Learn Italian: Quante magliette compri? Le compro tutte. - How many t-shirts do you buy? I buy them all.

Quante magliette compri? Le compro tutte.

How many t-shirts do you buy? I buy them all.

Breakdown of Quante magliette compri? Le compro tutte.

Questions & Answers about Quante magliette compri? Le compro tutte.

Why does le come before compro?

In Italian, direct object pronouns like le (them) usually go immediately before the verb. So instead of saying "I buy them" like in English, Italian says "Them I buy" (Le compro).

Why use le for "them" in the second sentence?

Le is the feminine plural direct object pronoun. It is used here because it replaces magliette (t-shirts), which is feminine plural. If you were buying masculine plural items like libri (books), you would use li instead, making it Li compro tutti (I buy them all).

Why is it Quante instead of Quanti?

The word for "how much" or "how many" (quanto) changes its ending to match the noun it describes. Since magliette is feminine plural, it takes the feminine plural ending to become quante.

Why does the sentence end with tutte?

Tutte means "all". Just like quante and le, it has to agree with the feminine plural word it refers to (magliette). If you were talking about masculine things, you would use the masculine plural form, tutti.