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Da' la corda e il sacco a pelo a Luca!

Da' la corda e il sacco a pelo a Luca!
Give the rope and the sleeping bag to Luca!
From Lesson 122:Irregular informal commands (sii, fa', sta')·Italian

Questions & Answers about Da' la corda e il sacco a pelo a Luca!

Why is there an apostrophe in Da'?
Da' is the irregular informal command (imperative) for tu (you) of the verb dare (to give). The apostrophe shows that a letter has been dropped from its other valid form, dai. You will often see these shortened forms with an apostrophe for irregular verbs in commands (like fa', di', sta', and va').
Could I say Dai instead of Da' here?
Yes! For the tu command form of dare, both da' and dai are correct and mean exactly the same thing. The shortened form da' is just very common in everyday Italian.
What does a pelo mean in sacco a pelo?
Sacco a pelo is the set phrase for "sleeping bag". Literally, it translates to "sack of fur" or "sack of hair" (pelo usually means animal fur or body hair). This quirky name comes from how old sleeping bags used to be lined with animal fur for warmth!
If I wanted to say "Give it to Luca" (referring to the rope), how would that combine with Da'?
When attaching a pronoun to a shortened command like da', you must double the first consonant of the pronoun (unless the pronoun is gli). Since "the rope" is feminine (la), you would say Dalla a Luca! (da' + la = dalla).

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