Learn Italian: Devo ritirare il cappotto in lavanderia. Ci vado adesso. - I must pick up the coat at the dry cleaner. I am going there now.

Devo ritirare il cappotto in lavanderia. Ci vado adesso.

I must pick up the coat at the dry cleaner. I am going there now.

Breakdown of Devo ritirare il cappotto in lavanderia. Ci vado adesso.

in / made of (material)

andare

to go / to be fine / to work out

Questions & Answers about Devo ritirare il cappotto in lavanderia. Ci vado adesso.

What does ci mean here, and why does it come before the verb?

In this sentence, ci means "there". It replaces the location mentioned earlier, which is in lavanderia (at the dry cleaner). In Italian, these short replacement words usually go right before the conjugated verb, giving us ci vado instead of vado ci.

I thought ritirare meant "to retire". Is this a mistake?

It looks like it, but ritirare is a false friend! Here it means "to pick up" or "to collect" something, like your coat or a package. If you want to talk about retiring from a job, you would use the phrase andare in pensione.

Why do we use the preposition in for in lavanderia?

As a handy rule, Italian uses the preposition in without any article (like "the") for most shops and businesses that end in -eria. You will see this same pattern with in pizzeria, in gelateria, and in panetteria.

Why is ritirare not conjugated to match devo?

Devo is a modal verb (meaning "I must" or "I have to"). When you use a modal verb, the main action word that follows it always stays in its base, dictionary form (the infinitive). That is why we say devo ritirare and never devo ritiro.