Ho lasciato il portamonete sul tavolo del bar, ma il barista me l’ha riportato subito.

Ho lasciato is the passato prossimo, one of the main ways to talk about completed past actions in Italian.

• ho lasciato = I left / I have left
• lascio = I leave / I am leaving

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a completed event in the past, so ho lasciato is the natural choice.

Italian compound past tenses usually use either avere or essere as the auxiliary.

Here, lasciare takes avere, so:

• ho lasciato
• hai lasciato
• ha lasciato, etc.

A very rough guide:

• Many transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object) use avere
• Many movement/change-of-state/reflexive verbs use essere

Since lasciare here has a direct object — il portamonete — it uses avere.

Portamonete means coin purse, change purse, or sometimes wallet/purse for coins depending on context.

It is a compound noun:

• porta- from portare = to carry
• monete = coins

So literally it is something like coin-carrier.

Italian often forms nouns this way, and they are commonly written as one word:

• portafoglio = wallet
• portachiavi = keychain
• portacenere = ashtray

Because su + il normally contracts to sul.

So:

• su il → sul

This is very common in Italian with prepositions + definite articles.

Examples:

• sul tavolo = on the table
• nel bar = in the bar
• dal medico = at/from the doctor’s

Similarly, del in del bar is:

• di + il → del

Del bar means of the bar.

So:

• il tavolo del bar = the table of the bar / more naturally in English, the table in the bar

Italian often uses di + article where English would use:

• of
• or sometimes just a more natural phrase like in the bar, at the bar, etc.

So literally:

• sul tavolo del bar = on the table of the bar

But naturally:

• on the table in the bar

Yes. Barista can refer to a man or a woman.

The article tells you the gender here:

• il barista = the male bartender/barista
• la barista = the female bartender/barista

So the noun form stays the same, but the article changes.

Me l’ha is made of three parts:

• me = to me
• lo / la → l’ = it
• ha = he/she has

So:

• me l’ha riportato = he brought it back to me

This combines an indirect object pronoun and a direct object pronoun before the verb.

Structure:

• me = indirect object (to me)
• l’ = direct object (it)
• ha riportato = brought back

Because when pronouns combine, mi becomes me.

Compare:

• Mi ha chiamato. = He/She called me.
• Me l’ha dato. = He/She gave it to me.

So in combinations, Italian uses:

• me lo
• me la
• me li
• me le
• me ne, etc.

That is why you get me l’ha rather than mi l’ha.

L’ is the shortened form of lo or la, meaning it.

It becomes l’ before a vowel, here before ha.

So depending on what noun it replaces, it can stand for:

• lo = it (masculine singular)
• la = it (feminine singular)

In this sentence, it replaces il portamonete, which is masculine singular, so underlyingly it is:

• me lo ha riportato

But before ha, Italian shortens it to:

• me l’ha riportato

Riportare often means to bring back, return, or take back.

Compare:

• portare = to bring / carry
• riportare = to bring back / return

So:

• il barista me l’ha riportato = the bartender brought it back to me

The prefix ri- often gives the idea of:

• back
• again

Examples:

• ritornare = to return, come back
• rimettere = put back
• rifare = do again

Because with avere, the past participle usually does not agree with the direct object in normal modern usage.

So:

• ha riportato il portamonete
• ha riportato la borsa

The form riportato stays the same.

You may sometimes learn that agreement can happen with preceding direct object pronouns, especially in more careful or formal grammar:

• la borsa? me l’ha riportata

But in everyday spoken Italian, many speakers use riportato even when strict agreement might suggest riportata. So the sentence as given is completely natural.

Subito means immediately, right away, or at once.

In Italian, adverbs like subito are often placed after the verb phrase:

• me l’ha riportato subito

This is very natural and common.

You could also hear different placements in some contexts, but the version here is standard and idiomatic.

Yes, if the object is already clear from context.

• Ho lasciato il portamonete sul tavolo... = I left the coin purse on the table...
• L’ho lasciato sul tavolo... = I left it on the table...

In the original sentence, the full noun il portamonete is used because it introduces the object clearly before it is later replaced by the pronoun l’.

Not exactly.

In Italian, bar often means a place for:

• coffee
• snacks
• breakfast
• drinks

So it can be closer to a café in many situations, not just a place focused on alcohol.

That is why il barista in Italian can often mean the person serving coffee at a café-style bar, not only a cocktail bartender.