Learn Hardcore Italian: Dopo aver lavato lo straccio, devo strizzarlo bene prima di appenderlo. - After washing the rag, I have to wring it out well before hanging it up.

Word

Dopo aver lavato lo straccio, devo strizzarlo bene prima di appenderlo.

Meaning

After washing the rag, I have to wring it out well before hanging it up.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of Dopo aver lavato lo straccio, devo strizzarlo bene prima di appenderlo.

What is dopo aver lavato? Why doesn’t Italian use something more like after washing?

Dopo aver lavato is a very common Italian structure meaning after washing or more literally after having washed.

It uses the past infinitive:

Italian often uses this structure after dopo when the action is completed before the main action:

A full clause is also possible:

But dopo aver lavato is shorter and very natural, especially when the subject is the same.

Why is it lo straccio and not il straccio?

Because straccio begins with s + consonant: str-.

In Italian, masculine singular nouns that begin with:

usually take lo, not il.

So:

This is just the standard article pattern for that sound.

Why does lo appear again in strizzarlo and appenderlo if lo straccio was already mentioned?