring it back to me

Even though the meaning is you, the verb form looks like he/she.

Here presto is the verb prestare, not the adverb presto meaning soon.

Two different words:

• presto (adverb) = soon
• presto (verb form from prestare) = I lend

In this sentence:

• Le presto la mia prolunga = I’ll lend you my extension cord

So this presto is the 1st person singular present of prestare.

Italian often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially in everyday speech.

So:

• Le presto la mia prolunga can mean I lend you my extension cord or more naturally I’ll lend you my extension cord

Using the present makes the offer sound immediate and natural.

A future form would also be possible in some contexts:

• Le presterò la mia prolunga...

But the present is very common and idiomatic here.

Prolunga usually means an extension cord or extension cable.

It is a feminine singular noun, which is why you get:

• la mia prolunga

The article and possessive agree with it:

• la = feminine singular
• mia = feminine singular

In Italian, possessives usually go together with an article.

So Italian normally says:

• la mia prolunga
• il mio libro
• la tua macchina

English often says just my extension cord, but Italian usually needs the article too.

That is why la mia prolunga is the normal form.

Purché means provided that, as long as, or on condition that.

So:

• Le presto la mia prolunga, purché me la riporti domani mattina.
• I’ll lend you my extension cord, provided that you bring it back to me tomorrow morning.

It introduces a condition.

Because purché normally requires the subjunctive.

So after purché, you do not normally use the ordinary indicative form. You use the subjunctive:

• purché ... riporti

Here riporti is the present subjunctive of riportare.

This is a very common pattern:

• purché sia... = provided that it is...
• purché venga... = provided that he/she/you come...
• purché me la riporti... = provided that you bring it back to me...

Because after purché, Italian uses the present subjunctive even when the meaning refers to the future.

So:

• purché me la riporti domani mattina

means something like:

• provided that you bring it back to me tomorrow morning

Even though tomorrow morning is future in meaning, Italian still uses the present subjunctive here.

This is very normal in Italian grammar.

Me la is a combination of two pronouns:

• me = to me
• la = it (referring to la prolunga)

So:

• me la riporti = you bring it back to me

More literally:

• riporti la prolunga a me → me la riporti

This kind of pronoun combination is extremely common in Italian.

Italian has a fixed order for these short pronouns when they come before the verb.

The usual order is:

1. indirect object pronoun
2. direct object pronoun
3. verb

So:

• me
  • la
    • riporti
• me la riporti

Not:

• la me riporti
• riporti me la in standard neutral word order

This order is something learners just have to get used to.

Riportare literally means to bring back.

In this sentence:

• me la riporti = bring it back to me

That works very naturally for a physical object that someone has borrowed.

You could also say:

• me la restituisca / restituisci = return it to me

But riportare sounds very natural when the idea is physically bringing the item back.

So the nuance is:

• riportare = bring back
• restituire = return

Both can work, but riportare is very idiomatic here.

Because they refer to two different people and two different roles.

• Le presto la mia prolunga
  = I lend my extension cord to you
• me la riporti
  = you bring it back to me

So:

• Le = to you
• me = to me

This is a nice example of how Italian uses object pronouns very efficiently.

Yes, in some contexts Italian could omit it:

• Signora, presto la mia prolunga, purché me la riporti domani mattina.

That is grammatically possible if the meaning is already clear from context.

However, Le is very natural here because:

• it makes the sentence clearer
• it sounds polite
• it emphasizes the person receiving the item

So including Le is a good, natural choice.

Because Italian often omits subject pronouns when they are understood from the verb and context.

So instead of saying:

• purché Lei me la riporti

Italian often just says:

• purché me la riporti

The formal you is understood from the situation and from the verb form.

If you add Lei, it gives more emphasis:

• purché Lei me la riporti

But it is not necessary.

Domani mattina means tomorrow morning.

Italian often uses time expressions like this without an article:

• domani mattina = tomorrow morning
• stasera = tonight
• lunedì mattina = Monday morning

So the phrase is perfectly normal as it is.

It is clearly formal/polite.

The signs of formality are:

• Signora
• Le with a capital letter
• the use of formal Lei
• the verb forms that go with formal Lei

An informal version to a friend would look different, for example:

• Ti presto la mia prolunga, purché me la riporti domani mattina.

Here:

• Ti = to you (informal singular)

So the original sentence is definitely polite and respectful.

Yes, purché can sometimes mean if only, depending on context. But here it clearly means provided that / as long as.

In this sentence, it introduces a condition:

• I’ll lend it to you, provided that you bring it back tomorrow morning.

So this is the conditional use, not the if only use.

The comma helps show the structure of the sentence:

• main clause: Signora, Le presto la mia prolunga
• conditional clause: purché me la riporti domani mattina

It is natural punctuation here because purché introduces the condition attached to the offer.

Even without discussing punctuation rules in detail, the comma makes the sentence easier to read and clearly separates the two parts.