Learn Italian: Ho visto un anello molto bello e l'ho comprato ieri. - I saw a very beautiful ring and I bought it yesterday.

l' stands for the direct object pronoun lo (it), which refers back to the masculine noun un anello. We drop the o and add an apostrophe because the next word (ho) starts with a silent 'h' and a vowel sound.

How does the past participle comprato connect to the pronoun l'?

In the passato prossimo, when you use the direct object pronouns lo, la, li, or le, the past participle must change its ending to match the pronoun's gender and number. Because the hidden pronoun here is the masculine singular lo, comprato ends in -o. If you had bought a feminine object like a shirt (una camicia), it would be l'ho comprata.

Why can't I say ho comprato lo or ho lo comprato?

Object pronouns like lo must be placed immediately before the conjugated verb. In a compound tense like the passato prossimo, the conjugated verb is the helper verb (ho). Therefore, the pronoun must go right in front of ho.

I thought the adjective bello usually goes before the noun. Why is it un anello molto bello?