Word
Posso usare la tua penna?
Meaning
Can I use your pen?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Posso usare la tua penna?
Why is it usare and not conjugated like uso?
In Italian, when you use a modal verb like potere (can or to be able to), the action verb that follows it must be in the infinitive form, which is the unconjugated dictionary form ending in -are, -ere, or -ire. Because posso is already conjugated to mean 'I can', the second verb usare (to use) stays as an infinitive.
Where is the word for 'I' in this sentence?
Why does it say la tua penna instead of just tua penna?
In Italian, possessive adjectives like tua (your) almost always need a definite article like la (the) right in front of them. You are literally saying 'the your pen'. You must include the article for objects, even though English does not do this.
How is this structured as a question without changing the word order?