La tabaccaia mi dà il biglietto dell’autobus e il resto.

Tabaccaia means the woman who works in or runs a tobacco shop / tobacconist’s shop.

It is feminine because the ending -aia here refers to a female person. The masculine form is tabaccaio.

In Italy, a tabaccheria often sells more than tobacco products: bus tickets, stamps, lottery tickets, and similar items. So in this sentence, it makes sense that the tabaccaia is giving someone a bus ticket.

La is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• la tabaccaia = the tobacconist / the woman at the tobacco shop

Italian uses definite articles more often than English, so it is very normal to say la tabaccaia where English might just say the shopkeeper or even leave it more general depending on context.

Mi means to me.

It is an indirect object pronoun, and in Italian these short pronouns usually come before the verb:

• mi dà = gives me / is giving me

So the structure is:

• La tabaccaia mi dà...
• literally: The tobacconist to-me gives...
• natural English: The tobacconist gives me...

Because in normal Italian word order, unstressed object pronouns like mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi usually go before the conjugated verb.

So Italian says:

• mi dà
• literally to me gives

not:

• dà mi

This is one of the big differences from English. English says gives me, but Italian usually says mi dà.

The accent distinguishes dà (he/she gives, from dare) from da (from, by, or sometimes at depending on context).

So:

• dà = gives
• da = from / by / at

This accent is very important in writing because it prevents confusion.

This means the bus ticket.

Literally, it is:

• il biglietto = the ticket
• dell’autobus = of the bus

So Italian often expresses this idea as ticket of the bus, where English prefers bus ticket.

This is a very common Italian pattern:

• il biglietto del treno = the train ticket
• il biglietto dell’autobus = the bus ticket

Dell’ is a contraction of di + l’.

Here is the full idea:

• di = of
• l’autobus = the bus
• di + l’autobus → dell’autobus

The apostrophe appears because l’ is the shortened form of the article before a vowel.

So:

• dell’autobus = of the bus

Autobus is an invariable noun in Italian, borrowed from another language. It usually stays the same in singular and plural.

So:

• l’autobus = the bus
• gli autobus = the buses

The word does not change form the way many Italian nouns do.

Il resto here means the change — the money returned after paying.

So if you give the shopkeeper more money than the ticket costs, she gives you:

• il biglietto dell’autobus = the bus ticket
• il resto = the change

In other contexts, il resto can also mean the rest / the remainder, but in a shop situation it usually means change.

E means and.

So the sentence is listing two things the tobacconist gives:

• il biglietto dell’autobus
• il resto

That is why the sentence ends with:

• ...e il resto
• ...and the change

Usually, in a normal sentence like this, mi is the natural choice:

• La tabaccaia mi dà il biglietto dell’autobus e il resto.

You can use a me for emphasis or contrast:

• La tabaccaia dà a me il biglietto, non a lui.
• The tobacconist gives the ticket to me, not to him.

Very often, Italian even uses both together for emphasis:

• La tabaccaia mi dà il biglietto a me, non a lui.

But in a simple neutral sentence, mi dà is best.

Yes. Dà is the present tense of dare (to give), third person singular:

• io do = I give
• tu dai = you give
• lui/lei dà = he/she gives

So the sentence means:

• The tobacconist gives me the bus ticket and the change
• or, depending on context, is giving me

Italian present tense can often correspond to both the English simple present and present continuous.

Yes, Italian word order is somewhat flexible, but not all versions sound equally neutral.

The most neutral form here is:

• La tabaccaia mi dà il biglietto dell’autobus e il resto.

You might also hear:

• Mi dà il biglietto dell’autobus e il resto, la tabaccaia.

but that sounds more marked or contextual.

For learners, the original sentence is the safest and most natural standard pattern: subject + pronoun + verb + objects.