La bambina lascia il pupazzo sul divano.

They are all articles or preposition+article combinations:

• la bambina = the girl
• il pupazzo = the toy / doll / stuffed toy
• sul divano = on the sofa

Italian uses definite articles very often, sometimes more often than English does. In this sentence:

• la goes with the feminine singular noun bambina
• il goes with the masculine singular nouns pupazzo and divano
• sul is a combination of su
  • il, so it literally means on the

So sul divano is not one separate word to memorize by itself at first; it is su + il.

Because Italian nouns have grammatical gender.

• bambina is feminine, so it takes la
• pupazzo is masculine, so it takes il
• divano is also masculine, so it takes il inside sul

A very common pattern is:

• nouns ending in -a are often feminine singular
• nouns ending in -o are often masculine singular

So:

• bambina = feminine singular
• pupazzo = masculine singular
• divano = masculine singular

This pattern is very common, but not every noun follows it perfectly, so it is still good to learn the gender with each noun.

Lascia is the third person singular present tense of the verb lasciare.

That means it can mean:

• he/she leaves
• it leaves
• sometimes you leave, if you are using Lei for formal you

In this sentence, because the subject is la bambina, lascia means the girl leaves.

The full present tense of lasciare is:

• io lascio = I leave
• tu lasci = you leave
• lui/lei lascia = he/she leaves
• noi lasciamo = we leave
• voi lasciate = you all leave
• loro lasciano = they leave

Yes. Lasciare is a flexible verb, and that can confuse learners.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• to leave something somewhere
  
  • Lascio il libro sul tavolo. = I leave the book on the table.
• to let / allow
  
  • Lasciami parlare. = Let me speak.
• to leave behind
• to abandon
• to stop / quit in some contexts

In La bambina lascia il pupazzo sul divano, the meaning is the physical one: she leaves the toy on the sofa.

Because in Italian, many prepositions combine with definite articles.

Here:

• su = on
• il = the
• su + il = sul

This contraction is normal and required in standard Italian.

Some related forms are:

• sul = on the masculine singular noun with il
• sullo = on the with nouns that take lo
• sulla = on the feminine singular noun with la
• sui = on the masculine plural with i
• sugli = on the masculine plural with gli
• sulle = on the feminine plural with le

So if you changed divano to a feminine noun, you would also change the form:

• sulla sedia = on the chair

Because Italian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb ending already tells you the person and number:

• lascia tells you it is he/she singular

And the subject is explicitly given anyway:

• La bambina leaves no doubt about who is doing the action

So La bambina lascia il pupazzo sul divano is completely natural.
If you added lei, it would usually sound unnecessary unless you wanted emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Lei lascia il pupazzo sul divano, non il bambino.
  = She leaves the toy on the sofa, not the boy.

Mostly yes, in this sentence.

The structure is:

• La bambina = subject
• lascia = verb
• il pupazzo = direct object
• sul divano = place expression

So it follows a normal subject + verb + object + place order, which is similar to English.

Italian word order is often more flexible than English, but this sentence uses the most neutral and natural order.

You could move things around in some contexts for emphasis, but the basic version is the best one to learn first.

Pupazzo can be a little tricky because it does not always match one single English word perfectly.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• doll
• toy figure
• stuffed toy
• puppet
• sometimes even snowman in the phrase pupazzo di neve

So the exact translation depends on what kind of object is being talked about. In a sentence like this, it often means some kind of toy or stuffed figure.

That is normal in language learning: one Italian word does not always map neatly onto one English word.

There actually is a word for the there, but it is built into sul.

• su = on
• il = the
• sul = on the

So sul divano already includes the.

This is very common in Italian, and it is something English speakers need to get used to. Instead of writing the preposition and article separately, Italian often combines them.

Yes, but the nuance may change slightly depending on context.

• sul divano usually means on the sofa, often with the idea of contact with the surface
• sopra il divano can mean on top of the sofa or above the sofa, depending on context

In many everyday situations, they can overlap. But sul divano is the most natural choice if the toy is resting on the sofa.

So for this sentence, sul divano is the best basic version.

You would need to change the nouns, articles, and verb to plural:

• La bambina → Le bambine
• lascia → lasciano
• il pupazzo → i pupazzi
• sul divano can stay the same if there is still one sofa

So:

Le bambine lasciano i pupazzi sul divano.

This is a good example of agreement in Italian:

• feminine singular la → feminine plural le
• masculine singular il → masculine plural i
• singular verb lascia → plural verb lasciano

It is pronounced roughly like LAH-sha.

A useful point here is that sci in Italian is usually pronounced like sh in English:

• lascia ≈ LAH-sha

So even though it is written with s-c-i, you do not pronounce it like skia.

This same pattern appears in words like:

• sciare = to ski
• sciarpa = scarf

So lascia has a soft sh sound in the middle.