Breakdown of Ho lavato la sciarpa rossa e l'ho messa nell'armadio.
e
and
rosso
red
avere
to have
in
in / made of (material)
mettere
to put / to put on / play (music)
l'armadio
the wardrobe (m)
lavare
to wash
la
her/it (direct object)
la sciarpa
the scarf
Questions & Answers about Ho lavato la sciarpa rossa e l'ho messa nell'armadio.
Why does the second verb end in -a (messa) but the first ends in -o (lavato)?
When a direct object pronoun like la comes before the verb in the passato prossimo, the past participle must change its ending to match the object's gender and number. Since la refers to the feminine singular sciarpa, messo becomes messa. In the first half of the sentence, the object (la sciarpa) comes after the verb, so lavato keeps its default -o ending.
What exactly does the l' in l'ho messa stand for?
If l' can mean either lo or la, how do we know which one it is here?
Where does the word messa come from?
It is the feminine form of messo, which is the irregular past participle of the verb mettere (to put). Since you are putting a feminine object (the scarf) in the closet, messo changes to messa.
Why is it nell'armadio and not just in l'armadio?
In Italian, the preposition in (in/into) always merges with the definite article next to it. Here, in combines with the article l' to form the single word nell'.
Learn Ho lavato la sciarpa rossa e l'ho messa nell'armadio and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free