Il tecnico prova ad aggiustare la lampada, ma prima deve cambiare la spina.

Italian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• prova = he/she tries
• deve = he/she must

So Il tecnico prova... already clearly means The technician tries..., and repeating lui would usually be unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Il tecnico means the technician, while un tecnico means a technician.

Italian often uses the definite article when talking about a specific person or thing already understood in the situation. So this sentence presents the technician as a particular one, not just any technician.

• il tecnico = the technician
• un tecnico = a technician

Prova is the third-person singular present indicative of provare.

So:

• io provo = I try
• tu provi = you try
• lui/lei prova = he/she tries

In this sentence, Il tecnico prova means The technician tries.

After provare, Italian commonly uses a + infinitive to mean to try to do something.

So:

• provare a fare qualcosa = to try to do something

In this sentence:

• prova ad aggiustare la lampada = he tries to fix the lamp

This is a very common pattern in Italian.

The d in ad is added because the next word begins with a vowel: aggiustare.

So:

• a + aggiustare becomes ad aggiustare

This is mainly for smoother pronunciation. You will often see this before vowels, especially in common combinations like this one.

Here aggiustare means to fix or to repair.

It is very close in meaning to riparare. In many contexts, both work:

• aggiustare la lampada
• riparare la lampada

A rough difference is:

• aggiustare can sound a bit more everyday and broad: fix, put right, adjust
• riparare often sounds more specifically like repair something broken

In this sentence, aggiustare is completely natural.

With modal verbs like dovere, potere, and volere, Italian normally uses the infinitive directly, with no preposition.

So:

• deve cambiare = must change
• può andare = can go
• vuole mangiare = wants to eat

That is why deve cambiare la spina is correct.

Here prima means first or before that.

In ma prima deve cambiare la spina, it means that changing the plug has to happen before fixing the lamp.

So the sequence is:

1. change the plug
2. then try to fix the lamp

Prima is a very common word for talking about order in time.

Ma prima is a very natural combination meaning but first.

So:

• ma = but
• prima = first / before that

Putting prima right after ma makes the contrast clear:

• he tries to fix the lamp,
• but first he has to change the plug

This word order is very normal in Italian.

Here spina means an electrical plug.

So cambiare la spina means to change the plug or replace the plug.

This is important because spina can mean other things in other contexts, such as:

• thorn
• fish bone
• spine-like point

But in a sentence about a lamp and a technician, la spina is clearly the plug.

Both are direct objects, and Italian normally uses the article with nouns in cases like this.

So:

• aggiustare la lampada = fix the lamp
• cambiare la spina = change the plug

Italian uses articles more regularly than English does. In many situations where English might sometimes sound more flexible, Italian still strongly prefers the article.

Yes. Both prova and deve are in the present tense.

Italian can use the present tense to describe:

• what is happening now
• what someone is trying to do now
• what needs to happen first

The order of actions is shown by prima, not by changing the tense. So the sentence means that right now, the technician is trying to fix the lamp, but first he has to change the plug.