Breakdown of Ha messo il cappello sul letto e l'ha dimenticato.
e
and
avere
to have
mettere
to put / to put on / play (music)
il letto
the bed
dimenticare
to forget
su
on, about
lo
him/it (direct object)
il cappello
the hat
Questions & Answers about Ha messo il cappello sul letto e l'ha dimenticato.
What does the l' in l'ha dimenticato stand for?
Why does the past participle dimenticato end in 'o'?
In the passato prossimo, when you use a direct object pronoun before the verb, the past participle must match the gender and number of that pronoun. Since l' replaces the masculine singular lo, dimenticato ends in -o. If he had forgotten a scarf (la sciarpa), it would be l'ha dimenticata.
Is messo the past tense of a regular verb?
No, messo is the irregular past participle of the verb mettere (to put). If it were regular, it would end in -uto, but mettere is one of those common irregular verbs you just have to memorize!
Where does sul come from?
Sul is a combined preposition. It is made by merging the preposition su (on) with the definite article il (the) to mean 'on the'.
The translation says 'He put', but could this also mean 'She put'?
Yes! Because Italian often drops the subject pronoun (lui or lei), ha messo can mean 'he put', 'she put', or even 'you put' (formal). We only know it translates to 'He' here from the wider context of a conversation.
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