Devi fare scorrere la schermata per leggere il messaggio.

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Breakdown of Devi fare scorrere la schermata per leggere il messaggio.

• leggere: to read
• dovere: to have to
• per: to

Questions & Answers about Devi fare scorrere la schermata per leggere il messaggio.

What does devi mean here, and why is there no tu?

Devi is the second-person singular form of dovere in the present tense.

• dovere = to have to / must
• devi = you have to / you must

Italian usually drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb ending, so tu is not necessary.

So:

• (Tu) devi = you have to

If you added tu, it would usually sound more emphatic:

• Tu devi... = You have to...

Why does Italian use fare scorrere instead of just scorrere?

Fare + infinitive is a very common Italian structure. It often means to make/let/cause someone or something do something.

So:

• fare scorrere = literally to make scroll / to make move along

In this sentence, it means you cause the screen content to move so that you can see more of the message.

With phones and apps, this is a natural way to describe the action of scrolling a screen or moving the display.

Could I also say Devi scorrere la schermata per leggere il messaggio?