Breakdown of Marco ha preso i miei libri, ma li ha restituiti oggi.
il libro
the book
ma
but
oggi
today
avere
to have
Marco
Marco
mio
my
prendere
to take
li
them (masculine direct object)
restituire
to return (an item), to give back
Questions & Answers about Marco ha preso i miei libri, ma li ha restituiti oggi.
Why does it say restituiti ending in an -i instead of restituito?
Because of the direct object pronoun li. When you use lo, la, li, or le before the passato prossimo, the past participle must change its ending to match the pronoun. Since li is masculine plural because it replaces i libri, the participle changes to restituiti.
Why does li come before ha restituiti?
In Italian, direct object pronouns like li go directly before the conjugated verb. In the passato prossimo, the helper verb ha is the conjugated verb, so li is placed right in front of it.
Why is the past participle of prendere written as preso instead of a regular ending?
Prendere has an irregular past participle. Many common Italian verbs ending in -ere have irregular past participles that you just have to memorize, and preso is a very common one.
Why do we need the word i in i miei libri?
In Italian, you almost always need a definite article like il, la, i, or le before a possessive adjective. Since libri is masculine plural, you use i to match it.
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